Member Avatar for JANINE

This may not be a dead machines problem so pardon me if it's not

My brother has a home built machine running Windows Vista RC1 and this problem has only started since having this particular OS installed.

He can power it off ok through the usual resources of telling the OS to shut down etc, however after about 5 to 10 minutes the machine will power itself back on without any user intervention. He has so far got around the problem by turning off his PSU at the rocker switch but he is getting tired of turning the machine on and off from the back of the system all the time.

I doubt this is a hardware issue in itself but it is possible I suppose so I'm generally looking for a 2nd opinion.

In the BIOS of this particular machine (award- phoenix) I have noticed a Rocker switch function with the options of 'break/wake' and disable. It is currently set to the first option of break/wake. I think this is part of the problem but am uncertain as I seem to recall that a problem was reported to Microsoft about Vista RC1 turning machines on if they had Rocker Switches.

Any light would be greatly appreciated. Thanks:)

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by mechbas
Member Avatar for mechbas

I'm not familiar w/the OS, or the "Rocker Switch". This will probably confirm your own suspicion that there's an issue of sorts w/the BIOS. Rule of thumb, software DOES NOT control that much of the hardware, EXCEPT when there's something in the BIOS that allows it to do so. There's probably an area of the board that stores small amounts of code that's enough to wake the machine, (long years ago x286 this was done by boot.com, not needed anymore) this is essentially what has been going on since about the time when w98 was fading, re: restart, etc. Seems simple enough, set the controling BIOS setting in effect to 0.

Member Avatar for JANINE

I'll have a go at altering the BIOS and will see what happens. At the end of the day the worst that can happen is i'll cock the board up and have to over write the system

Member Avatar for mechbas

setting to 0 = disable. don't see how the OS can over ride that?

Member Avatar for lasher511

I remeber having a similar problem with one of my computers and from memory there is a setting somewhere( i think in the bio) that you can change so that the machine will turn on when it gets power. This on its own would not normally affect the computer after it has been turned off however i think that there was something with the power grid in that particular area that was causing my computer to do this. In the end i just left my computer on(which it is most of the time anyway) and after i moved to a new area this problem stopped.

Member Avatar for JANINE

setting to 0 = disable. don't see how the OS can over ride that?

Me neither - will be looking at it later on:)

Member Avatar for Computerkev

It could well be a setting in the bios that is causing the problem or it could be a problem with the power supply or it could also be a problem with the voltage in your house.

Member Avatar for JANINE

It could well be a setting in the bios that is causing the problem or it could be a problem with the power supply or it could also be a problem with the voltage in your house.

Surely if it was a problem with the voltage in my house it would affect all the PC's not just this one.
I'm going to go for the BIOS setting and see if it makes all the difference.

However another something has made itself apparent. MY other brother ran a hard disk accoustics test and its reported back that there is a fault in the accoustics. There is a tinging noise shortly after the machine is turned off. Suppose the two are related. Its something i'm going to be looking at.

Member Avatar for JANINE

Found the problem regarding the power. Its something to do with the ACPI in windows Vista not being compatible with Rocker switch PSU's. Rather then buy a new PSU I think I shall wait until Microsoft release their SP1 for Vista. they are aware of the problem and are working on a fix for it.

Regarding the hard disk drive. That died earlier on today. Was knocking like a woodpecker on speed :)

Member Avatar for Computerkev

Glad to hear that you have an idea what the problem is so i guess you gonna have to wait for sp1 good luck waiting. Sorry to hear that your hard drive died i hope you had back up your data.

Member Avatar for mechbas

Can't imagine why anyone would want to use the function anyway, strikes me as a bell/whistle that isn't needed, however, does existant SR/Vista not have a means to disable the function? toggle sw of sorts?

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