Windows Power Plan Changing by Itself

[Thentilian]

I'm running Win 10 Pro 64bit, and lately I've noticed my power plan keeps changing to balanced. I normally run high performance or AMD balanced plans...

So, I went looking around to fix this issue and discovered others have had this issue before with various different windows versions as well as windows 10. The suggested fix I found was to get your preferred plan ID code then paste that into your registry... That's what I did. I assumed problem was fixed. Nope, turned my PC on today and it was set into balanced plan again!

I'm at a loss how to fix this other than a fresh install, and that's just way too much of a headache for something that should be simple to fix. Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated, thanks. Oh, and I just checked in the registry, it still has the AMD plan as preferred, so what the heck windows!



EDIT: Just so there isn't any confusion, it says the AMD plan is active in the command window because I had already changed it before taking the screen cap. I've since tried to make a custom plan, same thing happens. I even added a registry entry to the hardware override folder for preferred plan with the custom plan code and still goes back to balanced power plan.

 

[trents]

Have you noticed this happens after Windows updates? Do you see a pattern of some kind? After the Fall Creator's Update I noticed the Power scheme options had changed but I could still manipulate them as need with the Advanced tool. I haven't noticed them spontaneously reverting, however.

 

[Thentilian]

Have you noticed this happens after Windows updates? Do you see a pattern of some kind? After the Fall Creator's Update I noticed the Power scheme options had changed but I could still manipulate them as need with the Advanced tool. I haven't noticed them spontaneously reverting, however.

Yes, I think it happened after the update. But I can't be 100% sure. I just noticed some instability in games and I randomly decided to check the power plan, and it wasn't set to High Performance as I had it set normally. I can get into the power plan and change it, but anytime I reboot or shutdown the PC, the next time it reverts back to balanced plan.

 

[EarthDog]

This is weird. I still have not seen this on my Windows (fully updated W10 Pro CE/1709). What does happen, is normally high performance is under additional plans with balanced and power saver up top. When I select high performance, it moves that up with balanced and moves power saver hidden under additional plans. But, it stays on HP.

I've heard someone say (trents?) it went away all together, but only saw that on a laptop.

.......that wasn't terribly helpful though...

 

[Thentilian]

This is weird. I still have not seen this on my Windows (fully updated W10 Pro CE/1709). What does happen, is normally high performance is under additional plans with balanced and power saver up top. When I select high performance, it moves that up with balanced and moves power saver hidden under additional plans. But, it stays on HP.

I've heard someone say (trents?) it went away all together, but only saw that on a laptop.

.......that wasn't terribly helpful though...

Yeah, the power plans shift, and the (recommended) balanced plan moves down to the bottom where you can hide it. Doesn't seem to matter though, any restart or shutdown, next boot the PC defaults back to that even with the registry changes. I'll probably have to contact MS support *cringe* to sort this out.

 

[trents]

Thentillian, this sounds like system file corruption to me. At the least, I would run sfc /scannow from Power Shell with administrator privileges and then check for infections thoroughly with Malwarebytes and a boot time root kit virus scanner. If that doesn't help I would do fresh install of Windows and delete the existing partitions in the process to eliminate the possibility of malware infections being retained, if there are any.

 

[Robert17]

Does that MB have power plans in the BIOS, such as Tweaker or Power saving mode? If so, check those settings against Winderz for conflicts.

 

[Thentilian]

Thentillian, this sounds like system file corruption to me. At the least, I would run sfc /scannow from Power Shell with administrator privileges and then check for infections thoroughly with Malwarebytes and a boot time root kit virus scanner. If that doesn't help I would do fresh install of Windows and delete the existing partitions in the process to eliminate the possibility of malware infections being retained, if there are any.

Does that MB have power plans in the BIOS, such as Tweaker or Power saving mode? If so, check those settings against Winderz for conflicts.

Thanks guys, good suggestions. I did recently update the BIOS on the motherboard which resets everything, so I'll check that out.

Doing a SFC scannow as well. I'll edit this post with the scan results. I'll scan with Malwarebytes too. Last time I checked for viruses was a bit ago, so a scan would be a good thing just to rule out any malicious software.

EDIT: SFC scan showed no integrity issues. Moving along with virus scanning. No joy. Both Malwarebytes virus and rootkit programs found nothing. Computer is clean.

I checked the BIOS, but there isn't any power plan options and I have my OC set the same as before. This issue was also already a problem before the BIOS update. Not sure if it existed with the 0810 BIOS I was on before updating to the 3*** series of BIOS. So, I don't know if it's the new Asus BIOS causing this or what. I'm at a loss now for what to try next.

 

[Thentilian]

So, I've been continuing to try and fix this. I've used the powercfg.exe -setactive command and it works, but only while the PC is on. I've even looked into my Asus AI Suite 3 as they have some settings in EPU, I have disabled them, and neither of those solutions work. I just have to change the setting manually on every boot.

What really irks me is that this goes WAY back as a problem in windows. I have read countless posts from this happening since Vista all the way up to Windows 10. Come on MS really? This is obviously a bug that's been a plague in their OS for a long while now. I guess I've been lucky not to have it, or just never noticed it before on my old computers. It's not something that is completely obvious anyways without looking, but with Ryzen, I could notice a performance lag with some of my games and a few other apps. That's what prompted me to check the power options, otherwise I wouldn't have a clue.

 

[trents]

So I wonder if there might be a work around for this via a script that automatically configures the power plan to high performance every time the computer boots? Maybe some of our "script monkeys" could look into this.

- - - Updated - - -

Here you go?: http://www.thewindowsclub.com/specify-custom-active-power-plan-windows

Not sure if it will work for Windows 10

 

[Thentilian]

So I wonder if there might be a work around for this via a script that automatically configures the power plan to high performance every time the computer boots? Maybe some of our "script monkeys" could look into this.

- - - Updated - - -

Here you go?: http://www.thewindowsclub.com/specify-custom-active-power-plan-windows

Not sure if it will work for Windows 10

Nice, I see the power management, but the custom power plan is missing in the right pane. I'll have to figure out how to make one. Maybe this is what caused the issue in the first place with this missing, so it just defaults back to Windows balanced plan, even though I've manipulated the registry entry, it appears to do nothing. I'll edit this if I can get this way to work, thanks for the idea.

EDIT: Ok, so I was looking in the wrong section at first, the power plan was there, I took the GUID from the powercfg list and put that as my custom. Now it's locked from me changing, but it is set to high performance. For now it seems fix, thanks!

 

[ATMINSIDE]

Could you just change the parameters in the Balanced plan to match the High-Performance plan?

 

[Thentilian]

Could you just change the parameters in the Balanced plan to match the High-Performance plan?

I just took the GUID for the high performance and put it into the custom plan and enabled it. That is an admin control, so it overrides the control panel power options and locks them out. But I'll remember how to get back to it if I need to change it at a later time. For now this appears to work after a couple of restarts it stayed in high performance mode.

 

[Bytemare]

I just took the GUID for the high performance and put it into the custom plan and enabled it. That is an admin control, so it overrides the control panel power options and locks them out. But I'll remember how to get back to it if I need to change it at a later time. For now this appears to work after a couple of restarts it stayed in high performance mode.

Hi Thentilian!

Would you be so kind and explain to me how you managed to fix this? I'm having the excact same issues, I'm not able to put windows in performance mode at all except to write " powercfg –restoredefaultschemes " in cmd mode. After a restart, back to balanced again and it's driving me crazy.

So if you please could write me a " step by step" guide that would so helpfull....tanks!

 

[Thentilian]

Hi Thentilian!

Would you be so kind and explain to me how you managed to fix this? I'm having the excact same issues, I'm not able to put windows in performance mode at all except to write " powercfg –restoredefaultschemes " in cmd mode. After a restart, back to balanced again and it's driving me crazy.

So if you please could write me a " step by step" guide that would so helpfull....tanks!

Give me a few days to put some screen caps together. I have a show to prep for tomorrow. I found a job back in April doing sound engineering. Part of the reason I haven't been very active on the forums lately.

I also have to remember exactly where I went, as I've kind of forgotten at this point!

 

[UltraTaco]

Could you just change the parameters in the Balanced plan to match the High-Performance plan?

This is probably the easiest way to fix until another Windows update screws everything up again

 

[Thentilian]

Hi Thentilian!

Would you be so kind and explain to me how you managed to fix this? I'm having the excact same issues, I'm not able to put windows in performance mode at all except to write " powercfg –restoredefaultschemes " in cmd mode. After a restart, back to balanced again and it's driving me crazy.

So if you please could write me a " step by step" guide that would so helpfull....tanks!

Hey, I don't know if you fixed this already. I got quite busy with work recently. Anyways, here is a step-by-step guide which is pretty simple:

Open Group Policy Editor (Win+R, then type "gpedit.msc")
Navigate to [Computer Configuration]->[Administrative Templates]->[System]->[Power Management]
Double click the Specify a custom active power plan policy setting
Set to Disabled
Click Apply then OK

You can then change your power plan by creating a new one in your power options in the control panel. If this doesn't work, let me know.

 

[Alaric]

Not sure if this still works.
https://www.majorgeeks.com/content/...ndows_10_ultimate_performance_power_plan.html

 

[Thentilian]

Not sure if this still works.
https://www.majorgeeks.com/content/...ndows_10_ultimate_performance_power_plan.html

Just tried it on my PC, said the plan didn't exist.

 

[Alaric]

Don't you just love M$? They know better than you, so just sit there while they control your hardware.