How To Wake Up Dell Laptop From Sleep Mode

Waking your Dell laptop from sleep mode can be frustrating when your dell laptop refuses to wake up.

This problem generally occurs on all Dell laptop models. However, most Dell users using an Inspiron, precision, or latitude laptop model complain more often through the dell community.

One of the best way to wake up your computer is to unlock your Dell keyboard and then click on the power or sleep button.

Most people don’t know that there isn’t much difference between sleep and hibernation mode.

Sleep vs. Hibernation

Sleep mode

When your Dell laptop goes to sleep, it stores all the operation documents and files to your RAM while using a small amount of power.

Hibernation mode

Hibernation mode stores your operating file and document in your hard drive using no power, making your Dell laptop turn off entirely.

Clearly, you can see how similar both modes are and the little differences they have.

You should know that the same methods that wake up your Dell laptop from sleep mode are the same methods that will wake up your Dell laptop from hibernation mode.

Symptoms

These are some of the issues you could be experiencing when your Dell laptop refuses to wake up:

• Your mouse and keyboard don’t work when you try to wake up your Dell laptop with it.
• After opening the lid of your Dell laptop, it doesn’t still wake up.
• When your Dell laptop manages to wake up from sleep mode, the pointer/arrow doesn’t work.
• The sleep button on your keyboard doesn’t work.

Reasons

Drivers

Drivers are the primary reasons why your keyboard and mouse refuses to respond when you are trying to wake up your Dell laptop from sleep mode.

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To enter BIOS on a Dell laptop/desktop, please refer to the Dell BIOS Entry Guide.

Your drivers for both your keyboard and mouse could be outdated or corrupted, especially if your devices are wireless.

A simple way to fix these problems is to install the right drivers for your Dell laptop.

A detailed guide is provided in the solution section below.

Configuration

Configuration can cause several issues if not done right.

If your keyboard and mouse are not configured to wake up your Dell computer from sleep mode, then they won’t work.

They will only work if they are well configured to wake up your laptop from sleep or hibernation mode.

Sometimes, your configurations could change after a windows update, making you think there’s something wrong with your devices.

All you have to do is reconfigure your device from the control panel to wake your Dell laptop after it sleeps.

Outdated OS

Honestly, I’ll be surprised if you are still using an operating system older than Windows 10 at this age and time.

If you are, then it’s time for an update.

I’ll advise you to update your Dell laptop to the latest operating system to resolve your problem.

The reason is that an older version of Windows doesn’t receive updates anymore, which could leave you with a ton of bugs.

The only way to get rid of this bug is to update and keep updating anytime an update is available

Low Battery

Most people overlook their battery and begin to wonder why their Dell laptop refuses to wake up from sleep mode.

They don’t know that their computer isn’t sleeping but turned off entirely due to low battery.

This happens typically when you close your laptop lid think it will automatically set itself to sleep or hibernation mode, not knowing it is still awake and draining your battery.

Another instance is when you put your computer to sleep or hibernate when your battery is already low.

If you come back after an extended period, your laptop should be turned off.

You need to fix this and charge your laptop for a while and then turn it back on.

System error

Errors are common for computers.

There’s a chance your Dell laptop might be in an error state, causing your computer not to wake up from sleep mode.

The error state could freeze your computer, making you think your keyboard and mouse aren’t working when you use them to wake up your computer.

A simple way to fix this is to force shut down your Dell laptop and then restart it.

Solutions

1. move your mouse

Moving your mouse is the most basic way to wake up your Dell laptop when it’s asleep or in hibernation.

Here’s how you should do it,

Open the lid of your Dell laptop and move your trackpad.

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To copy and paste on a Dell laptop, simply use the keyboard shortcuts [Ctrl + C] to copy and [Ctrl + V] to paste. For more detailed instructions, check out this helpful guide on Copy Paste Dell Laptop.

If you are using a desktop or a wired/wireless mouse, move the mouse randomly to wake up your computer.

While you are moving your mouse or trackpad, you should also right-click or left click along with it.

If your mouse doesn’t wake up your Dell laptop, try this other method.

2. Press any key on your keyboard

On your keyboard, click on any key to boot your Dell laptop out of sleep mode.

You can click on your space or enter button if other buttons don’t respond.

If your keyboard has a dedicated sleep button, click on it.

It is usually located at the top of your keyboard where your F keys are, and you can identify it with a half-moon shape icon.

3. Press your power button

Your Power button key can sometimes be your primary button to boot your computer out of sleep mode, depending on the Windows version you are using.

Click on your power button once or twice and wait for your Dell laptop to wake up.

If it doesn’t, continue with the next method.

4. Force Shut Down and Disconnect your battery.

Here’s an ultimate solution that works 100% of the time.

If you’ve tried all the methods and didn’t work, you should consider trying this method.

This method’s only disadvantage is that all your programs in session before your Dell laptop went to sleep mode will close.

So, if you didn’t save any documents you were working on, you will lose them.

Here’s how to force shut down your Dell laptop,

1. Hold your power button for more than 30 sec.

2. After releasing your hand, disconnect your inbuilt or removable battery.

3. Now, hold your power button again for 30 seconds and then remove your hand.

4. Re-insert your battery.

5. Turn on your Dell laptop.

Prevent your Dell laptop from Sleep and Hibernation issues.

Configure Your Sleep settings

1. Right-click on the battery icon in your taskbar.

2. Click on power options.

3. Click on change plan settings.

4. Set every option under on battery and plugged in to never.

5. Click on save changes.

With all the settings set to never, your computer will never go to sleep again but instead be awake all the time except you shut down.

Reinstall your drivers

The main drivers you need to reinstall are as follows:

• Keyboard
• Mouse
• Bios

Here’s how,

1. Download your drivers from Dell official website

2. Enter your serial number to search for your computer.

3. Download all the main drivers.

4. Install it on your Dell computer.

5. Restart your computer.

Faq