PC turns itself on

You missed the first line of my post.

I'm not seeing where you turned off wake timers?

As to Which Windows? I add that just to be sure. 8.1 has Wake Timers too.

I've disabled wake timers. I'll only know in a few days from now, when I turn off my computer for a day.

But shouldn't clicking on Shut Down (twice) turn the computer off, making it impossible for it to turn on again?

The only way to really be sure is to remove the AC power.

Wake timers are on the web if you want to see what they do. In short, it can power up a PC.

Microsoft claims that Shut down turns off the computer completely.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/13770/windows-shut-down-sleep-hibernate-your-pc

I've seen Windows 10 machines wake from shutdown to run updates.

It is powered off, no doubt there. Modern PCs can wake on a timer so we have to disable that wake timer.

I'm not here to debate, just to share an area that can wake a shutdown PC.

The computer was off for close to 2 days and never turned on. The only reason I placed "Probably" in the subject is because when I turned off that obscure option a while back, it worked the first time or two that I turned off the machine and then didn't. So I'm going to keep an eye on this over the next few weeks and then - hopefully - add a final post to this thread.

Thank you for your help on this one and all the others you've assisted me on over the years, Bob.

The computer's been off three times for over 24 hours each time and never turned on. I'm confident that wake timers was the problem and that it's now solved.

Thank you again, Bob!

I had another client with a wakey wakey PC and they had never heard of wake timers and had gone through numerous OS reloads and new boards.

They didn't believe it and didn't turn it off so it took a few weeks till they were bald. Then they turned it off.

I hope the hair will grow back in.

Hair today, gone tomorrow.

A couple of days ago, the computer came alive again. Wake timers are still turned off.

Two questions:

1) Why doesn't Shut Down do precisely that - Shut down the computer completely, as if one pulled the plug?

2) Any other ideas of what might be causing the computer to come to life?

As witnessed by the Wake Timers, you have to be sure those are off.

2. All wake on sources have to be disabled. I don't own your model so I can't list them all.

Are you saying that hitting the power button also doesn't completely turn off the computer, and that wake timers would also wake a computer turned off that way?

To the best of my knowledge, other than mouse and keyboard, all wake ons have been disabled. To repeat what I wrote months ago, when the computer's off, it's not subject to anyone hitting a key or moving the mouse.

I will write it again. I continue to find machine after machine with the Wake Timers waking the PC. Most folk turn it off a few questioned my advice on that, left it on and for those clients we suggest a power bar with the "yes, it's really off" switch.

I still have no idea what's waking the machine or how to go about tracking it down.

You are using sleep instead of off or hibernate. I did run into a client the did not recheck the noted settings. Each time I did the check for him it incured a trip charge. I'm unsure why they didn't want to check that setting. My guess is that Windows Updates could change it back to on.

I also thought that perhaps Windows Update installed an update that messed with my settings, so I checked that before posting my "NOT solved" post a couple of days ago.

But I just did a little more checking now and found the following.

Change advanced power settings: Wake timers are disabled

The Shut Down submenu shows (among others) Sleep, Hibernate and Shut Down, indicating that Shut Down should do exactly what the name implies.

But do try http://lifehacker.com/how-find-out-what-woke-up-your-computer-last-1550549116

On my Win 8.1 machine, powercfg isn't there. (Message displayed is "illegal command."

Furthermore, there's no Security and Maintenance in Control Panel.

I did forget to mention that Event Viewer reports that the wake source for the last wake is unknown.

As I responded elsewhere in this thread a few moths ago, I'd rather just unplug the computer on the 20 or so occasions per year that I turn it off for a period of time. That's a lot easier than wiping and reinstalling Windows and programs.

Bob, I've said this a number of times and I repeat it now. I'm grateful to you for being so generous with your time and expertise.

Until the next issue . . .

I think we've tried the usual. A power bar with a real off switch is the cure at times.

Be sure to call your PC "that M5 computer." (it's a computer from the original Star Trek series that had no off switch.)

Will check when I'm able to reboot and will let you know.

Thanks.

There didn't appear to be any relevant settings, and most of the settings were disabled, anyway.

Device manager/network adapter/properties/power management.
Disable the wake feature.

Do the same with your usb hubs.

That option was not enabled for my network adapter and for the various USB hubs, and it was greyed out for all of them.

Thank you for sticking with me and for your efforts and suggestions.

Device manager/network adapter/properties/advanced.
Scroll down to the bottom.
I see an option to allow this device wake up capabilities.
Mine is set to none.

Next step is to expand the power plan your using and review each item.
If no luck read this about how to query what woke the computer.

http://www.howtogeek.com/122954/how-to-prevent-your-computer-from-waking-up-accidentally/

If you mean Wake on Magic Packet and Wake on pattern match, I just checked and they're both set to Disabled. Other than those, there's no wake option.

Checked my power plan. Not sure what all the options refer to and there's no help available. It's late here in my part of the world. I'll try to research some of these settings tom'w.

I'd already seen the howtogeek article. The problem is that the DOS box closes immediately, before even the Flash would be able to read the result of the command.