Restarts After Outage Even Though Set Not To in BIOS ???

[BuckSkin]

One of our Dell Optiplex 780 mini-tower machines has the bad and dangerous habit of restarting itself whenever the power goes out or is turned off for whatever reason.

This is not at all very desirable behavior in this 3rd world rural area where the power may surge rapidly off and on several times during an outage.

The machine is definitely set to remain OFF after an outage, yet it ignores this setting and restarts anyway.

How can I fix this ?

I thought I might set it to automatically restart, restart it a few times, then set it back to not automatically restart; do you guys think that might do the trick ?

Thanks for reading and all help is appreciated.

 

[Ranger4]

A much better idea would be to purchase an Interruptible Power Supply (UPS). This will provide power for the computer for a short period after the mains power fails, giving you enough time to shut it down normally.

Sudden power failures can very often cause file & system corruption or hardware failure from a power surge.

 

[BuckSkin]

The problem is still there and I would like to know how to fix it.

I agree that an uninterruptible power supply would be a wonderful thing to have (if I were financially able to afford one); however, that would not cure the problem of the machine starting itself as soon as power is restored.

Since my first post, I went into BIOS and, as I already knew, the machine was set to remain off after an outage; I set it to automatically start itself and then restarted a number of times; then, I set it to remain off and not start, and restarted it several more times, hoping that would purge it of this nonsense of starting itself.

Alas, a while ago, the machine was on with a program up and running; someone came to the door and I stepped out to see what they wanted; I was out there about fifteen minutes, no inclimate weather, no thunder and lightning, everything clear as a bell.

When I stepped back inside, as is common for this area, the power had been out again; the clocks were all flashing, the TV had un-muted itself and was blasting, and all the computers save for the one in question were shut-down.

The problem machine had automatically started itself as soon as the power had returned; so, my little experimental attempt at remedying the situation turned out to be just a waste of time.

Surely there is a fix for this.
Thanks for reading and all help is appreciated.

 

[MeOnMine]

Hi, remove all power from the P/S.
Push the power button on for 10 seconds.

Remove BIOS battery from its holder.
Short the positive and negative contacts in the holder.
Leave shorted for a good few hours, over night is best.
Re-insert new battery (2023 normally).


This should work however a second approach is to re-flash the BIOS with the same version however if a later version is available then flash with that.


It is still important to replace the battery as low voltage can cause issues.

 

[lehnerus2000]

System File Checker

Maybe a System file has become corrupted.

Have you tried running sfc?

Open the Command Prompt (Use the "Run as administrator" option in the context menu).
Type:

sfc /scannow
​

Tutorial
SFC /SCANNOW Command - System File Checker

 

[BuckSkin]

It is still important to replace the battery as low voltage can cause issues.

Thanks; I will give this procedure a try as soon as I get a new battery.

Am I correct in assuming that the bios battery is what is often referred to as the "clock battery" ?

This discussion brings up a question or three about these batteries that I have often wondered about; do these batteries start losing their charge from day one and slowly drain away to nothing as the years go by; or, are they recharged when power is available ?

 

[MeOnMine]

Sorry for the delay, I was away on business.


Yes, the BIOS holds the clock memory.
They are made from Lithium to hold long term voltage but are not recharged.

 

[BuckSkin]

They are made from Lithium to hold long term voltage but are not recharged.

Thanks!
They sure do last a long time considering that they don't get recharged.