windows 8 won't wake up from sleep mode

I have a Gateway and there is no Energy Star ... and have done so much to fix things but none work.   Win 8.1

After trying all of the Microsoft recommendations, none of them made a difference.

Also, updated to Windows 8.1. From there, it is important to check on the drivers update for each item from your manufacture. This includes the graphics board, the motherboard, the processor, the hard-drive software driver, and any other hardware such as a USB 3.0 expansion board.

That still didn't fix the Windows sleeping for me.

In Windows 8.0 many suggested that turning off all energy saving for the graphic board (no sleep mode) would work. That did work for me until upgrading to Windows 8.1.

Then the problem came back with Windows 8.1, even after updating all the drivers described above.

Here is what fixed it, and yes my Windows 8.1 now goes to sleep, and awakes with any key stroke or mouse movement.

Goto the Add / Remove Software.

Remove the Energy Star application.

Then do a complete power down and restart (not just a restart).

It is possible the Energy Star was never tested for Windows 8

There are literally dozens of sites with every manufacture of PC having this problem with Windows 8. You are not alone. It is very, very frustrating for all of us.

If this works, please come back and report so it can help others.

For the HP users after Windows 8.1 install:

The HP Assistant is suppose to keep users up to date with software drivers and other updates for the PC. My Envy Desktop i7 3rd generation 12GB RAM was running at an elevated level.

Using the Task Manager, the activity was pointed to the HP Assistant.

It was running in an infinite loop, failing, and rerunning.

Using the HP Website, many were complaining. The answer was that the HP Assistant was not tested on Windows 8.1.

Using Add / Remove Software to remove the HP Assistant (then shut down and restart) vastly reduced the wattage (the amount of energy a PC uses), allowed the power supply fan to not run as loud, and made processing power available.

For SONY Platinum video editor (latest edition)

 The previous version installed on Windows 8.0. The PC was later upgraded to Windows 8.1.

SONY offered an upgrade to existing users.

The install acts as if it is installing, but not a single directory or file is transferred.

Tried Windows 7 compatibility, Install as Administrator, and other tricks. No success.

Windows 8 has been so troublesome, my small business purchased a back-up desktop with an I-5 4th generation and 8GB of fast RAM (and SSD hard drive for C:). We installed Windows 7 Ultimate.

This has become our main workstation for productivity.

Sony Platinum video editor installed perfect the first time. Works great.

Reviewing Sony's website, the software is only certified up to Windows 7.

The theme might be: Install everything as Windows 7 compatible.

That might be a band aid. The sure fix is to update to the latest graphic drivers from Dell. I have an Inspiron 7000 also and was having this issue for about 2 months. When I received the Dell driver update about 3 weeks ago, this problem disappeared. 

I too have a brand-new Dell Inspiron 7000 15 and had the same sleep problem right out of the box.  I saw the answer above about turning off Intel Fast Start and tried it, and IT WORKED. 

I then saw your answer Christopher and I went out and updated my graphics driver and then turned the Intel Fast Start back on, and problem SOLVED!!! thanks!

Just refreshed back to windows 8.0.  Only thing that has worked on my Helix. Clearly 8.1 has an issue with many of these laptops.