PC turns itself on while hibernating

[Joe]

I have a Compaq Presario sr2044nx PC with XP MCE2005, Service pack 2, 2.8ghz
Pentium D, 2GB ram, 180GB HDD, 90 GB free, that turns itself on while it's
supposed to be hibernating. Some days it stays off, sometimes it is only off
for an hour. I have to turn off the power strip if I want to be certain it
will stay off.

The Microsoft hibernate patch KB909095 is installed, and automatic updates
are turned on. In Device Manager, there are four devices - network card,
modem, keyboard, mouse - with a "power management" tab which have a checkbox
for "allow this device to bring computer out of standby," which are all
unchecked. There are no options in the BIOS for waking up that I can find.
I use AVG antivirus and Nero BackItUp for backups that I have scheduled for
Saturdays. When I first got the pc, it turned itself on, but it turned out
that the network card was waking it up because the checkbox I mentioned was
checked. Unchecking it solved the problem for about a year. It's been doing
this for a few months now and I'd love to get this resolved.

I've searched for answers and found nothing useful so I apologize if this
has been covered already. I understand that there's a tool in Vista which
shows the event that woke up the system. Is there such a tool for XP? If
it's a program running that schedules something, how do I determine which one
it is?

 

[sgopus]

in your bios there should be an option to Wake on ring, which wakes your pc
whenever your phone rings, or wake on lan, which wakes your pc for incoming
lan acitivity.

 

[VanguardLH]

I have a Compaq Presario sr2044nx PC with XP MCE2005, Service pack 2, 2.8ghz
Pentium D, 2GB ram, 180GB HDD, 90 GB free, that turns itself on while it's
supposed to be hibernating. Some days it stays off, sometimes it is only off
for an hour. I have to turn off the power strip if I want to be certain it
will stay off.

The Microsoft hibernate patch KB909095 is installed, and automatic updates
are turned on. In Device Manager, there are four devices - network card,
modem, keyboard, mouse - with a "power management" tab which have a checkbox
for "allow this device to bring computer out of standby," which are all
unchecked. There are no options in the BIOS for waking up that I can find.
I use AVG antivirus and Nero BackItUp for backups that I have scheduled for
Saturdays. When I first got the pc, it turned itself on, but it turned out
that the network card was waking it up because the checkbox I mentioned was
checked. Unchecking it solved the problem for about a year. It's been doing
this for a few months now and I'd love to get this resolved.

I've searched for answers and found nothing useful so I apologize if this
has been covered already. I understand that there's a tool in Vista which
shows the event that woke up the system. Is there such a tool for XP? If
it's a program running that schedules something, how do I determine which one
it is?

Do you have any scheduled events in Task Manager with the option enabled
to power up the computer? I haven't used Nero BackItUp so I don't know
what options you can configure for its scheduled backup job, like having
it power up the computer.

Are you actually powering off the computer or just putting it into
standby mode? Power options in Windows might configure the Power button
(on the case) to merely put the host in standby mode (and you have to
press and hold it in for 4 seconds to actually power off). You would
have to shutdown Windows and then during the reboot for the POST but
before Windows loaded you would then press and hold for 4 seconds to
actually power off. Check your Power Options applet in Control Panel.
I've even seen some pre-builts (don't remember if it was Compaq or Dell)
where the front Power button would never power down the host but merely
put it into low-power mode. You had to reach behind to flip the switch
on the backside of the case to actually remove power.

 

[Joe]

The only option in my BIOS in the "power" section relating to wake is "wake

 

[Joe]

The only task in the "scheduled tasks" control panel is an HP printer task
that is not set to wake the pc, but I deleted it just to be safe. The
software for this HP printer is horrendous so I don't mind getting rid of it.


Nero BackItUp doesn't have any wake options that I can find. And I have my
power management set so that the computer will hibernate when I press the
power button. It hibernates and then powers off like it's supposed to, it
just won't stay off. I also don't think it's a flaky power button because it
never turns itself *off*.



:

 

[VanguardLH]

The only task in the "scheduled tasks" control panel is an HP printer task
that is not set to wake the pc, but I deleted it just to be safe. The
software for this HP printer is horrendous so I don't mind getting rid of it.


Nero BackItUp doesn't have any wake options that I can find. And I have my
power management set so that the computer will hibernate when I press the
power button. It hibernates and then powers off like it's supposed to, it
just won't stay off. I also don't think it's a flaky power button because it
never turns itself *off*.

Are you using a wireless keyboard and/or mouse? If so, disconnect the
transceiver from the PS/2 or USB port and test if the host remains in
power saving mode. If that works, select a different channel or code,
or push the reset button on the mouse or keyboard and then the reset
button in the transceiver to do a resync between them. For an optical
mouse, make sure there is no bright light shining at the mouse to cause
an extreme change in ambient light level. Toss a handcloth or unplug it
during a test to see if the host then comes out of hibernate mode.

In your BIOS for the ACPI power option, check if S1 or S3 mode is
selected. S1/Sleep/Power-OnSuspend is where the system appears to be
off, disks are stopped, CPU is stopped but not unpowered so it retains
its context, but RAM gets refreshed to retain its context, and the
system is really running in a low-power mode. S2/Sleep mode is an even
lower power mode than S1 (CPU is unpowered rather than just stopped) but
RAM still gets refreshed. S3/Standby/SuspendToRAM is the typical
Standby mode where the CPU is unpowered so it loses its context, RAM is
in slow refresh mode (to retain its context), and the PSU is in
low-power mode. S4/Hibernate is not completely off but still a
low-power mode where RAM gets copied to a file on the hard disk and the
hardware is completely off. You can still resume from hibernate mode
from events in the BIOS. S5/Off is full power-off mode, nothing is
saved, and requires a cold restart to load the OS.

For your host to be coming back alive, it doesn't look like a device is
awakening the host or it never gets into S4 hibernate mode but instead
just S3 standby mode. It takes time to copy the RAM into a disk file.
When you press the Power button, does the host go immediately into a
low-power mode or is there a flurry of disk activity for awhile (for the
RAM to disk copying)? Going into Standby mode takes a few seconds.
Going into Hibernate mode can take several minutes depending on how much
memory has to be copied (it all gets copied, not just the inuse pages).
4GB would take longer to write the disk file than 0.5GB. If you were to
copy use a batch file to continually write 4K blocks into a disk file,
how long does that take? When I'd take my work laptop to home, it took
a lot longer to go into hibernate mode than standby mode, so much so
that after awhile I decided just to put it into Standby mode to take it
home. If you're only getting into S3 standby mode, maybe Windows Update
is waking your host. Do you have WU set to NOT update unless you start
it manually?

Just because the video goes blank, the hard disks stop spinning, and the
system seems to be off doesn't mean you actually got into hibernate
mode. Something interferes with implementing hibernate mode so all you
really get is standby mode. Sometimes you get a warning that you can't
go into hibernate mode but you might only get one warning. Incompatible
devices (those that won't hibernate) or drivers can prevent getting into
S4/hibernate mode. However, that usually means you can't get INTO
hibernate mode, not that you would randomly come out of it. That's why
I wonder if you really ever do get into hibernate mode and might only be
in standby mode where a bright light flashing on an optical mouse,
someone jarring your mouse or tapping a key, or someone also with a
wireless mouse using the same channel or code as yourself isn't trigging
your system to come out of standby mode.

And now for the truly weird source: the Power button. We had a host
with a broken button. It seemed to pop in/out like normal but actually
it wasn't coming all the way out. A forklift rumbling down the hall,
someone slamming the lab door, or pounding on the desk on which the host
sat could make it power up. The vibration caused a momentary short in
the switch to the 2-pin PwrOn header got shorted to tell the mobo to
tell the PSU to power up. Manager didn't like my hackjob idea of
putting in a new but separate switch so instead we gutted the host to
put its parts into a new case.

By the way, the same instructions in Vista about using powercfg.exe also
applies in Windows XP. Run "powercfg.exe /?" in a DOS shell to see how
to use it. Mentioned this just in case you thought powercfg was just a
Vista thing.

 

[Joe]

Then I'll try shutting it down for a few nights instead of hibernating and
see if it stays off. If so, I have hibernate issues that I want to resolve
and I'll post back. If it doesn't stay off, then I guess I have a hardware
issue and I'll just deal with it. I appreciate the input. Thanks.

 

[VanguardLH]

A mouse movement cannot bring a computer out of 'hibernation'. Power is off
when hibernating.

Assuming the OP is actually getting into hibernation mode. The OP needs
to see if going into hibernation mode actually works. Maybe he's just
going into standby mode.

 

[Unknown]

Power on lite stays on if in standby.

Assuming the OP is actually getting into hibernation mode. The OP needs
to see if going into hibernation mode actually works. Maybe he's just
going into standby mode.

 

[Plato]

I have a Compaq Presario sr2044nx PC with XP MCE2005, Service pack 2, 2.8ghz
Pentium D, 2GB ram, 180GB HDD, 90 GB free, that turns itself on while it's
supposed to be hibernating. Some days it stays off, sometimes it is only off
for an hour. I have to turn off the power strip if I want to be certain it
will stay off.

Check in the bios for wake on lan, wake on modem, etc. Also, a vibration
that moves the mouse can wake the pc up, so can a cat on your keyboard.

 

[Joe]

It is definitely hibernating. The screen shows the hibernating progress
indicator and when it's full the power cuts off completely. I can turn off
the power strip and upon turning it back on and pressing the power button, it
goes through the POST, then shows the 'resuming windows' progress indicator.
There is no doubt that it's hibernating as opposed to standby. I hope that
clarifies it.

 

[Plato]

I have a Compaq Presario sr2044nx PC with XP MCE2005, Service pack 2, 2.8ghz
Pentium D, 2GB ram, 180GB HDD, 90 GB free, that turns itself on while it's
supposed to be hibernating. Some days it stays off, sometimes it is only off
for an hour. I have to turn off the power strip if I want to be certain it
will stay off.

Check in the bios for wake on lan, wake on modem, etc. Also, a vibration
that moves the mouse can wake the pc up, so can a cat on your keyboard.

 

[VanguardLH]

It is definitely hibernating. The screen shows the hibernating progress
indicator and when it's full the power cuts off completely. I can turn off
the power strip and upon turning it back on and pressing the power button, it
goes through the POST, then shows the 'resuming windows' progress indicator.
There is no doubt that it's hibernating as opposed to standby. I hope that
clarifies it.

Then I'd say to replace the CMOS battery. It's less than a $5 fix.
This ensures that what is in the CMOS table (a copy of the factory BIOS
settings along with your modifications) remains there, doesn't get
corrupted, and eliminates timer problems. The most common one is a
wafer battery, model CR-2032. BestBuy, Walmart, Target, BatteriesPlus,
and lots of places have that one (but sometimes are out of stock because
it is common for many other uses).

How old is this computer? The battery needs to get replaced at or
before 5 years, sometimes 3 years if the battery was already a couple
years old when installed. Hmm, come to think of, it's time to replace
my CMOS battery in my 6-year old host.

Another possibility is an old PSU that eventually gets too much ripple
voltage which can confuse the Pwr-On signal to the motherboard. Even
when you think the computer is fully powered off, the PSU supplies
+5VSTBY (5 volts standby) to the motherboard to power the power-on
circuitry. The power switch used to go to the PSU in the old AT-style
systems. ATX-style systems have the power switch go to a 2-pin header
on the motherboard where circuitry (that needs to be powered) will tell
the PSU when to fully power up. (That's why I mentioned the weird
problem with vibration and a bad Power switch in my other post.) The
only way to completely remove power inside the computer case is to yank
the power cord (so power isn't even getting into the PSU), and that's
what you are doing with the powerstrip.

 

[Joe]

I think I found the issue - the tv guide in media center was set to download
automatically and I believe that was waking the pc. I found it by looking in
the event viewer and noticed a bunch of messages relating to the media center
guide around midnight on various nights. Once I disabled the guide, the pc
quit turning itself on. It's only turned itself on a couple times in the
last month, for whatever reason, and I can live with that.