Automatic Start Up

Posted by GalaxyT25 on Sep 11, 2008

This is an interesting question! I'll suggest some basics, but if this doesn't help you out, can you please respond with what kind of system this is, what the OS is and if you are able to determine the firmware revision. I'd also be curious to know if this is plugged directly into a wall outlet, a power strip etc.

MS Windows does not have the ability to turn on its host PC from the "off" state, but it does have the ability to turn itself on from a sleep state. So for starters I would ask you to be sure the PC is truly off.

In the BIOS (where the computer stores its hardware options) there is almost always a setting for what happens in the event of a power failure. Specifically what happens when power comes back on. Options always include "stay off" (my recommendation) and might also include "return to previous state" (or something similar) as well as "power on". If your system's AC power is on a timer (unlikely but hey) you might find the answer is here.

Also in the BIOS, there may be some settings to specify what time you would like the system to power on/off at. This would be an obvious answer to your problem.

If you're not sure how to access the BIOS on your system, look for a line of instruction at first power on to let you know. Compaq it's F10, Dell and many others it's F1, others are F2. Once inside... don't make any changes you aren't reasonably sure about. And if you do make changes, be sure to save them before rebooting.

Hope that helps.