Stop PC Sleep when Winamp Playing

[Batter Pudding]

I am sure the setting is in there somewhere, but I can't find it at the moment.

Is there a setting in Winamp to stop my PC falling asleep when playing tunes? I spotted the option to kill the screensaver for video playback, but can't spot the "no sleep if audio playback" option.

I know this is probably right under my nose, so feel free to abuse me when giving me an answer.

Trying to cook with Winamp on in the background means having to keep kicking the keyboard to bring it back to life.

[Aminifu]

I don't think WA has that option. I suggest temporarily disabling sleep in the Windows power options when you don't want your system to sleep.

If I'm wrong about there being a WA option, this will at-least get the job done until the option is found.

[Batter Pudding]

Yeah - I can temporarily turn off sleep at OS level. Could even do it as a script when starting Winamp. Just would have been easier if it was an option like with video playback. When I saw that video option, I assumed there was an Audio one I had missed.

I usually play all my audio\video on a different PC where Sleep is permanently off. So not thought about this one before.

I'll just keep swearing and kicking the mouse until I get the main AV machine back up and running. That one needs a brutal upgrade to match the new TV screen.

[Aminifu]

Ok, try using an alternating foot. We all need to get our exercise in, one way or another.

[Batter Pudding]

Anyone else who is having this problem may want to try this trick:

Make a custom power profile with the relevant "Don't Sleep when I play Music" options selected as required.

Then dump shortcuts to it onto your desktop. Simples as the Meerkat would say.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials...ower-plan.html

[thinktink]

Does the attached solve your ails?

[MrSinatra]

it is something that should be built in, WMP has such a thing i think, (altho it might only cover video). preventing screensaver should prevent sleeping.

[thinktink]

Originally Posted by MrSinatra

it is something that should be built in, WMP has such a thing i think, (altho it might only cover video). preventing screensaver should prevent sleeping.

...but did it work? I need to know that so I know whether or not to develop it further or throw the source code into the eternal bit bucket in the sky.

[DrO]

(note: i've not tried it as i'm in the middle of something else and cannot afford the machine to shutdown)

i know the way used to be to check for one of the globally broadcast power messages and then return a specific value which makes the OS abort it from happening - at least that's what i remember having to do in the autofs plug-in (but people keep saying that doesn't work so i don't know if Vista / Win 7 do it differently or not now).

-daz

[thinktink]

I've introduced new code to handle Vista/7. Updated plugin attached.

[thinktink]

So one of my friends with a Win7 laptop visited me. I tested the plugin with her machine and it didn't work when you have the setting for it to ask for a password for screensavers set. This next version worked on the Win7 machine, even with maximum power saving settings paranoia active. Attached.

[thinktink]

For those of you interested in this plugin, it is, at the moment, still on the plugin review queue.

This post is in response to a recent PM.

[MrSinatra]

i'll def give your plugin a shot when next available. til then, here is a lil useful utility I have used in the past for all kinds of times when I needed to be sure the machine was up and available:

http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?t=354151

[Batter Pudding]

Eh? Weird. I started a thread, subscribed, lots of people started talking... including someone building me a plugin - but I didn't get the notifications. I think my Google's spam box must be eating these messages as this goes to my ISP account.

thinktank: as the OP of this thread I'll test any plugin you have. Thanks for trying to create one. I just wish I had seen the emails about it. Trouble is now I am so late back to this thread I can't see any attachments. Have got a freshly built Win7 PC on the go which also helps throw up unexpected issues.

[MrSinatra]

in my exp, email notification from this forum is spotty at best, it might not be your setup.

[thinktink]

Found another request for this plugin so I'm attaching the same version that's currently been on the review queue for 6+ months now.

[Batter Pudding]

Oooo - toys. I'll download and go play with it. Thanks Thinktink

[DrO]

and it's going to remain in the queue as i stopped doing it (i know i said i'd try to before giving up doing it but that never happened due to paid work needing to be done) and i don't have access to the review queue anymore.

[Batter Pudding]

Hi DrO: No need for any fancy special tool for me. I'd rather you keep your sanity and have some free time away freom this madness.

I have found one trick round this - kick in a full screen visualisation and Winamp keeps the PC alive. A simple answer.

I will play with this BogProgAwake thing of thinktank's and see what it is. If the phones ever stop ringing today....

[DrO]

i lost my sanity too long ago

[Batter Pudding]

Originally Posted by DrO

i lost my sanity too long ago

Doesn't surprise me. I had assumed that is why you are here, on this forum for the mentally unstable. The Media Player is just a cover, really this is a Care in the Community scheme. Keeping the mad, paranoid and insane away from the general public.

[thinktink]

Originally Posted by Batter Pudding

...

I will play with this BogProgAwake thing of thinktank's and see what it is. If the phones ever stop ringing today....

Had a chance to play with it yet?

Very minor point of note: You misspelled my handle.

[Batter Pudding]

Originally Posted by thinktink

Had a chance to play with it yet?

Very minor point of note: You misspelled my handle.

Ah - sorry thinktink, my brain clearly failed that day. I even remember reading your handle twice to check the spelling. I was getting lost in thinking about thanking and tanked the typing.

Have not had much spare time lately. So I am going to go and install it NOW and fiddle with it. Fire some tunes up while I cook dinner I think.

Installed - and just noticed you clearly were time travelling on 7/10/2012 as you name the DLL after me - gen_bpawake.dll - I assume BP is Batter Pudding...

[thinktink]

All of my plugins start with "[typename]_bp" infront of the plugin name. Makes it easier to find them in the folders and what-not.

in_bpxfade.dll
dsp_bplivewire.dll
out_bpzeropointer.dll
dsp_bpzeropointer.dll
gen_bpwebjockey.dll
bpembededart.w5s
gen_bpembededart.dll
gen_bpthinktink.dll
gen_bpkeepalive.dll
in_bpopus.dll
gen_bpclocker.dll
out_bpdiskwrite.dll
in_bplivein.dll
gen_bpsamsend.dll

(I think that's all of them...)

[Batter Pudding]

A quick bit of feedback on BogProgAwake.

Great little tool. Thanks. It certainly works on this Win7 PC. When Winamp is running, the PC stays awake. Close Winamp and sleep mode kicks back in. Nicely done. No more having tracks suddenly cut out while I am cooking dinner.

The only thought I have had is it would be nice to be able to have it stay awake when playing a track. And fall asleep when paused \ stopped. If there is a simple "Is Winamp playing music\video?" test it would be nice to make use of this.

Great little plug-in. Thanks again.

[thinktink]

Originally Posted by Batter Pudding

...

The only thought I have had is it would be nice to be able to have it stay awake when playing a track. And fall asleep when paused \ stopped. If there is a simple "Is Winamp playing music\video?" test it would be nice to make use of this.

...

That's odd as I'm doing the test to see if Winamp is playing. I'll have another look at the source.

[Batter Pudding]

Originally Posted by thinktink

That's odd as I'm doing the test to see if Winamp is playing. I'll have another look at the source.

I have been watching this carefully. Generally I have Winamp open a lot in the day time as I also download podcasts with it. That is why I spotted that even when stopped Winamp was holding the PC awake. The moment I killed Winamp the sleep timer would kick back in.

(My PC is comically noticeable as it falls asleep. The Subwoofer make a loud "wompf" sound as it the power is cut as it falls asleep...)

[thinktink]

Originally Posted by Batter Pudding

...The Subwoofer make a loud "wompf" sound as it the power is cut as it falls asleep...

Generally that's not good if it's loud enough to cause the Sub to rip and become damaged.

Anyways, try the new attached. I didn't change alot of anything, just some changes based on some theoretical guess work that doesn't functionally change anything. The structure of the internals are still the same. So I don't know if this will actually resolve the issue or not but try it anyways. Sometimes my guesses are correct.

[Batter Pudding]

My whomfing woofer has been whomfing away merrily for ten years or so now. It is not a "max volume" type noise, just noticeable as it falls asleep. The speakers are Yamaha made and doing decent service still over the years.


I am back from a long weekend and I'll sling your new Awake plugin into Winamp later this afternoon and give you some feedback. If I spot no obvious difference with the sleepy code, I am happy to have message boxes or stuff like that put in for testing. Thanks for looking at the code.

[Batter Pudding]

Your theoretical guesswork that didn't change anything did the trick. The changes you didn't do combined with the guesses that were implemented combined to create a different result.

Now - music playing the PC stays awake. Music not playing - PC falls asleep.

Perfection I thank you.

Now... back to The Smiths while I get some work done. Thanks to your fix I can now walk away for half an hour and still have the music playing. Ideal.

[thinktink]

That was a little unexpected. I'll have to review the changes and commit it to memory!

Good to know it's now working as expected.

[Batter Pudding]

Ahhh... the unexpected... NOBODY expects the Spanish Inquisition! Our chief weapon is surprise...surprise and fear...fear and surprise.... Our two weapons are fear and surprise...and ruthless efficiency.... Our *three* weapons are fear, surprise, and ruthless efficiency...and an almost fanatical devotion to the Pope.... Our *four*...no... *Amongst* our weapons.... Amongst our weaponry...are such elements as fear, surprise.... I'll come in again.


The key is it is working now as expected. Time to nail down the code and say "Jobs a good 'un". (Unless that is "Steve" Jobs who clearly wasn't a good 'un with all that iCash he sat on...)

As to committing the changes to memory... if you didn't change anything except what was guessed then you are going to confuse the poor old brain cells by trying to guess which bit of nothing to memorise.


I think I may be working too hard... brain is going a little bonkers...

[thinktink]

Oh nice, it passed review muster.

http://www.winamp.com/plugin/details/222640

The plugin on the plugins page is the same as the one posted above here so you don't need to download it again if you've already downloaded it from this thread.

[ccc---]

Sorry for reviving this old thread.

I just installed this plugin and it works fine so far.

However, my energy options are set so that the screen turns of after 10 minutes and the PC goes to sleep mode after 30 minutes. Would be great if the plugin would let the PC turn of the screen after 10 minutes. I don't want the monitor to be switched on while playing music for hours ...

[thinktink]

Originally Posted by ccc---

...Would be great if the plugin would let the PC turn of the screen after 10 minutes. I don't want the monitor to be switched on while playing music for hours ...

Heh, I completely forgot about this plugin.

Long story short, the plugin was specifically designed to keep both the monitor and the computer awake to keep the computer from going into both sleep mode OR the logout screen (which then allows sleep mode later on) which is what the OP was being frustrated by. Both of these functions have to be running simultaneously or the computer finds some excuse to go into total sleep mode ultimately. The Windows Vista/7/8 power management APIs are a bit wonky and the MSDN descriptions are not entirely accurate as far as intended outcome.

Because of these factors, I'm currently of the belief that putting in said functionality would render the plugin completely impotent on Windows Vista/7/8 due to the wonkyness of the power APIs on those Operating Systems.

[ccc---]

That's a pity :-(

Like described in this thread

http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?t=379215

I had the behaviour that the screen turns off, but the PC wouldn't go into sleep mode when Winamp was playing songs. That was perfect for me to protect my monitor but still playing music with Winamp. I didn't have to switch anything for that behaviour, it was there "automatically". Maybe this had really something to do with the onboard sound that I used (I had to buy a PCIe sound card now as my onboard sound didn't work anymore).

[DrO]

simple solution is to use the plug-in and turn of the monitor when you don't need to use it. as what you were seeing previously was definitely not a native Winamp feature and if you didn't have this plug-in present before, then it's got to be something to do with the old on-board soundcard i.e. a driver setting or something like that.

[Aminifu]

Hi ccc---,

Unless you're still using a CRT monitor, you don't have to worry about burn-in of images. Screen savers are now used for their entertainment value with non-CRT monitors. I use "Marine Aquarium 3.2" (http://www.serenescreen.com/product/maquarium3/). I highly recommend it.

As DrO says, simply turning the monitor off gains you more (lower cost of electricity, less wear, less waste heat, etc.) than letting it switch to low-power mode. However, the waste heat from my computer equipment is great when the outside temps drop (I am in Chicago).

[DrO]

also with newer graphics cards, they can also switch off more of their functionality so turning off the monitor can save more energy than used to be the case (monitor usage vs monitor + GPU usage).

[ccc---]

Thanks for the info guys. It was just very comfortable the way it was before because I didn't have to care of anything. The monitor turned off but the music still kept playing. But I will just accustom myself to switch off the monitor when I will be afk for a longer time.

In the meantime I am pretty sure that the onboard sound must have had some feature so that the PC didn't go to sleep mode when there was any sound output ...