Windows 10 2004 Update – Sleep Mode Issue and Workaround

Since I installed Windows 10 2004 Update, Windows doesn’t wake up from sleep mode correctly.

I can login as expected, display and cursor are reactive until I try to open the first program/app the blue circle/wait animation lights up shortly but nothing happens. When I try to open a second program or the same program again, the computer freezes completely. Only a hard shutdown pressing the power button for several seconds will help. When I’m able to press restart, restart will eventually execute but takes awfully long (10 minutes).

• Hardware is new and shouldn’t be an issue (Dell XPS 15 7590 16GB RAM).
• All drivers are up to date.
• It only happens after prolonged sleep (over +/-10 minutes). After very short sleeps, everything runs fine.
• Small apps like Notepad and Mail are not affected.
• It could be a graphics issue.
• I suspect some driver not waking up correctly from sleep mode.
• Scan disk shows no issues.
• I tried changing the power plan.
• I tried resetting the page file.
• I tried with and without fast startupenabled.
• I unchecked the "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power" checkbox of Intel Management Engine Interface as suggested elsewhere.
• I ran the Windows troubleshooter.

For now, I found the following workaround: Set sleep to ‘Never’ and set what closing the lid/power button does to ‘Hibernate’.

It’s not optimal but for now I’ll wait what future Windows patches and driver update bring. I am not planning on reinstalling Windows or creating a new user account.

Is there anything else I could try? 

UPDATES:

A short static of incidents, two weeks into this thread:

• Dell: 6
• Microsoft Surface: 3
• Lenovo: 1

I usually put my computer into sleep around 4-5 times per day. After two weeks of changing from sleep mode to hibernation, I only had the same issue once, and not as severe (after 5-6 hours of hibernation). Programs wouldn’t run, but I was still able to restart my machine normally in that case. Hence, hibernation is a viable workaround.

User Rednax35 identified Malwarebytes as the culprit. After trying it for 24 hours, this solution worked for me, too. That’s why accepted it as valid solution being aware that****it couldn’t fix the problem for all users! I should have checked for antivirus-related causes right away, as they are frequent candidates when things come to an unexpected halt. It would be interesting to hear, if other users had different third-party antivirus programs installed. Some privileges could have been revoked from the OS side with the feature update. I also noted some hiccups with the fingerprint reader which wasn’t always ready when resuming after sleep, which could be worth investigating.