Computer random turn on

[WinSpecToR]

Hi all,

When I put my computer to sleep, it turns on randomly throughout the night and when I turn the monitor on, its just on the lock screen. Any ideas why?

[hech54]

Sleep or "Stand By" rarely works on my computer either(XP Pro).

[redwudz]

I had that problem with one of my PCs and I traced it down to the LAN card settings. The card was waking up the PC when there was any traffic on the LAN, not just traffic directed at that PC. If you have a wired LAN connection, try unplugging the LAN connection cable for a few hours and see if you still have the problem.

Less likely unless someone has modified the BIOS, but there are usually settings there to power on the PC via keyboard, mouse or USB ports. Depends on what you have plugged into the USB ports that could trigger a turn on. If you still have problems with the LAN cable unplugged, check the BIOS settings.

[zoobie]

I used to hear strange noises in the middle of the night. I came out to my computer and it was busy doing something. I tried to shut it off but it didn't want to so I unplugged it from the wall. A few hours later, I woke up hearing more strange noises. I came back out and my computer was back on - yet the plug was still unplugged from the wall...































Then, I woke up...

[ranchhand]

There is a setting in XP called "wake on LAN" which pops the computer out of sleep mode. It is for system admins who have to remotely access nodes that are in hibernation and that way they can remotely bring the unit up so they can access it. Disable it in Control Panel.

[jagabo]

Mice can often send a spurious signal to the computer to wake it up (eg, a puff of air causes a speck of dust to wiggle and an optical mouse sees that as motion). Windows itself can be set to wake up at any time and perform system maintenance.

[Des]

I had this begin to happen once I installed a Tuner/capture card in my PC. Also, I have noticed on one of the PCs in the shop that it stopped turning on once I upgraded the monitor on it.

I'm guessing it has something to do with random chance and poor standards.

--dES

[hech54]

Why didn't I make fun of the thread title? I must be coming down with the flu.

[WinSpecToR]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I"m going to try to disable the wake on lan in win 7 and see what happens. Also, it wouldn't be the bios as I'm the only person who uses this computer and I don't remember making any chances in the bios, but I will go in and have a look anyways.

I also have at tuner connected, not sure if that has anything to do with it. I pvr my shows at night and I do have 1 receiver connected to the tuner, so I'll try disconnecting that receiver and see what happens. I'll report back.

[bruce73]

If the PC comes on around 3am for a few minutes, it could be WU checking for updates (if set to Automatic). Or as was said it could be the mouse. Go into its properties and make sure "Use this device to wake computer" is unchecked. That worked for me.

[TooLFooL]

probably either windows update running or windows media center is updating. either way you can look through the event viewer to see exactly why it turns on.