Why does my desktop PC start by itself?

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#190647 7-Jan-2016 16:28

My problem: a near-new high-spec Wintel desktop PC that cold boots by itself.

Any time of day or night.
Every day or two at random times.
Whether or not connected to the Internet (I tried pulling out the Ethernet cable at night).
No power surges - and the PC is on a business-grade UPS.

MalwareBytes Pro, ESET Smart Security, and Kaspersky Virus Removal Tool find no malware.
There are 8 x 3TB data drives on the PC, so scanning takes a while!

All installed software is legit.

Initially the OS was Windows 7 Pro - the PC did not self-start then.
Then I upgraded to Win 10 Pro - and the problem began.
A recent fresh install of Win 10 - the problem persists.

Any suggestions on how to investigate this further?

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#1465268 7-Jan-2016 16:39

Hmmmm.... check the BIOS for:
- ability to schedule power on at certain times. Someone could be messing with you.
- ability to power on after power loss. Some machines can be set to power on when mains power is connected (e.g. after a power cut). It is possible a dip in the power supply is being interpreted as a loss and then powering the machine back on when the mains voltage returns to normal. If this setting exists set it to 'stay off'

Both of those are a bit of a stretch, but it is an unusual situation.

Could something on the network be sending a Wake On LAN packet? Disconnect the network cable when the machine is not in use and see if it still happens.

Windows 10 has some sort of hybrid sleep mode. Are you sure the PC is powered right down and not in a deep sleep? I would guess your power LED would confirm this with a sleep state giving a slow flash of the LED or similar.

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#1465275 7-Jan-2016 16:53

There is a command to see what device powered the PC on. When I had a look it was always my network card. Even when unplugged.

Device manager options to not let it wake the computer solved it.

Richard rich.ms

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#1465279 7-Jan-2016 16:58

I've spent the last 2 years trying to figure this out. Still no idea. So I've given up and accepted it and try not to be too surprised when I catch it waking up. Usually it should go back to sleep, but mine doesn't. Couldn't figure it out after countless threads and trawling the net.

Some computers do that.
Never had anything like that in Windows 7. 8 and 10 ... a bit funny.

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#1465280 7-Jan-2016 16:59

Thanks for your suggestions.

On a trial basis I have just tweaked the power options - advanced settings as follows:

allow hybrid sleep - off
hibernate after - never
allow wake timers - disable

sleep button action - do nothing
put the computer to sleep - never

Hope that fixes it

Will keep you posted.

EDIT

In my original post I stated that I have tried disconnecting from the Internet at night - what I have actually done is physically disconnect from my LAN, which has 6 other PCs on it (none of which have the same problem).

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#1465286 7-Jan-2016 17:30

richms: There is a command to see what device powered the PC on.

For the sake of anyone searching this topic in the future:

From the command prompt, type "powercfg lastwake".

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#1465359 7-Jan-2016 19:50

jamesrt:
richms: There is a command to see what device powered the PC on.

For the sake of anyone searching this topic in the future:

From the command prompt, type "powercfg lastwake".

On my system it comes back blank. So my head goes blank. Because it obviously turned itself on. But I gather my system (one of the very first Win 8.1 Dell XPS 15) is a mutant.

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#1465363 7-Jan-2016 20:02

Had the same issue whenever I let it sleep; however the only way I could get around it was to just power down...

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#1472794 16-Jan-2016 19:18

jamesrt: ... For the sake of anyone searching this topic in the future:

From the command prompt, type "powercfg lastwake".

Update:

Since my last post a week ago my desktop has self-booted every day, typically in the afternoon:

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.10586]
(c) 2015 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Users\[username]>powercfg lastwake
Wake History Count - 1
Wake History [0]
Wake Source Count - 0

I've hunted for all scheduled processes and turned them off.
All security software gives non-contributory results.

Any more suggestions?

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#1472795 16-Jan-2016 19:24

There are plenty of applications out there that will bring a PC out of S1/S3 sleep mode, and plenty of ways of diagnosing logs to see what app did that. Reading up on that is probably your best bet.

Normally the issue is people with HTPC's that won't start from sleep mode automatically!

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#1472796 16-Jan-2016 19:25

optical mouse?

Windows Updates?

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#1472799 16-Jan-2016 19:43

Mine does this too, and have yet to solve it, it never did it on 8 or 8.1 only on 10

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#1472831 16-Jan-2016 20:35

Sideface:
jamesrt: ... For the sake of anyone searching this topic in the future:

From the command prompt, type "powercfg lastwake".

Update:

Since my last post a week ago my desktop has self-booted every day, typically in the afternoon:

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.10586]
(c) 2015 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Users\[username]>powercfg lastwake
Wake History Count - 1
Wake History [0]
Wake Source Count - 0

I've hunted for all scheduled processes and turned them off.
All security software gives non-contributory results.

Any more suggestions?

Just see my post. About third reply or something. There is no way. That's just the way it is.

Maybe try a clean install?

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#1472834 16-Jan-2016 20:44

joker97: Just see my post. About third reply or something. There is no way. That's just the way it is.

Maybe try a clean install?

I did a clean install before posting - it made no difference.

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#1472836 16-Jan-2016 20:46

Shucks. Luckily i didn't try that.

I feel your pain. The problem consumed me for a while, then i gave up.

I do hope you have more luck.

Good luck.

kiwigeek1

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#1472859 16-Jan-2016 21:27

I didnt see a comment to check...

1)
LAN card can wake a system as well. if set in its advance settings.. idea is so a remote controller can wake it up
to do scedule maintenance

wake on magic packet?
wake on pattern?

even if lan cable disconnected it can trigger I have found sometimes

also check power settings untick that as well if enabled. but power options should work

2)
also I recall a script in the windows scheduler that can wake up a system check the scripts
and maybe disable each

you could even write own script that puts it back to sleep between certain hours if comes awake
for some reason.. perhaps a trojan on system can do it even??

a quick google I found this page.. also covers some of what was said above

http://www.groovypost.com/howto/schedule-wake-sleep-windows-automatically/

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