# PC starts up randomly?



## buni

I built a computer for my friend and he tells me that it keeps randomly turning on. He has a AMD Athlon XP K7VTA3. I can't figure out what to do.


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## littlenicky

lol randomly turning on... is his power button jammed or something... cuz thats really random!


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## buni

lol it might be jammed but i dont think it is.


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## littlenicky

then maybe a power supply problem because i dont think anything else in the computer will allow it to turn itself on... or maybe ure friend isnt too bright and uses the reset key intsead of power to turn it off


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## [tab]

Is "Wake on LAN" or something similar turned on in the BIOS?


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## braders

*Wake on Lan?*

I've been having exactly the same problem - my PC starts up in the middle of the night.

I don't think Wake on Lan is the problem as nothing else was on on the network.


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## Will

Yeah, bitch of a probelm. First off, is windoo's set to turn on when the mouse moves? sometime tension in the mouse cable can change over time, and it'll move enough to register and turn on. Especially infa-red ones.

Also, sometimes a power fluctuation. Get a surge protector, although it doesn't always work, i turn off the socket at night myself, it pisses me off having to get up and turn the machine off.


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## Fure6

littlenicky said:
			
		

> or maybe ure friend isnt too bright and uses the reset key intsead of power to turn it off



LOL 

my best guess is the shut down buttom jammed...


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## Praetor

> I've been having exactly the same problem - my PC starts up in the middle of the night.


Sounds like Wake on Timer. Most of the default time is 12:00 ... middle of the night


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## Viper_86

Will said:
			
		

> it pisses me off having to get up and turn the machine off.


if all else fails..just unplug the power cord every night and voila...no more problems. but this a very wierd problem coz it shoudlnt do that...the only thing i can think of is the wake timer...u might want to check and if its not that then u should get it looked at. good luck!


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## Praetor

On certain mobos with power-on-after-power-out enabled, mobos can do that if there's a sag detected


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## Blaze Launcher

I also had that same problem, and it could be a lot simpler that it seems. Does your friend have a cable connection? Because I do, and whenever I don't put the modem on standby, it'll start up in the middle of the night.  I tried to get the computer to ignore the modem's activity before, but it didn't work either.  So, if he does have an external cable modem with a standby button, there's one possible solution.  Just hit the button when it's shut down.


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## Praetor

> Does your friend have a cable connection? Because I do, and whenever I don't put the modem on standby, it'll start up in the middle of the night.


Odd ... I'm on cable and that dont happen to me  Was the modem directly hooked to the computer?


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## smadge

surround your computer with handmade wooden crosses and hire an exorcist. I have the number of a good one


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## arno

cool computer


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## Flash_AAA

Naaaah i know that problem the dude is so hooked with his computer he sleep walks, turns the coputer on and then when his conscious is threw, he goes back to bed without shutting down the computer.    
  Has he ever had trouble turning the computer on?  Maybe spring behind the button may be acting up?


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## Praetor

Ok people (at nobody in particular), let's all contribute meaningful stuff


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## tristan

If that were my computer I guess I would first try unplugging it and clearing the CMOS. I would check all my pin configurations and make sure they are all plugged in the correct spots (pwr switch, reset, etc...) and i would also check my switch and make sure its working correctly. I would generally rule out hardware after that. Then, I would go in bios and look around at everything to see if I see anything that could possibly be the culprit. If not, then I would go check out any windows "Power Saver" options. Just some suggestions that might lead to a solution. New one in my book though.

If your power supply has a on/off switch in the back of it just turn that off when turning off the computer, that should block ANY power from getting to the board. It could also be a faulty PSU.


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