This is a weird one...

uncle_rufus · 4 Apr 2016 at 11:33

At the weekend I built 2 machines, installing Windows 10 on both...

They seem to be working fine and I'd been going through the setup process etc. but then I noticed something a little odd...

One of the machines wouldn't shutdown - selecting shutdown would take the machine down only for it to immediately start back up again (more like a restart). I disabled an option in Windows along the lines of "fast startup" based on a quick Google for a solution and that seemed to work...

However I came downstairs this morning and hit the power on button on the other PC, went to make a coffee and when I came back both machines had turned on!! Almost as if the PC I switched on sent a WoL signal to the other PC or something - is that possible? (I mean yes I know it is possible, but is it likely that would be happening without me explicitly setting it up that way?)

What can I do to try and work this out?

In case it's relevant - PCs are both plugged into a typical little 5-port unmanaged switch and then from there connected to my router. One mobo is an Asus X99-A and the other is a Gigabyte Z77 D3H (it's the D3H system which is turning itself on)

Psypher5 · 4 Apr 2016 at 11:46

different / random thought: something not screwed in correctly causing a short? so whenever there is a pulse of elec the system might turn on? (they using the same wall socket/extension?)

Steveocee · 4 Apr 2016 at 12:17

Network card drivers may be the problem.

uncle_rufus · 4 Apr 2016 at 13:56

Psypher5 said:
different / random thought: something not screwed in correctly causing a short? so whenever there is a pulse of elec the system might turn on? (they using the same wall socket/extension?)

Could be I guess... they're both on their own separate surge protected extension leads but those are both plugged into the same 2-gang wall socket

Steveocee said:
Network card drivers may be the problem.

I'll double check that I have all drivers up to date tongiht, cheers

Smffy · 4 Apr 2016 at 15:03

Check the connections on the mobo for the power switch (case) on the faulty machine - try unplugging the wires and then using a screw driver to short the connection the wires made and power on. Shut it down once on and see if it starts up again (could be a fault/short in the switch/pins/cables).

nick_000000 · 4 Apr 2016 at 15:18

I had a problem with my windows 10 medic centre PC turning itself on randomly, I think it was related to setting in the BIOS to allow the PC to wake from LAN. I think I also had to change a setting in PC scheduled tasks that was powering on the PC for windows updates, seems like Microsoft want to control our PCs

.

I think it's related to the network settings allowing the PC to Wake up from LAN, this can usually be disabled on the network driver if you right click on the adapter go to properties - configure - advanced - and set wake on magic packet to disabled.

uncle_rufus · 4 Apr 2016 at 15:24

Smffy said:
Check the connections on the mobo for the power switch (case) on the faulty machine - try unplugging the wires and then using a screw driver to short the connection the wires made and power on. Shut it down once on and see if it starts up again (could be a fault/short in the switch/pins/cables).

nick_000000 said:
I had a problem with my windows 10 medic centre PC turning itself on randomly, I think it was related to setting in the BIOS to allow the PC to wake from LAN. I think I also had to change a setting in PC scheduled tasks that was powering on the PC for windows updates, seems like Microsoft want to control our PCs .

Cheers guys, a few more places for me to look later...Will report back with my findings! I'm half expecting to get home to find the PC has turned itself on anyway

nick_000000 · 4 Apr 2016 at 15:38

uncle_rufus said:
Cheers guys, a few more places for me to look later...Will report back with my findings! I'm half expecting to get home to find the PC has turned itself on anyway

You will probably find that when you powered on one of the PCs it sent a network packet to the other PC to tell it to power on. Hopefully they won't be on when you get home, I initially got a bit freaked out when my PC was powering itself on.

labcoattech · 4 Apr 2016 at 15:41

Rule out it being the network / mains socket by disconnecting the network cable and connecting the PC to a different mains socket.

Also disable the PC turning on by it self from the BIOS (wake on lan / wake on alarm)

uncle_rufus · 4 Apr 2016 at 16:03

Yeah I was thinking first thing to try when I get in is pulling the network cable out of the PC which turns itself on and then turning on the other PC and seeing if it still does it...

Swapping sockets is a little awkward as the cables are all nicely installed and routed which includes a few cable ties to run them down the legs of the desk. I guess I could pull the kettle lead out of one PC and run an extension from somewhere else temporarily though...

Will check the BIOS too, cheers

uncle_rufus · 5 Apr 2016 at 08:28

UPDATE!

So when I got home last night I pulled the network cable out of the PC which powered itself on and switched on the other. It didn't boot this time, so WoL seemed likely. I plugged the network cable back in but left the PC off and got on with my evening...

Amusingly a while later I came back in and my main PC was on but it's monitors had gone into standby, so I jiggled the mouse to wake them up and at the same time on turned the 2nd PC!!!

Once it booted I went into device manager (now that I *finally* know how to do that in Windows 10 - right click the start menu button - clearly I'm the idiot for not realising that) and disabled "Wake on magic packet" in the settings for the network adapter. Seems to be fine since.

Of course this would be annoying if I actually wanted to use WoL legitimately in the future, but what can I do? I forgot to look but is there a reason why my main PC (brand new install) would be sending a WoL packet like that? Maybe in its network adapter settings there's an option for it

nick_000000 · 5 Apr 2016 at 08:46

I think it may be down to part of Windows 10 updates or something setup in the task scheduler when I had this issue on my PC that was powering itself on, so you could look there if you do want to use WOL. Also I think windows 10 can be set to share windows updates on the local network so that may be related..... or it might just be Microsoft wanting to use our PCs as part of their borg assimilation.

bouncin · 5 Apr 2016 at 16:33

when I upgraded to windows 10 from 7 on my laptop I had the same problem. Think its just Microsoft trying to freak us out