Wi-Fi Network Card Power Management

[rjbinney]

Dear Internet:

I have a new PC, and it seems to drop its Wi-Fi connection when left unattended. My Power Settings are "Always On" when plugged in.

I found several sources online that suggested to turn off "Allow the computer to turn off this device" in "Power Management" on my network adapter's "Power Management" tab in Properties.

Trouble is, I CANT FIND THAT TAB (see picture).

Need some help!

Thanks,

[patio]

Advanced

[rjbinney]

Advanced:

[patio]

I dont understand why Power Management isn't listed...what Win ver. ? ?

[BC_Programmer]

Try viewing the properties of your wireless adapter from Device Manager. There should be a Power Management tab. it's possible it does not show if you are using some other method to view the properties.

I've found references claiming the Power Management is, for some reason, tied to a registry key setting:

Open RegEdit and move to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power

If it's not created yet, you have to create a new DWORD key named CsEnabled and set the value to 0.

I find I have that value, however it is set to 1 and I can see the power management tab on my laptop's Wifi adapter. It may depend on driver support as well.

[rjbinney]

I don't understand either!  Why I'm postin'!

It's Win 10 Pro V1903 OS Build 18362.418

[rjbinney]

Try viewing the properties of your wireless adapter from Device Manager.

That was my first move.

I went to that reg key, it was set to 1, as well. Just set to 0. Will let you know after reboot.

Thanks

[rjbinney]

That did it, BC_Programmer. Thanks.

Now, though - and I don't know if this is connected, but this is the first I'm noticing it - my "Edit Plan Settings" screen in Control Panel ONLY allows me to change when my display turns off, NOT when my machine goes to sleep (or whatever the second set of drop downs is).

Hm.

[patio]

Leave Win power settings alone and manage it yerself...they are worthless.

[rjbinney]

OK, tell me more - how do I do that? (Is that the "advanced power options"?)

[rjbinney]

OK, today I realized when I closed my laptop lid on battery, it didn't go to sleep.

So I Googled all the solutions, and found if I set
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power , CsEnabled to 0, it would allow me to Sleep.

And, viola, it did.

Then I noticed that my PC was dropping its network connection whilst I was away.

So I came back to this thread.

Which... Wait for it....

Well, you know what it says. It says to go to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power and set CsEnabled to 1.

Surely there's a way for my new PC to do what every other PC I've ever had did... Be able to go to Sleep when on Battery, but stay connected to the Interwebs when on AC Power....

Argh.

[rjbinney]

I may be learning something!

I found this page, which shows how to edit the registry to force "Allow the computer to turn off this device" to be unchecked, even if it doesn't appear on the card's Properties.

The post says that my Network Card should be Device Number 0001, and there should be a PnPCapabilities value of "24".

Turns out, my Network Card is Device Number 0002, and it does have a PnPCapabilities value of "24".

BUT.

But, my VPN shows as Device Number 0001, and does NOT have any "PnPCapabilities" listed.

And, turns out, the last two times my network's dropped, I've been tunneling through my VPN.

So.

SO.

So, I am creating the value, and keeping my CsEnabled at 0, so I have "Sleep" options in Power Settings, and we'll see what happens.

(The network card is a Marvell AVASTAR, and some Googling shows a recent update fudged everything up. As this is a new machine, I don't have previous drivers to roll to, but if this solves my problem, awesome. Besides, I'm more of a DC guy.)

[rjbinney]

OK, feeling a little bipolar on this subject.

I have my 0001 and 0002 (What appears to be my VPN and network card, respectively) both set to PNPCapabilities, Value Data = 18. So it reads 0x00000018 (24) for REG_DWORD.

This is at Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4d36e972-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}

I noticed last night that, when connected to the VPN, the signal drops. (I don't know how long after leaving unattended; i just know overnight downloads and emails didn't go out when connected; and when i came back to my laptop, the VPN was disconnected and my network indicator in system tray showed no connections).

Just to confirm my thinking, I want to set this so that "will prevent Windows 7 from turning off the network adapter or let the network adapter wake the computer from standby", yes?

And to recap, the dilemma appears to be: My network card does NOT have any "power management" options listed on its driver. If I override the settings in the Power section of the registry, I lose the ability to Sleep. And vice versa - if I fix the Sleep, my network drops when my machine is unattended.

Any thoughts?

(BTW, the page I learnt this from: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/2740020/information-about-power-management-setting-on-a-network-adapter)

[BC_Programmer]

Disregarding driver options for a moment, have you checked the power plan settings? (Power and Sleep Settings->Additional Power Settings-> select one of the plans and choose "Change Plan settings" (this is where the drop down you mentioned- and a second set you don't see for some reason- appear). From there "Change advanced Power settings" should give you something like this (Apologies about the ridiculous proportions- my laptop has a rather ridiculously high 2880x1620 screen resolution):



"Wireless Adapter Settings" is probably the one worth investigating. My laptop doesn't drop the wireless connection while plugged in. (it does when on battery but only because it goes to sleep)

[Lisa_maree]

Hi
Seems you have isolated the problem to only when you are working thru a VPN. Which suggests it is a VPN timing out problem, not a wireless power setting.
To confirm can you plug your laptop in with a network cable instead of wireless. Or set your email client to check your email every 5 minutes to keep internet traffic regular and see if the wireless stays connected.
You don't say how the laptop is connecting to the internet like is it 4g thru a cellphone hot spot maybe.
 

[rjbinney]

BC_Programmer:
It seems the network card and the Power Settings just can't co-exist. This is the card that comes in Windows Surface Pro 5's. I received this from MSFT Store <6 weeks ago!


Lisa_maree:
I would not say I've isolated this to just the VPN. I only notice it when I'm on my VPN.

I only know my network has dropped because either
a) A download didn't complete or
b) My VPN connection reconnects after I sign back

And for the last four weeks, at least, all of my downloads have been through a VPN. I will double-check my VPN settings, though. Who knows if an update mucked about with its timeout settings!

What I need to do is smoke test the network. I guess I can leave the PC unattended overnight, with the VPN down, and see what the email inbound traffic looks like.

Although my computer connects to a ton of different networks (a slutty little thing, it is), I am more monogamous when it comes to unattended downloads - either my home Cable-based WiFi or a hotel WiFi (presuming it's cable-based). Obviously on hotel networks I can't plug in with an RJ45. And I won't be back on my home router (which is buried behind my stereo) until Saturday.

Will continue to report back. Thanks for the help and suggestions!

[rjbinney]

It is NOT just when I am on my VPN.

I have noticed this behavior (the network dropping when the screen goes to sleep):
1) Using my VPN at two hotels
2) Using my VPN at home
3) NOT using a VPN at home
4) NOT using my VPN on client networks

and have NOT noticed this behavior
4) Using my VPN at a third hotel

One of the hotels in #1) requires daily registration to access the network. The client network in 4) requires daily registration to access network. (Both through the web - the hotel requires individual identification, the client network is a generic guest password). My home network, obviously, does NOT require daily registration.

It's very strange.

I reconnect immediately once my screen is unlocked.

[rjbinney]

Just for added clarity, it disconnects whenever my screen display turns off  (i.e., "Turn Off the Display" in Power Settings). Regardless of whether or not VPN is on.

[patio]

Then turn off the screen power settings as well...

[rjbinney]

When I do that, Patio, my screen never shuts off (which I do want it to do), and, more importantly, it won't go to sleep when I close my lid.

There's some broken logic in my network card, and I'm trying to find a way to correct it.

It's either/or with this driver. Either I have Power Settings for the laptop, or I can keep the network connection active.

I'm hesitant to take the machine back under warranty, as it seems that this will be an endemic issue to the SP5 setup. If there's no way to hack a solution, I'm just going to have to hope that the Marvell people fix it. (But, really, when it comes to computers, who believes in "hope", anyway!!?!?)

Clearly I'm at wit's end, and have no idea what to do!

[BC_Programmer]

Apparently a lot of people have had all sorts of issue with the Surface, a lot of which revolve around the network adapter; not connecting to access points, not working correctly in various ways, random disconnects, etc. Here is a list of all the things Microsoft has done to address these serious issues that have been seen by their consumers:

... Yeah, they've done nothing as far as I can tell. It's really just people with issues and others making guesses regarding possible resolutions (kind of like this thread!).

If you have or can get a USB Wifi adapter for cheap it might be worthwhile as it could at least point the finger at the built-in wireless adapter. Though from there it's really a case of hoping those responsible for the software  in question issue some fix and it actually can get to you.

[rjbinney]

Yeah, that's about the best my Google-Fu uncovered.

What's frustrating is, I had an SP4, and, after a few growing pains (and a quick warranty replacement) was awesome for about 2.8 years. Then the battery started draining quickly - even when powered off! About 0.18 years later, I resolved to look at the new Surfaces v. MacBooks, when I noticed my screen separating from the board. On an airplane. Some quick Googling found "battery bulge" - and a quick phone call put my right to a "battery bulge" specialist. Who knew?

They said because it was over 3 years since my purchase date, I was SOL. I pointed out my initial unit was defective, and this replacement was just a hair under 3 years old - so they swapped it for this SP5. Which is fantastic - except for this network card issue.

And because the Surface folks studied Mac's model, you can't just swap out a card on the dang thing.

Since it was a freebie, when I was expecting to drop coin on a new PC, I'm willing to live with it. But it's frustrating!

Thanks for all the advice and registry hacks...