Computer shutting off after being asleep for a long time

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I'm not sure if this is a hardware problem or a Windows problem.

I often put my Windows 7 Professional computer to sleep (formerly standby) when I'm away for a period of time. However, for the last week or so, when it's shut off for a while, it seems to turn itself off. Pressing the keyboard or mouse has no effect, and the power light, which normally flashes when the computer is asleep is out.

Pressing the power button makes the computer's fan turn on and I hear the DVD-RW whir, but it doesn't actually boot. I have to unplug the computer before it will boot.
When I do this, Windows says it wasn't shut down properly.

Any ideas? The system is set up as a dual boot, and I'm going to do an experiment I just thought of now and try booting to the old Vista Home Premium OS (probably a lot of updates to install as well) and see if I have the same problem.

At first I didn't notice that it was only after a period of time, and it seemed to be random. I have to do more experiments to figure out how much time.

System Specs:
Gateway 4200DX
AMD Phenom 9550 2.5ghz quad-core processor.
6GB RAM
1 650GB hard drive
1 2TB hard drive.
1 DVD-ROM (all SATA)
dual boot Windows Vista 64-bit home premium & Windows 7 Professional.

---------- Added 22 hours, 7 minutes and 3 seconds later... ----------

I rebooted the computer to Vista instead of 7 and then put it to sleep instead of shutting the computer off last night. It was in the same state.

The computer appeared to be turned off. Pressing the keys on the keyboard, moving the mouse, and clicking the mouse had no effect. Pressing the power button made it appear to be asleep, as I heard it beep, the USB powered speaker power lights lit up, and I heard the CD-ROM whir briefly, but the computer refused to boot. The power light blinked like it was asleep instead of a solid light. Pressing keys and clicking the mouse had no effect.
Pressing and holding the power button for four seconds did shut off the computer, but pressing the power button again just returned it to the above state. Only unplugging it fixed the problem. Until the next time I put the computer to sleep.

This happens in both Vista and 7, and I know the Vista was correctly configured as far as power options went the last time I used it regularly.

 

Have you checked Power Options in Control Panel?

It sounds a whole lot like Suspend to Disk or Hibernate malfunctioning - these are usually options in the BIOS or Power Options.

 

Sorry, for some reason I didn't get an alert to this thread, although I've been getting updates for the BG, IWD, and NWN games forums.

I did, and I'm ashamed to say that even though I have an A+ certification and a MCDST certification, I don't fully understand all the options in the BIOS, but I've experimented with all the combinations and had little to no effect.

I also tried a system restore to about a month before I noticed the problem, and it too had no effect.

I too thought it sounded like a malfunctioning hibernate, but I didn't see many options available in power configuration even when I choose the "show hidden options."

I did try using powercfg -h off and it didn't seem to affect the problem, but it did take away the hibernate option in the start menu. Not that I ever seemed to use it on my desktop.

 

Bios/driver update?

Had something similair once with an ASUS board so new that windows did not had the correct driver. Took a lot of work and hours in a shop(the shame)until a silly windows update solved all.

 

Perhaps power to the PC is getting interrupted?

 

I doubt it's a BIOS update, as I've never flashed any of the BIOS on any of MY computers. Heck, I can count the number of times I've flashed a BIOS on the fingers of one hand, and I've worked as a computer field service technician. This issue is one I've never seen before.

As for the power being interupted, why wouldn't I notice any problems when using the computer? It only happens when putting the computer into standby/sleep mode (9x-XP and vista/7 terms for the same thing).

 

Ok, six years later and I found it was the power supply. I just tried to put it to sleep with a new one installed, (after having to re-enable sleep as an option it), and it worked!
I was going to take the new power supply out tomorrow and return it, now I'm not so sure.
Odd that everything else on the computer seemed to work fine up until last week, although the bad RAM makes me wonder how safe it is to put the old power supply back in now that I know it has an issue.

Should I put the old one back in so I can get my $40 back or is it not worth the risk?

 

I love a good necro thread. I also hate power supply problems as they are almost impossible to figure out.

 

Well, I did leave the issue unresolved, and found the answer...six years later. Thought I should let everyone know.

My biggest concern is the bad RAM, I have no idea what caused it. I literally shut the computer down and went to bed one night, then in the morning when I turned it on to check my e-mail and the company website for last-minute changes, it gave me trouble. I know there was lightning the night before, but I had turned off the power bars just to be extra safe as I'm a little paranoid after a circa 1988 "Spike Bar" "surge suppressor" failed to protect my Apple IIGS's power supply in 1989 back when I was a kid.

I expect to get the new chips tomorrow or Thursday. Hopefully they'll be waiting for me after work tomorrow.