Computer turning itself on during night

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  1. Posts : 9
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit
       #1

    Computer turning itself on during night


    Similar to a post with the same title from August 2009, My computer starts up from a complete shut down(power off) in the middle of the night. I have checked the Task Scheduler and there are no tasks scheduled that are optioned to wake the computer to initiate. I have 3 network connections, Gigabit ethernet, Wi-Fi, and Virtual Wi-Fi. The Ethernet and Virtual Wi-Fi connections are not connected and have never been used. I have checked the wake on lan options for all three connections and all of the options are disabled. The ethernet card has 4 wake options including magic packet and pattern match, and all of the options are unchecked.
    After the most recent incident I used the "powercfg –lastwake" command and the results were:
    "Wake History Count - 0".
    My system is password protected so when the computer starts up over night, it is always sitting at the password prompt when I come to turn it on in the morning. I have actually been in the room at about 1:20 AM when it started up on its own.
    The system is a new build and all the components are new. None of them appear to have any problems. Other than the self startup there are no system problems that I am aware of.
    Norton Internet Security says the system is virus free.
    Does anyone have any new suggestions?

    Thank you.
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 13,576
    Windows 10 Pro x64
       #2

    Welcome Leonard704

    Do you live with Sheldon ? LOL

    Go to control panel / power options / sleep / advanced settings / sleep / make sure allow wake timers is set to disable.
    Last edited by AddRAM; 25 Feb 2013 at 19:04.
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 9
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit
    Thread Starter
       #3

    Thanks for your reply.

    I take it that Sheldon has or had a similar problem. Everything under sleep in the advanced power options is set to Never, Off or Disable. The allow wake timers setting was set to Enable and I just disabled it.
    Is there any command other than "powercfg –lastwake" that can show what event initiated a power up. The computer is always off when it powers up by itself. I don't allow it to go into sleep or hibernate mode and I always shut it off at night.
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 13,576
    Windows 10 Pro x64
       #4

    Sheldon and Leonard are on The Big Bang Theory. :)

    I keep all my equipment on surge protectors and are switched off when I`m done with the pc for the nite, I highly advise you to do the same. At least have it connected to a zip strip you can switch off.

    Leave the pc as is, now that you have disabled allow wake timers, to see if it stays off through the nite.

    You can also flip the power supply switch to off, if your PS has a switch.
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 2,726
    Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit
       #5

    Some of the Asus MB have a setting in the Bios to turn on the PC at a desired time, you might want to also look for a RTC setting in the Bios

    A real time clock alarm is a feature that can be used to allow a computer to 'wake up' after shut down to execute tasks every day or on a certain day. It can sometimes be found in the 'Power Management' section of a motherboard's BIOS setup.
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 5
    Windows 7 SP1 Home Premium x64
       #6

    Could be a virus . . .


    I would certainly consider all the suggestions posted.
    You could possibly have a virus, that is causing this.

    Have you tried scanning?
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 9
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit
    Thread Starter
       #7

    My computer is on surge protection with battery backup.
    It may take a couple of weeks after disabling the "Allow wake timers" option since the power on appears to be random. The computer has gone as long as a week without starting up and then starting up 2 or three times a week after that. There were 4 nights between the latest incident and the previous one.
    Turning the power switch off on the PS does eliminate the symptom, but it does not solve the problem. I would like to find out what is causing the problem and resolve it. If it turns out to be a hardware problem I need to find it before the warranty expires.

    The real-time clock option is disabled in bios.
    I have done a complete scan several times over the past month in addition to the scanning that Norton does on a regular basis.

    Thanks for the suggestions. I will continue to follow up on any other suggestions you may have.
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 5
    Windows 7 SP1 Home Premium x64
       #8

    Last Resort


    I can only think of one other suggestion.
    Call customer support while your computer
    is still under warranty, if nothing else works.

    Good luck!
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 9
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit
    Thread Starter
       #9

    I agree. If the problem persist after disabling the wake timer I think my next direction is hardware.
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 399
    Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit 7601
       #10

    There is also a setting in the bios to start the computer when there is a power failure the machine might turn itself on but you said you had a battery backup and im not sure how long yours would last with the computer is turned off, It would still drain your battery even with the computer off
    Last edited by Digital Life; 25 Feb 2013 at 23:33. Reason: Because I can
      My Computer


 
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