Mysterious Sleep Activity in computer Tower

Myself | 12/31/2015 | Me

[Bob434]

Ok got something weird happening, and I'm at a loss what it could be- been researching for days now- thought I had the answer, but today the problem came back again

I use windows 7 Hybrid Sleep, instead of shutting down- and for years it's worked fine- no issues-

As of recently, I'll put the computer into sleep mode, everything does what it's supposed to- computer powers down- tower power button light goes to yellow like it's supposed to and the light on the front of the tower goes out (The HP symbol lights up when tower is working- then off when in sleep mode), and after 20 minutes or so I'll hear the fans spin up in the tower, the power button will turn blue again indicating the machine has awakened, the HP logo will light up, but the monitor is still in sleep mode

This will last awhile, then it will go back into sleep mode- all lights off, fans power down etc-

I do not have automatic updates on and none of my software or programs like flash, adobe, java etc are set to autoupdate, so these can't be the culprit

I turned off network "Wake the computer when...." setting, and all my sleep settings are set to 'never'

Any ideas?

[Bob434]

srry to keep buggin you but I just thought of something- that command won’t work because I have to wake the computer up manually before running the command

Is there a command to see the last 10 or so wake events?

[this_ol_patriot]

Yeah usb is a pretty common issue. I had it with my Logitech Gamepanel keyboards. In the end I changed settings that the only wake up from sleep is my tower button and the only to put to sleep is through the start menu. Now my sleep (S3) is as clean as could be.

You can or should be able to set the power button on the front to different functions in control panel/power options also what other devices are allowed to wake the computer in device manager and the power options, work between them to get what you need.

You change your actual sleep mode in BIOS but read about that before you go there, mine is in S3 which is the lowest state except for hibernate, only system memory is retained. Mine is homebuilt so is clean, a lot of prebuilts have hooks and crap that allow same brand devices to do different things but the powercfg command line can tell you a lot of what's going on.

Powercfg Command-Line Options

[this_ol_patriot]

Yeah what you're probably seeing is your key press or mouse movement. Check your task scheduler which can be started from the command window using Taskschd.msc or directly from administrative tools and look if anything there has a wake up flag checked, but I'll bet it's the the printer.

[Bob434]

tHANKS FOR THAT LINK- I’ll bookmark immediately- I DID FIND OUT HOW TO VIEW ALL EVENTS- WOW- WHAT A BUNCH OF HOOPS TO JUMP THROUGH- BUT IT APPEARS THAT THE PROBLEM “may be” WITH NORTON’S (Woops Cps lock) and it’s :

“Wake Source: Timer - Task Scheduler will execute ‘\Remediation\AntimalwareMigrationTask’ task.”

Had to go through an umber of steps to get to task scheduler to turn off “Trigger” for the malwaremigrationtask-

Here’s the link to how to do it if you ever run into the problem- I don’t know if this will fix my issue or not, but I’ll know more tomorrow when computer is in sleep mode

https://community.norton.com/en/comment/6566911#comment-6566911

The post is just about 1/2 way down the page (The 34’th post on the page) by user “SLSALES” and there are a bunch of graphics that show what to do and where to go

[Bob434]

Ugggg- looks like there might be another setting to contend with in the task scheduler too- about 1/3 way down this link

https://community.norton.com/en/forums/norton-security-suite-upgrade-new-remediation-task-wakes-computer

A post by GTF also with graphics showing what tab and settigns- under the tab “Conditions” there is a checkmark for ‘wake this computer to run this task’ but I’m not sure if he turned them off or not- I’ll try just the first recommendation in the other link first- see if that stops the computer from waking

[this_ol_patriot]

Yeah read my first post, there is a link to the Norton thread where I found my answer and a tool to remove it. I had that bugger too since I run the free Norton from Comcast.

[this_ol_patriot]

Bob you can't just turn it off because next time Norton updates it will reset it, use the removal tool, that program is there to look for upgrades to win10 and to automatically download the Win10 Norton.

[this_ol_patriot]

Post 78, hey, Have a Happy New Year!

[Bob434]

Gah- how did I miss that lol- Getting tired I guess-

I did things the manual way (forgetting that you had given a link to the tool- doh!) I’ll see if the computer wakes tonight when it’s sleeping- if so, I’;ll get that tool- thanks

[Bob434]

[[Bob you can’t just turn it off because next time Norton updates it will reset it, use the removal tool, that program is there to look for upgrades to win10 and to automatically download the Win10 Norton. ]]

Ok will do- I’ll do that tomorrow- too tired tonight-

[this_ol_patriot]

Yeah it worked for me and I didn't have to re-install Norton. Re-installing Norton is a pita because you have to use the special removal tool because Norton snakes into everything but I'm a gamer and if I sensed any slow down from Norton it wouldn't be there, it behaves pretty well on my computer.

[this_ol_patriot]

Just to be clear the Norton program removal tool is different from the removal tool used to get rid of that wake-up demon LOL Norton.

[Bob434]

yeah mine too- My computer is plenty fast enough for me- any slight slowdown doesn’t bother me- I like the Norton internet security because it gives green and red marks to web search results and has prevented me from always clicking on infected websites- it gives just an added level of security- the green check marks aren’t always 100% accurate but they really do help cut down on hitting websites that have malware- I’d rather lose a little speed and have that extra layer of protection

[this_ol_patriot]

Yep feel nekkid without it, I do like the option to have it go quiet when it detects full-screen mode for games. Use that, adblock and no-script in Firefox and I have no problems.

[this_ol_patriot]

Then I run Malwarebytes manually every now and then in case something sneaks through, other than cookies I never pick anything up with either program.

[Hillary'sMoralVoid]

I am having almost identical issues. The fan was running a lot and then I started getting a black screen because my monitor would turn off. I set sleep settings to “never” and was able to bring up the computer, but the video would last for only a few seconds and the monitor would click off.

If I could start an operation (like launching an application) with the computer while the monitor was on, it would sometimes stay on. Once I got it to stay on, I’ve kept it on and signed off the internet when the computer was not in use.

I’ll be taking the computer back to the techs on Monday to see what they can do. It is bizarre. I do need to see if remote access is on or off, that is scary! I did get a pop-up that said my hard drive would be destroyed and that I should call a number on the screen to restore it. I immediately shut the machine down and used task manager to stop the activity.

[Bob434]

funny thing I used adblock plus or pro or whatever it is for IE, got it right form main site, scanned for virus- the whole nine yards- and everything was working great- ran for about a day, then wham- computer threw up a blue screen telling me my computer was being shut to ‘avoid damage’, I went to restart the computer, and it couldn’t find my “C” drive- Tried my rollbackRX- and that wouldn’t even revert to a tiem before the shutdown (Even though rollback saw the snapshots on the C drive like normal- actually the ‘D’ drive [partition on C drove] where the snapshots are stored and supposedly protected)- Had to do a compelte format reinstall of everything- but fortunately I had a duplicate drive that had most of what I needed and I just transferred that onfo over to this drive via disk duplicator-

What a ngithmare- and it was just really odd that it happened right when I used the Adblock- I’d like to try it again- but of course now I’m nervous about it lol

[Bob434]

a great little program for cookies is cookie wall by analogue x- very small program- hardly any resources used, and it has choices for ‘keep’, never keep’, and a ‘holding pen’ where all the other cookies are seen for easy deletion- I used to use it, but adfter the reinstall of iwndows I haven’t put it back o nagain- but will- makes it super easy to sort the cookies I want to keep (like for this site, Cnet, PCtech site etc-

I think the fix has worked that you suggested- Family members were In the room with the computer in sleep mode for a couple hours, I asked them to listen and watch to see if it would start or not, and they said it didn’t- I’ll know more tonight when I can watch it myself - but it looks like maybe the issue I was having is fixed- If so I’ll defiantely run that Norton’s fix to prevent further issues-

[Bob434]

Are you running Norton’s products by any chance? Norton internet security specifically? If so, this_ol_patriot has the solution and gave al ink to the file you need from nortons to fix the problem

[[I did get a pop-up that said my hard drive would be destroyed and that I should call a number on the screen to restore it. ]]

Hiowever, what you have I believe is what they call ‘Ransomewear’ a particularly nasty virus- do NOT send them any money- if you have another computer, which I assume you have to write this? access the internet and see how to get rid of ransomewear- I’m afraid it looks like you’ve been infected-

[Bob434]

have you tried doing a system restore? Go back quite a ways if you can- You’ll have to get to ‘advanced boot menu’ options by hitting the F8 key repeatedly when you restart your computer- keep hitting it until the menu comes up- And choose “Repair Your Computer” from there- you’ll find the ‘system restore’ feature In there-

Here’s a link showign thje process- print off the isntructions, or have the page up when you do it

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2084002/how-to-rescue-your-pc-from-ransomware.html

go down to the ‘Remove Ransom ware” section, and the section below it IF the ransomware has encrypted your files- but you probably will just need to do the remove ransomware stuff-

Goodl uck