Bug Report: Steam + NVIDIA High Definition Audio device prevents sleep

[IndistinctBlur]

When Steam is running and the NVIDIA High Definition Audio device is enabled, whenever the computer attempts to go to sleep when idle, the screen go black briefly, and then returns without going to sleep. It's like something notices the computer going idle and prevents it from sleeping.

Going to sleep manually (ie. through the Start Menu) works ok, it's only idle sleep which is prevented.

Disabling the NVIDIA High Definition Audio device fixes the issue, but of course then I don't get sound.

I tried assigning Steam to a different audio device in Windows' "App Volume and Device Preferences" settings screen but that had no effect.

This has been happening since February; around the time I installed the Windows 10 20H2 update.

Issue was identified by other users in the Help forum, but I'm an eternal optimist and like to think that someone from Valve might be reading the Suggestions forum. ;) https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/1/1753525585397818157/

[IndistinctBlur]

Correction: Installed 20H2 and encountered this issue around December 2020.

[Tev]

I'd recommend this forum
https://steamcommunity.com/groups/SteamClientBeta/discussions/0/

While you may not be on the Steam Client Beta, it likely occurs there too.

[Mad Scientist]

My NVIDIA HD Audio is enabled, I have no such issue unless pushing a high RAM overclock without changing a specific BIOS setting.

[IndistinctBlur]

Originally posted by Tev:

I'd recommend this forum
https://steamcommunity.com/groups/SteamClientBeta/discussions/0/

While you may not be on the Steam Client Beta, it likely occurs there too.

Thanks for the suggestion! Found a fix that worked for me (unchecking the "Allow this device to be turned off to save power" on the USB Input Devices of the Microsoft All-in-One Keyboard) in a bug report there: https://steamcommunity.com/groups/SteamClientBeta/discussions/0/2985287984625022179/

[Lets rotate and not bunch up]

I've spent many hours on this. Thank you for providing a workaround. Steam please fix this issue.... Especially since we can't just close steam.

This coming from someone who is disabled with accessibility issues.

[Slavadir]

This is also true with AMD. I had to disable AMD High Definition Audio Device as a workaround.

[goodcatniuzi]

It seems the HD audio device is just a workaround. You will ultimately find that it is one of your USB devices causing the problem. But I don't know why this is related to audio device.

For my case, Windows finally goes to sleep after I disabled Nvidia HD audio device. However you can try what The Bestagon said in https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/11/3004430610118704574/?l=hungarian&ctp=2#c3729575042618889448 to disable "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power" for every USB input device, and then try to find which one actually caused this problem. For me, it is a Microsoft sculpt mouse wireless adapter. I didn't use that mouse for a while, had its battery removed, but its adapter is still on my PC...

[Connie]

This thread was quite old before the recent post, so we're locking it to prevent confusion.