HELP, my PCs are powering on automatically!

[Sebastian Vega]

Hello!

I have a problem which is bothering me since months, and I still wasn't able
to solve. So my hope is now that someone in this Newsgroup knows my problem
and can help me to solve it.

I have two machines:
- a self-built desktop PC with a Gigabyte GA-K8N Ultra-9 Mainboard, latest
F9C BIOS, Windows Vista Ultimate
- an HP Pavilion dv2224ea laptop, latest F.39 BIOS, Windows Vista Home
Premium.

Both machines have the same symptoms: they just power on themselves, without
any apparent reason. This is really annoying, especially with the laptop, as
it causes the Battery to be emptied...

All the Wake-on-* as well as wake timers are disabled in the BIOS. As far as
I could observe, the power-ups happen when the machine is in deep standby
(S3) or hibernated after an arbitrary amount of time (usually several
hours).

In the changelog of the newest HP BIOS there even is this entry "Fixes
intermittent issue where the notebook powers on automatically." but the
problem still is there for me.

How is it possible that I am having the same problems on both my machines,
which technically are completelly different?

I also chatted with the HP online support, and they told me to uninstall the
"ACPI Fixed Features Button" from the device manager and reboot to have it
reinstalled, to load the default settings in the BIOS, to disable
hibernation via powercfg.exe, reboot, re-enable it and reboot again. But all
this didn't help.

Maybe someone here could give me a good hint? I really had enough of this
problem

Best greetings,

Sebastian

 

[Jon]

Hello!

I have a problem which is bothering me since months, and I still wasn't
able to solve. So my hope is now that someone in this Newsgroup knows my
problem and can help me to solve it.

I have two machines:
- a self-built desktop PC with a Gigabyte GA-K8N Ultra-9 Mainboard, latest
F9C BIOS, Windows Vista Ultimate
- an HP Pavilion dv2224ea laptop, latest F.39 BIOS, Windows Vista Home
Premium.

Both machines have the same symptoms: they just power on themselves,
without any apparent reason. This is really annoying, especially with the
laptop, as it causes the Battery to be emptied...

All the Wake-on-* as well as wake timers are disabled in the BIOS. As far
as I could observe, the power-ups happen when the machine is in deep
standby (S3) or hibernated after an arbitrary amount of time (usually
several hours).

In the changelog of the newest HP BIOS there even is this entry "Fixes
intermittent issue where the notebook powers on automatically." but the
problem still is there for me.

How is it possible that I am having the same problems on both my machines,
which technically are completelly different?

I also chatted with the HP online support, and they told me to uninstall
the "ACPI Fixed Features Button" from the device manager and reboot to
have it reinstalled, to load the default settings in the BIOS, to disable
hibernation via powercfg.exe, reboot, re-enable it and reboot again. But
all this didn't help.

Maybe someone here could give me a good hint? I really had enough of this
problem

Best greetings,

Sebastian

Check your Scheduled Tasks. You may have one with the 'Wake the computer to
run this task' setting set (Conditions tab)


Control Panel (Classic) > Administrative Tools > Task Scheduler

 

[Sebastian Vega]

The only thing I found in scheduled tasks is Mobile PC/TMM and I disabled
the "wake" option.
Anyway, I remember doing this some months ago on my other machine, and it
didn't solve the problem!

 

[Jon]

The only thing I found in scheduled tasks is Mobile PC/TMM and I disabled
the "wake" option.
Anyway, I remember doing this some months ago on my other machine, and it
didn't solve the problem!

That's an odd one then. Possibly one of your attached devices is causing the
computer to wake from sleep / hybrid sleep mode.

If you look in Device Manager, and check for a 'Power Management' tab -
potential culprits (mice, keyboards, modems, network card etc - especially
those that have the 'Allow this device to wake the computer' setting set.
Checking the 'Allow the computer to turn off this device' may help too.

You perhaps have a similar device attached to both computers that's causing
problems (?)

 

[Sebastian Vega]

That's an odd one then. Possibly one of your attached devices is causing
the computer to wake from sleep / hybrid sleep mode.

If you look in Device Manager, and check for a 'Power Management' tab -
potential culprits (mice, keyboards, modems, network card etc - especially
those that have the 'Allow this device to wake the computer' setting set.
Checking the 'Allow the computer to turn off this device' may help too.

You perhaps have a similar device attached to both computers that's
causing problems (?)

nope, the laptop for instance has the lid closed, nothing at all attached to
it, not even ethernet and I'm not touching it.

sebastian

 

[dean-dean]

You might want to check out this setting:

Go to Control Panel\Power Options, and under your chosen Plan, on the
right-side of the window, choose "Change plan settings".

On the new Edit Plan Settings window, click on "Change advanced power
settings". A new dialog will pop up. Expand the "Multimedia settings"
entry, and then expand the "When sharing media" entry. Change it to "Allow
the computer to sleep" (Apply, OK).

 

[Diane B]

Hello!

I have a problem which is bothering me since months, and I still
wasn't able to solve. So my hope is now that someone in this Newsgroup
knows my problem and can help me to solve it.

I have two machines:
- a self-built desktop PC with a Gigabyte GA-K8N Ultra-9 Mainboard,
latest F9C BIOS, Windows Vista Ultimate
- an HP Pavilion dv2224ea laptop, latest F.39 BIOS, Windows Vista Home
Premium.

Both machines have the same symptoms: they just power on themselves,
without any apparent reason. This is really annoying, especially with
the laptop, as it causes the Battery to be emptied...

All the Wake-on-* as well as wake timers are disabled in the BIOS. As
far as I could observe, the power-ups happen when the machine is in
deep standby (S3) or hibernated after an arbitrary amount of time
(usually several hours).

In the changelog of the newest HP BIOS there even is this entry "Fixes
intermittent issue where the notebook powers on automatically." but
the problem still is there for me.

How is it possible that I am having the same problems on both my
machines, which technically are completelly different?

I also chatted with the HP online support, and they told me to
uninstall the "ACPI Fixed Features Button" from the device manager and
reboot to have it reinstalled, to load the default settings in the
BIOS, to disable hibernation via powercfg.exe, reboot, re-enable it
and reboot again. But all this didn't help.

Maybe someone here could give me a good hint? I really had enough of
this problem

Best greetings,

Sebastian

Maybe the cat is messing with the mouse making the computer come out of
sleep mode.
Diane

 

[Sebastian Vega]

Maybe the cat is messing with the mouse making the computer come out of
sleep mode.
Diane

no pets here
and the laptop lid is closed, so it's really not the mouse, nor the
keyboard, nor anything else you can touch.
my PC powered up automatically this morning while I was sleeping...

from the system log:
2:03am: The system is entering sleep.
8:11am: The system detected that network adapter Internet Connection was
connected to the network, and has initiated normal operation.

C:\Windows\system32>powercfg.exe -LASTWAKE
Wake History Count - 1
Wake History [0]
Wake Source Count - 0

no useful wake reason either... this sucks!

sebastian

 

[Sebastian Vega]

no pets here
and the laptop lid is closed, so it's really not the mouse, nor the
keyboard, nor anything else you can touch.
my PC powered up automatically this morning while I was sleeping...

from the system log:
2:03am: The system is entering sleep.
8:11am: The system detected that network adapter Internet Connection was
connected to the network, and has initiated normal operation.

C:\Windows\system32>powercfg.exe -LASTWAKE
Wake History Count - 1
Wake History [0]
Wake Source Count - 0

no useful wake reason either... this sucks!

sebastian

hmmmm...

yesterday, 10:26am: The next scheduled download of the latest television
listings guide (EPG) is 9/20/2007 8:10:44.

this is approx the time when my pc powered up this morning...
a coincidence?
(both pc and laptop have media center set up with a tv tuner and listings)
sebastian

 

[koze]

Maybe the cat is messing with the mouse making the computer come out of
sleep mode.
Diane

no pets here
and the laptop lid is closed, so it's really not the mouse, nor the
keyboard, nor anything else you can touch.
my PC powered up automatically this morning while I was sleeping...

from the system log:
2:03am: The system is entering sleep.
8:11am: The system detected that network adapter Internet Connection was
connected to the network, and has initiated normal operation.

C:\Windows\system32>powercfg.exe -LASTWAKE
Wake History Count - 1
Wake History [0]
Wake Source Count - 0

no useful wake reason either... this sucks!

sebastian

I would suggest to check the time you have set it to check for automatic
updates.
Have seen a number of people having this due to the update planned at 03:00
hour.
Ko

 

[Sebastian Vega]

heh, from a little research I have been doing now, it really seems like the
MediaCenter EPG download schedule is to blame, that might be the reason the
PC/Laptop just wake up!
Next download for my laptop is scheduled at 8:56am tomorrow, so I'll wait
and see...
I can solve the problem on my laptop probably by disabling the EPG in
mediacenter, since I don't use a TV tuner there anymore... as for my PC, I
will need to find a better solution...
Anyone knows how I can disable that the EPG download task can wake my
machine? If my machine is sleeping/hibernated, the EPG should get downloaded
when I decide to wake the machine!!
sebastian

no pets here
and the laptop lid is closed, so it's really not the mouse, nor the
keyboard, nor anything else you can touch.
my PC powered up automatically this morning while I was sleeping...

from the system log:
2:03am: The system is entering sleep.
8:11am: The system detected that network adapter Internet Connection was
connected to the network, and has initiated normal operation.

C:\Windows\system32>powercfg.exe -LASTWAKE
Wake History Count - 1
Wake History [0]
Wake Source Count - 0

no useful wake reason either... this sucks!

sebastian

hmmmm...

yesterday, 10:26am: The next scheduled download of the latest television
listings guide (EPG) is 9/20/2007 8:10:44.

this is approx the time when my pc powered up this morning...
a coincidence?
(both pc and laptop have media center set up with a tv tuner and listings)
sebastian

 

[Alias]

heh, from a little research I have been doing now, it really seems like
the MediaCenter EPG download schedule is to blame, that might be the
reason the PC/Laptop just wake up!
Next download for my laptop is scheduled at 8:56am tomorrow, so I'll
wait and see...
I can solve the problem on my laptop probably by disabling the EPG in
mediacenter, since I don't use a TV tuner there anymore... as for my PC,
I will need to find a better solution...
Anyone knows how I can disable that the EPG download task can wake my
machine? If my machine is sleeping/hibernated, the EPG should get
downloaded when I decide to wake the machine!!
sebastian

Try shutting down the computer instead of putting it on stand by or
hibernation. I bet it won't wake up then.

 

[Sebastian Vega]

How illuminating.
I want to turn on the machine and have all my programs running as I left
them in the previous state, so shutdown isn't really an option.
Also, shutting down and starting all the way up not only wastes time but
also battery power.

 

[Alias]

How illuminating.
I want to turn on the machine and have all my programs running as I left
them in the previous state, so shutdown isn't really an option.
Also, shutting down and starting all the way up not only wastes time but
also battery power.

Wastes time? How much time have you wasted trying to fix this problem?

--
Alias
To email me, remove shoes