Computer Keeps Waking Up on its Own

Soldato
Joined
20 Oct 2002
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London, UK
Hi everyone,

really puzzling scenario here, my PC (spec shown in sig) keeps turning itself on randomly, despite the fact that I have that ability turned off in the 'Power Management' tab for my network and input device properties in windows. :confused:

My BIOS has no options for disabling/enabling WakeOnLAN at all, and I'm pretty sure its happening via the network, as it has never happened if I unplugged my ethernet cables. However, when I leave a WakeOnLan packet sniffer running on my PC it detects nothing, even though I have made sure it does detect WOL packets.

The only other PC online on my LAN is my media server, and it definitely doesn't have any services/software running that would be doing this.

Also I've done full virus scans on all PCs on my network, and everything's clean.

Any ideas what could be causing this issue? I suspect perhaps its my PSU being faulty (Corsair HX 1000W), but the ethernet unplugging thing suggests otherwise. :(

P.S. I'm running Vista x64 Ultimate
 
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Soldato
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i have set it to remind me when updates are available but that's it...

didn't think windows update would be able to switch my pc on from cold :o
 
Soldato
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What switch do you use to connect to your LAN? I'm wondering if there's anything set in there polling devices possibly?
I actually use my Netgear DG834GT Router as my switch, but I've set it to fetch all its RIP info from my main router which is a Thomson Speedtouch 585v6 (BeBox). I've had this setup for nearly 2 years and everything's been fine up until the last few months or so. But this seems to happen only in bursts, like I could have no problems for weeks then one day I turn off my PC, go to bed, nearly fall asleep then *boom* all of a sudden my PC fires up for no reason, and I'm plagued by this problem for days, but then I forget about it and it doesn't happen for maybe another few weeks. :confused: Unplugging the ethernet always does the trick... but I would rather just find out the real root cause :(

Why not unplug everything, each time you don't need to use the PC... Except the power.

You can then see if its a device attached or a internal issue? (software/bios/hardware)
Thanks for the advice, though I'm 90% certain its happening via the network, as like I said it never happens if my PC has been disconnected from my LAN.

Could be a ghost
Believe me the thought has crossed my mind ;)
 
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Soldato
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Dont know about Vista Ultimate, but Windows 7 has by default several scheduled takes which are permitted to wake the PC from sleep, also it will wake on any lan packets forwarded to it, not just WOL packets, although that can be disabled (IE I forced my PC to sleep during a bit torrent download, and the next packet from the torrent stream wakes the PC up right away).

On W7, to avoid random wake ups, I had to set the lan card to never wake the PC from sleep, and then check all the scheduled takes, and find which were permitted to wake from sleep. There's even a TV guide thing which keeps waking up the PC to check for new schedules... silly as I dont have a tv card or anything.

Chances on a faulty PSU waking the PC seem pretty slim to me.
 
Soldato
OP
Joined
20 Oct 2002
Posts
3,467
Location
London, UK
Dont know about Vista Ultimate, but Windows 7 has by default several scheduled takes which are permitted to wake the PC from sleep, also it will wake on any lan packets forwarded to it, not just WOL packets, although that can be disabled (IE I forced my PC to sleep during a bit torrent download, and the next packet from the torrent stream wakes the PC up right away).

On W7, to avoid random wake ups, I had to set the lan card to never wake the PC from sleep, and then check all the scheduled takes, and find which were permitted to wake from sleep. There's even a TV guide thing which keeps waking up the PC to check for new schedules... silly as I dont have a tv card or anything.
You mean like this?

2hnmafr.gif


That's what I've always had :D
 
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