computer turns on by itself

[scorp]

Hi there. I have an odd problem. I have a p.c. in my office, and I shut it completely down when I go home. When I come in the next day, almost every day, the computer is turned back on. We focused a video camera on it to find who was turning it on, but when we viewed the tape, the computer was coming on by itself. The computer is networked with
two other computers in my office that are never turned on when I come in in the morning. The only way I can connect to the internet is if the main computer in our office is connected. I don't have a direct phone line to my computer. I've discussed this with the I.T. people at work, but nobody seems to know why it might be coming on. It doesn't happen on any kind of regular basis either. I have put a password on, so that
it cannot be used by anybody else, but the date is occasionally changed on it too. Do you have any ideas as to why this happens? Any thoughts would be appreciated. I've already checked the bios setup, but did not
find anything unusual. Is it possible for the p.c. to be turned on remotely by phone or any other way? As I said before, there is no
direct phone line hooked up to it. Thanks for any information.

[LJE2]

Is the main computer that you are networked to turned on? Check your BIOS to see if the wake on LAN setting is enabled, or wake on ring? is enabled, if they are enabled, disable those settings.

[JW310]

I know some BIOS's have the option to power the computer up at a certain time.... I'd put it on the video cam for a few days in a row, and see if it powers up at the same time or not.

JW

[Wiz]

As stated above by LJE2, there are a few settings in your BIOS or your motherboard, they are wake on lan, and wake on ring, which turns on the computer when the modem is accessed.

You also might want to check to see if you have it set to do certain things at certain times, such as defragging, scandisk, etc

[Loucypher]

This probably isn't it but I read of an Award
bios option to turn on computer with a mouse
click. Also before you leave work next time
use hot glue to affix a wooden cross to the
case, if in the morning the cross appears
scorched or is upside down sell the unit on
Ebay.

[InsaneMorphius]

You've all overlooked the obvious.... its a ghost turning on your computer!

Morphius

[Wiz]

morphious, you are right!! time to call the ghostbusters!

I-I-I-I aint 'fraid of no ghost. That song was so cool, =]

[alpha]

That happened to my friend's computer when he set his 440BX to 150mhz. It started up at random and started making loud noises with the PC-Speaker.

[CONTRiC]

Loucypher has the right idea *grin* http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

You can sell *anything* on ebay these days http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

[Barney]

This question can only be answered by agent Scully and Mulder.

Ronald

[scorp]

The main computer that I am networked to is not turned on. The "wake on ring" is enabled, but there is no direct line to my computer. The only way I can get on line is by turning on the main computer first. Mine is the only computer that is turned on when I get into work. I'm going to view a couple more videos to see if it comes on at the same time every night. Also, the defrag and cleanup are not setup to run. If they are, doesn't the computer have to be turned on already for them to run?

[mbarn]

My friends did that and it realy was a ghost.

[drojman]

that is very odd.. try turning off the wake on ring. maybe your bios has a problem with it and is seeing the lan as a ring? or possible casper is online now. I mean, it has got to be boring not haveing anything to do if you are a ghost. maybe just leave it on so he can use it. He will probably be appreciative. If you do, be sure to let us know what kindof stuff ghosts like to do on the net... http://www.sysopt.com/forum/wink.gif

[Buji]

My and a friend's computer do it all the time.
I suspect it has something to do with power management either in Windows or Bios. I have been in the room in the middle of the night and seen the computer turn on all by itself.

[pickel]

Wire it thru a surge protector and turn it off. If the computer still is on in the morning the Scottie has bypassed the Lithium Crystals once again and Spock has overridden the Beta drive... Good luck http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

[nilknarf]

Try this one...

Do you have a UPS on the computer?
If so, it may be shutting itself off for some reason and coming back on. In this case, the computer is probably set to turn on when AC power is restored. This setting is available on most modern PC's and UPS's.

I only suggest this because I have the same problem and it's because my UPS battery has gone bad and doesn't maintain power when we have power line problems.