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PC running WinXP Pro 32-bit SP3 not going into standby

post #1 of 4
9/20/11 at 8:28am
Thread Starter 
Hey all,

I have an old Asus P4P800 MB with Pentium 4 single core CPU. This combo is serving as my DVR.

I am trying to automate my DVR so that it goes into standby mode (not hibernate) between recordings and autodownloading of EPG data.

The program I use to schedule recordings is CW_EPG (Cliff Watson EPG).

Now the main issue I have is that, even though I have set the PC to automatically go to standby mode after 15 minutes of non-activity (via Control Panel > Power Options), the PC *sometimes* obeys, but more often does not.

Doing some preliminary web sleuthing, I found a decent article on "Windows Insomnia", which is found at the following link:
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/peterrosser/...sinsomnia.aspx

I am planning on following the tips outlined in that article to see if the problem can be solved, but I figured I'd hedge my bets and see if any additional suggestions could be found on this forum.

So if you have any feedback on how to find out what prevents WinXP from going into standby mode, I would appreciate your help. Thank you all (again) in advance.
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post #2 of 4
9/21/11 at 10:32am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Vlad Theimpaler View Post

Hey all,

I have an old Asus P4P800 MB with Pentium 4 single core CPU. This combo is serving as my DVR.

I am trying to automate my DVR so that it goes into standby mode (not hibernate) between recordings and autodownloading of EPG data.

The program I use to schedule recordings is CW_EPG (Cliff Watson EPG).

Now the main issue I have is that, even though I have set the PC to automatically go to standby mode after 15 minutes of non-activity (via Control Panel > Power Options), the PC *sometimes* obeys, but more often does not.

Doing some preliminary web sleuthing, I found a decent article on "Windows Insomnia", which is found at the following link:
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/peterrosser/...sinsomnia.aspx

I am planning on following the tips outlined in that article to see if the problem can be solved, but I figured I'd hedge my bets and see if any additional suggestions could be found on this forum.

So if you have any feedback on how to find out what prevents WinXP from going into standby mode, I would appreciate your help. Thank you all (again) in advance.

In XP the standby can be a little flaky. I have 2 HTPCs running XP and they have the same mobos, cpus, memory and they both act a little different. Both will shut down properly most of the time, but depending on active software and tasks performed will sometimes stay on after doing a backup or when epg is updated. There are a couple of utilites available (do a search) that will put them to sleep at specified times so that can help. I have been using XP and sleep mode for years and have never found it to be perfect. In fact, one time I saw an error message that said ATI wouldn't allow sleep mode and had to reinstall the drivers. One thing to check is anything running in the background that may be preventing it from going to sleep.
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post #3 of 4
9/21/11 at 11:38am
I will second that. XP just isn't perfect. I used the "MCE Standby Tool" on my XP-based machines for a while, and that definitely helped, but even that never made it perfect.

Haven't had an issue since moving my HTPC(s) to Windows 7.
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post #4 of 4
9/21/11 at 12:42pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks for the replies. I think I found the problem. Whenever the computer is on and idling at times when it should be in standby, I noticed that there is a "nag screen" on the monitor (plasma TV). This screen is from the resident AV program (Avast!). My license has expired a while back and I just haven't gotten around to updating it. The nag screen is waiting for a user response, so that is what is keeping the PC awake.

I'll resolve that issue, and see if it remedies the PC insomnia problem. Thank you very much for the feedback.
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