Dell laptop in airplane mode and all apps closed when wake up

huntert · 31 May 2017

I have a Dell Latitude E5570 with all drivers/bios fully up to date. Additionally, Windows 10 is fully up to date.

Here is the process I have been using for the past 1.5 years with this laptop and it has been working fine:

When finished working for the day:

Start -> User -> Lock to lock the computer so when it wakes up I still have all of my apps running.
Unplug everything from the laptop (including the power cable).
Shut the lid and make sure the light goes into a soft blinking sleep mode.

The next day when I open the lid the laptop is in airplane mode and the battery is half way drained. Something is definitely running while the computer is in sleep mode.

The same issue happens when I single press the power button to directly put the laptop into sleep mode when finished for the day, then close the lid.

The problem started happening about 3 weeks ago. I am sure it is due to a driver update or something. Does anyone have any idea how to fix this? I noticed disabling hibernate in command line fixed the airplane mode issue (but why should I have to do this?). However, it did not fix the battery drain issue.

Caledon Ken · 31 May 2017

Hi huntert. Welcome to the TenForums @huntert

I would first review your Windows update history back at least four weeks. You should see which drivers were installed on your behalf. If you find one you can roll back. If this works you will have to tell Windows to lay off the driver updates.

Not sure if your laptop supports Connected Standby sleep but this is a sleep state similar to an always on tablet. To see what states your laptop supports enter

powercfg -a

to a command prompt(admin).

As to wireless card, if you did get driver update it may have changed your power setting for wireless adapter. Open device manager, right click on adapter , then properties, then power tab. Remove check mark beside "Allow computer to shut off device to save power"

As to power drain it could be some app or apps are now constantly checking in with the mother ship to see if any one has posted, if mail has been received etc. This activity usually only happens in Connected Standby.

Enter settings, then privacy and down left hand side look for background apps. Take a hard look at which apps should be allowed.

There is also a Sleep Study report in our tutorial section which may help you in identifying root cause.

Generate Sleep Study Report in Windows 10

Ken

mikolajek · 02 Jul 2017

Caledon Ken said:

Not sure if your laptop supports Connected Standby sleep but this is a sleep state similar to an always on tablet.

I'd bet it does - all new Dells coming with the new Intel chips have CS enabled by default. It's supposedly a "desired feature" of Intel struggling to bring more power efficiency to its products. However for me Intel seems to forget that not all devices are tablets...