Hi all,

I have a problem that I'm hoping someone here can help. Basically what happens is my machine boots itself up. The machine is totally powered down and off, but the plugs are still on and from time to time it switches itself on.

I've run a virus scan with norton. I've cleaned the machine with ad-aware. A friend suggested I check the lan waking settings but I checked my bios and found nothing that said 'Lan waking'.

Any ideas why or what is making the system boot on its own? I've put a password on the machine now, being paranoid about hackers. Other than scanning for virus', one button clean up, and removing all detected spyware I don't know what to do.

Any help is appreciated.

My guess would be that your friend was right with the "Wake on LAN" setting. Are you on a network or are you connect to the internet directly?

Does this problem happen regularly? If so, you could test this by simply unplugging your network connection after shutting off your PC. If the PC doesn't boot up - then it looks like somebody is telling your PC to wake up. A housemate of mine loved playing that trick on me during university.

Have you got any idea what the motherboard/bios your PC is using. We might be able to find out what the setting is called for you. Either way, check the BIOS again and take a look for anything close to "Wake On LAN". Most modern BIOS' have this option now I believe.

I'm connected directly through broadband(telewest), I use the usb lead to hook up the modem.

I'll check to see what the bios I'm using are exsactly (a work right now). The motherboard is an Asus and I'm using the bios that came with that.

I think my best shot is at finding the wake on lan setting and disabling it, assuming that is the problem. If not I'm back to square one. I'll get back to you on this.

Hi, e9,
Here is a link with good information on wake up lan. It contains how to, or not to, for different computers:

http://www.madge.com/_assets/downloads/lsshelp8.0/LSSHelp/DgConf/Trouble/TRMisc/TRWakeUp.htm

I hope it helps you solve the issue.
Best wishes,
fredg

Hi E9.Firstly was'nt 'Ghost in the Machine' an album by the Police? :D

Sorry,I digress.I too connect the same as you via Telewest-Broadband,but I've never had my PC power up on it's own.If I'm doing work off-line,I just place the modem into standby mode.Nobody can access your PC by stealing-in through your cable box,separate modem,USB lead,and into your PC.Telewest have lots of security in place to protect your account.Are you sure you have'nt accidentally placed your PC in stand by mode,and then by one of those 'unknowns',it times itself in?

Yes hackers can do nasty things on your PC,but as long as your anti-virus,spyware and adware programs are up to date,you should have no problems.As I said earlier,Telewest are on-the-ball when it comes to security.I had a good chat with the engineer when I had broadband installed last year.

All the best,
Nez.

After an evening tinkering with my damn machine I am still at the proverbial 'square one' (sort of). At least now I know what isn't causing the problem.

Nez you're right it isn't the modem or anything associated with it. It also fortunately isn't anyone hacking into the machine and accessing my stuff remotely. I know this because I turned all lan waking settings off/disabled. This didn't work, so I unhooked the modem but left the power on to the base unit. About an hour or so after shutting down it booted itself up with no modem attached.

Lost as to what may be causing it now. How do I check that the computer is shutting down and not going into standby? Seems like a dumb question but I am clicking start then clicking shut down, I'd guess that would do it but I may be wrong.

Only other things I can think of is its some kind of virus or hard wired into the machine. Had my base unit built from scratch so tutorials detailing various machines like compaq's, dells, etc aren't much use.

Thanks for the help so far, any suggestions for what may be the problem. Feel like kicking the thing through a window. :(

Hi,
This might be a dumb comment, but have you been to Control Panel/ then open Power Management?
Check to see if the machine is on Standby.
I have mine set to "Never".
Best of luck,
fredg

This is taken from XP Help and Support files.

To automatically put your computer on standby
Open Power Options in Control Panel.
In Power Schemes, click the down arrow, and then select a power scheme. The time settings for the power scheme are displayed in System standby, Turn off monitor, and Turn off hard disks.
To turn off your monitor before your computer goes on standby, select a time in Turn off monitor.
To turn off your hard disk before your computer goes on standby, select a time in Turn off hard disks.

To open Power Options, click Start, click Control Panel, click Performance and Maintenance, and then click Power Options.
You might want to save your work before putting your computer on standby. While the computer is on standby, information in computer memory is not saved to your hard disk. If there is an interruption in power, information in memory is lost.
To create a new power scheme, specify the time settings you want, and then click Save As.

I'm assuming your using XP?

Sometimes we all feel like trashing our 'useless' PC,but you'l only regret it later :D

Have fun,
Nez.

Another thing you might check is scheduled tasks. See if one of them is set to wake the computer.

I heard of this issue I think you have a virus called blaster worm.