[+11] Why would a PC turn itself on at midnight every night?

[Black_Apalachi]

For like the past year or two, my mum's PC has turned itself on at midnight every night. We have no idea how this was set in the first place as we had it long before it started, and a friend who is a computer programmer doesn't understand it either. She basically just leaves it on 24/7 literally, because it comes on itself of a night anyway.

Thought it was worth a shot to see if anyone knows how to alter this setting :)

[Smits]

I'm not sure why but if you turn the power off at the socket or unplug it it wouldnt be able to do it.

[Nixt]

Some computers have a setting where you can get it to automatically turn on at a certain time. I know because I had my computer do it. I am not 100% how about changing it though because it would be exclusive settings to your mum's computer innit.

[Black_Apalachi]

Did you set it up on your computer originally though?

[Nixt]

Yeah I did, but perhaps it some kind of coincidence on yours? I dunno really!! Might be worth checking to see if the feature exists.

[Black_Apalachi]

OK thanks. Is it done via on-screen settings though? I'm just trying to imagine how it could be done because there's literally no menu or anything that has it.

[xxMATTGxx]

OK thanks. Is it done via on-screen settings though? I'm just trying to imagine how it could be done because there's literally no menu or anything that has it.

Have you tried looking into the control panel looking at power options or anything to do with power that is pre-installed? Might be some setting in the BIOS as well.

[cocaine]

OH MY GOD ITS A GHOST :l

some computers have setting which allow the computer to be turned on and perform tasks. check to see if any backups, virus scans or disk defragmentations/cleanups or any other tasks aren't set to run at midnight

[Recursion]

It's a BIOS setting, go mash DEL, or one of the F keys during the PC's POST (beginning of boot) and find it.

[Stephen!]

Could be a wake-on-lan setting in the router.

[Special]

just unplug it when you come off at night??

[N!ck]

It won't be a setting in Windows. It's most likely what Stephen said. Look in the BIOS.

[BeanEgg]

Perhaps auto-updates at around 12am? Not sure though.

[triston220]

Try clicking F2, F10 or DEL at startup to get in the BIOS settings. Then find the setting and turn it off.

[MattFr]

Could be a wake-on-lan setting in the router.

How do you set wake-on-lan on the router when the NIC has to support the feature, and have it turned on? :)

Do everything suggested. Check power settings in the BIOS and check the settings on your network adapter.

[Metric1]

just get a new one..

[Recursion]

How do you set wake-on-lan on the router when the NIC has to support the feature, and have it turned on? :)

Do everything suggested. Check power settings in the BIOS and check the settings on your network adapter.

99% of NICs nowadays support it and quite a few BIOSes have it enabled by default.

To other people; I wish people would stop posting sugestions when it's clear they don't know what they're on about

[Black_Apalachi]

just unplug it when you come off at night??
Not helpful.


just get a new one..
Not helpful.


Have you tried looking into the control panel looking at power options or anything to do with power that is pre-installed? Might be some setting in the BIOS as well.


OH MY GOD ITS A GHOST :l

some computers have setting which allow the computer to be turned on and perform tasks. check to see if any backups, virus scans or disk defragmentations/cleanups or any other tasks aren't set to run at midnight


It's a BIOS setting, go mash DEL, or one of the F keys during the PC's POST (beginning of boot) and find it.


Try clicking F2, F10 or DEL at startup to get in the BIOS settings. Then find the setting and turn it off.

I'll look into all of these, thanks :)

[Sharon]

Wait what does the pc do when it turns on?

[Black_Apalachi]

It just starts up Windows as far as I know and stays on.

[Apolva]

My initial thoughts are also that it's a BIOS thing (Keep pressing Delete/F2/F8/F10 (varies) as you hit the power button, after a short time a blue screen should come up).

Try disabling "Wake on LAN", "Start on power failure", and any settings you find to suggest doing something at a certain time.

[Caution]

just get a new one..

Do you just throw money at everything..

[LMS16]

Right so Im laughing at every comment here...

Now when you get a PC its default settings on windows update are "install updates everyday @ 12 or so..." so check out the screeny below and let me know if it helped :P
Never mess with BIOS cos hardly any1 knows what the BIOS is nor understand what it stand for...

http://i42.tinypic.com/2lxj8zs.png

So go to control panel > windows update > change settings

and change it to something like "download the updates but let me choose when to install them"

Lew.

[Apolva]

That isn't the cause (since the update software isn't running when it's off).

Most likely a BIOS setting, which is not a problem as long as you don't go changing random things.

[LMS16]

Ok, let me explain...

So your motherboard has a battery... ok? So a small part of windows will run off this battery power and will run on the desired time... weather its from the BIOS (windows update adding it to there) this is an easy way to edit it....

If it isnt the windows update then you can resort to other things...

This is the most likely though.

Lew.

[Black_Apalachi]

My initial thoughts are also that it's a BIOS thing (Keep pressing Delete/F2/F8/F10 (varies) as you hit the power button, after a short time a blue screen should come up).

Try disabling "Wake on LAN", "Start on power failure", and any settings you find to suggest doing something at a certain time.

OK I fixed it thanks to this post. I know people may have said similar stuff earlier on but I only got around to trying out the suggestions today and this post sums up exactly how I sorted it. Turns out it was F2 I had to press and then scroll down to something like 'Automatic Start-up' and disable it. I'm guessing this has fixed it anyway, won't know for sure until midnight.

Thanks for everyone's help, rep has been given where possible :)

[N!ck]

Ok, let me explain...

So your motherboard has a battery... ok? So a small part of windows will run off this battery power and will run on the desired time... weather its from the BIOS (windows update adding it to there) this is an easy way to edit it....

If it isnt the windows update then you can resort to other things...

This is the most likely though.

Lew.

This isn't the area of the forum for you.

[Describe]

I haven't read other posts so I have no idea if this has been posted.

I know about a method to set a timer.

Click "Start" --> "Run"
Type: shutdown -s -t 3600
click OK

Then you can just put the little window that this is going to generate in the background

** 3600 is the time in seconds (change it to whatever time you want)

** If you want to abort the shutdown, just type: shutdown -a
So try aborting it, maybe it is there by default. Type 'shutdown -a' and see if you have any more luck.

[Black_Apalachi]

Problem has been fixed thank youuuu

[HotelUser]

My laptops and old desktops when I was a primary windows user and actually shut them off used to do that all the time, OS X has done it once to me too!

[Recursion]

My laptops and old desktops when I was a primary windows user and actually shut them off used to do that all the time, OS X has done it once to me too!

A Mac's EFI (supposed to be better than BIOS) is just a pain the friggen ass so it doesn't surprise me.

[HotelUser]

A Mac's EFI (supposed to be better than BIOS) is just a pain the friggen ass so it doesn't surprise me.

That would not necessarily be the cause of this, Tom. Plus this used to happen a lot more on my Vista computers.

[Recursion]

That would not necessarily be the cause of this, Tom. Plus this used to happen a lot more on my Vista computers.

The thing is, you have control over BIOS settings to wake it up etc, on Macs you have NO control what so ever of the EFI