What does "USB selective suspend" mean?

Anonymous
2010-10-14T06:39:16+00:00

In Windows 7, Power Options->USB Settings->USB selective suspend setting, what does "USB selective suspend" mean?  Also, given that there is only one setting, why does it say "USB Settings" instead of "USB Setting"?

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Devices and drivers

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Anonymous
2011-02-17T03:53:10+00:00

A USB device driver can send a message to windows telling it to idle the device.  This puts the device in a low-power state (the suspend state).  When a USB device is suspended, windows does not wait for it to respond before entering a sleep or hibernate mode.  If you disable this feature, the system will simply return a failure to the driver when the driver attempts to enter suspend state.  If the driver complies with Microsoft guidelines, it will simply retry the idle request at every expiration of its idle timer.

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  1. Anonymous
    2013-09-27T23:31:26+00:00

    _Kelter thanks for the explanation... now can I ask for a prediction? 

    I'm having problems with Win 7 (Ultra 64) waking up from sleep, similar to lots of queries here, MS support, and the web.  After finding out how to generate a "Power Efficiency Diagnostics Report" I see multiple errors of "USB Suspend:USB Device not Entering Suspend".  Somewhere in my researching this, I found a suggestion that worked for everyone who tried it, which was to go into Device Manager>USB Controllers> and then select the first item (in my case it's "Generic USB Hub") open its Properties>Power Management and then DESELECT "Allow the computer to turn off this device..."  and then the suggestion was to do this for EVERY USB device in the list.(!!!)

    So here's the question, do you think that going to Power Options->USB Settings->USB selective suspend and then DISABLING it would have the same effect as what was described above?

    A similar effect but not the same.  Any newly attached device, as well any devices switched to another port will not receive this setting.  Issues start to happen when the usb port or hub is going into a lowered power state and one of the devices doesn't report as its compatible or not at all will fail to work when the port or usb is set back to a normal state.  You will then be seeing hardware errors for that device.  This is why people choose to disable any usb suspending, its not needed on my desktop machine, but it might be crucial for laptop users on the batt.

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-07-02T13:49:46+00:00

    Having the same problem (wireless mouse and keyboard set freezing) with a new Windows 7 desktop. Trouble is, it has only happened twice in the month since I got the new box, even though I regularly walk away from my computer leaving it to go to sleep. I've tried disabling 'selective suspend' in the hope that this will fix the problem....

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-06-10T02:35:12+00:00

    I got here through Google. Now what?

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  4. Anonymous
    2013-05-15T22:41:14+00:00

    Hi,

    I am using a DLink DWA-643 Express Card WiFi Adapter in my laptop. Win 7 64-bit can detect the

    hardware and installed the driver.

    But after restart my syste, it cannot detect the adapter. I need to unplug and plug in the adapter again and scan for hardware changes.

    everytime i restart, the adapter is not detected automatically. I need to unplug and plug in again.

     

    Kindly advice.

    Hi there,

    I wonder if there has been any solution/advice with this. I seem to be grappling with the same problem.

    Any guidance would be appreciated / Thanks

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