The reason is that Dell replaced S3 sleep with Modern Standby.

Modern standby is turning on my XPS so much it can actually get dangerously hot in my backpack.

"Modern Standby": https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/en-au/000177661/what-is-m...

Also, snrk:

> Symptoms

> Microsoft introduced Modern Standby in 2012 to improve battery life and the transition between power states, allowing Windows PCs to transition between on/off states faster, like your smartphone does.

It's a knowledgebase article using a standard Support/Resolution template (that might not be changeable). The irony is thoroughly amusing and IMO appropriate.

Thanks. This, and the GP, are helpful. Does naturally lead to the question of why in hell they'd implement this when, from my perspective as a user, it's much MUCH worse than S3 sleep.

The Bay Trail Atom-based tablets used this, they behaved really like oversized x86 smartphones. When it works ;), it is quite impressive.

You can enable Network Disconnected Modern Standby. Documented well at https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/108378-add-networking-co... and https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/146593-enable-disable-ne...

I recommend the powercfg command line approach instead of the UI.

My Macbooks have cooked themselves in my backpack plenty of times over the years.

Sure, mine's done it occasionally (rarely enough to be a surprise when it does happen), but do they do it every single time you put them to sleep? I doubt it. My Dell does this every single time it goes to sleep. It's really aggravating.

If you use an SD card, Apple issued an update to have it cook itself every single time, and never enter hibernate, to sell more 2-3x markup native storage space. If you try to fix it, the next update will break it again.

I don't use Windows so I didn't know what Modern Standby is. I googled this page https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/design/dev...

TLDR: "enables the system to stay connected to the network while in a low power mode" [...] "with the added benefit of allowing value-added software activities to run periodically" [...] "When a system service or background task requires network access, Windows automatically transitions the networking device to an active mode" [...] "longer active intervals occur for a variety of reasons, for example, processing incoming email or downloading critical Windows updates."

Details about what can temporarily activate Windows in Modern Standby at https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/design/dev...

Don't you have a way to disable it and go back to what Microsoft calls Traditional Sleep?

> Don't you have a way to disable it and go back to what Microsoft calls Traditional Sleep?

Yes, on some laptops, such as Lenovo, you can switch from "Windows" to "Linux" sleep mode in BIOS (yes, they are really named after the OS).

Here's the rub: you have to reinstall Windows. There used to be registry edit you could do but that seems to no longer work. At least it didn't for me.

On ThinkPads it can be disabled in BIOS.

> Don't you have a way to disable it and go back to what Microsoft calls Traditional Sleep?

No OP, but most of Dell's current lineup no longer has support for any other modes in the firmware. So no, I can't disable it.

What happens if you install Linux? Does it stay in traditional sleep because there is no software in the OS to temporarily awake the computer?

The new Dell laptops only support "modern sleep". Linux doesn't support this very well, so while things look to go to sleep (eg, screens turn off) the system is still on, just idling. Since Linux doesn't have all the hardware support that Dell's drivers for Windows might, not all hardware devices are put into a low power mode.

So often what happens is nothing: the battery often drains completely overnight and it's guaranteed to be dead on Monday morning if I let it "sleep" on Friday.

Sleep doesn't always work on Macs. For instance, when the kernel panics because you shut the lid and stuffed it in your bag before you detached your USB-C mouse and keyboard, so it's overheated or dead by the end of your commute.

http://rachelbythebay.com/w/2020/10/03/repro/

We've also had pretty awful state issues with Filevaulted Intel Macs from 2014 to present. While more consistent in their quirks than the myriad models and configurations of PCs, Macs haven't really done much to impress anyone but shareholders this past half decade or so.

Highly specific to Dell XPS laptops, but I used to have a similar issue to this. Eventually realised that the display wasn't actually turning off sometimes when I closed the lid. After much mucking around, it eventually turned out that in some of these laptops the magnet in the lid that triggers the "lid closed" action can become physically unstuck, and move around in the display housing (on my XPS 9350 this is in the bottom right corner of the display). Using an external magnet to jiggle it around both allowed testing to trigger the sensor and confirm the issue, and also to move it back to its proper location. Seems to work properly again now.

Windows machines have the habit of waking from sleep after 3 hours, to do whatever and then fail to go back to sleep when they are done. I only use hibernate for that reason, on an Ssd resume is fast enough.

I got rid of my MacBook about a year ago but when I had it sleep never always worked for me. My current current ThinkPad is just as reliable when sleeping as my MacBook was.

Some XPS models from recent years have known sleep problems. There is essentially no fix. The best you can do is switch to "network disconnected modern standby." Search for my other post in this thread.

I bought a new Dell XPS13 two weeks ago and discovered the hard way - after totally flat batteries - that sleep mode doesn't work. Whereas my other XPS13, the previous year's model, works perfectly.

What is totally annoying is my monitor, which has USB C power delivery, won't charge the laptop if its battery is completely flat. So now I have to carry the XPS's power adapter too.

I have been an XPS fan for years. But I am so close to sending this one back.

(If anyone from Dell reads this, pass back the message that you've lots of really unhappy customers from this)

Adding to my comment on my XPS13 7 days ago:

* I raised a service ticket with Dell.

* They asked me to install the latest firmware for the XPS13 9310, dated 8 April 2021.

* That solved the problem: now I can close the lid and the laptop properly sleeps; I can put it in my bag without it getting noticeably warm; battery loses just a couple of % overnight, not 75% as it did before.

So irrespective of whether this 11th gen does S3 sleep or not, my laptop is now performing in line with what I expected.

Thus: thank you Dell.

I believe that on (some?) Intel 11th gen chips, S3 sleep states are disabled, and only S1 works?

S3 = traditional "suspend to ram"

S1 = new fangled "kind of sleep, instant on mode"

At least, thats what I found on a System76 Lemur Pro, which has the same cpu as the XPS13 (and System76 had to restore the IME, whereas before they used to disable it, just to get some semblence of sleep working)

Solution: get an AMD 4800 - powered laptop instead. Same price, double the cores (8 vs 4), much (much) faster and yet runs cooler.

And S3 sleep works!

Sorry to hear it's happening in the latest generation product too. This is really disgraceful by Dell as the issue has been known about for years and they don't seem to care. Same with the crappy thermal pasting job that their factory does.

Do not expect the issue to be fixed. People bought XPS's years ago thinking Dell would release a patch in some reasonable amount of time, but it never came.

If your use case involves a lot of time away from a charger, I would send it back. Maybe splurge a bit more for a Surface Book, assuming Microsoft cares a little more about putting out a well finished product.