Infected with something ?

[henry crun]

Running IE and XP.

One of my last actions before going to bed is to switch off the PC, so last week I was surprised to find it running when I got up one morning. Didn't think too much about it then, maybe I had inadvertently clicked on Restart instead of TurnOff the night before.

This morning while I was getting breakfast I heard the XP Welcome jingle and sure enough, the PC had just fired up on its own again before I had touched it.

Are there any nasties out there that can turn on the PC in this way ?
I am using NAV on auto update, run Adaware and Spybot regularly and have not noticed them finding anything different recently.

[timmcat]

Did the phone ring? Some modems can be configured to 'wake the PC' when receiving an incoming call.

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

henry crun,

It would really help if you gave us some details on the hardware in your computer.

Take Care,

Richard

[englishal]

Have you had any brief blackouts in your area (not the whisky sort )? Most bioses contain an entry called "System state after AC fail" or something, and if this is set to "on" then your system will fire up if power fails and then is reconnected.

Cheers

[henry crun]

englishal; no blackouts or power surges: power supply is reliable, there certainly was no power failure on the night in question or the other morning when it started on its own.

timmcat; no, the phone did not ring.

Richard; Athlon XP 2000,........ 512 mb ram,...... Soft92 speakerphone modem,.... is that enough info ?

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

henry crun,

We are close but not quite there yet. Which Mobo are you using, what NIC do you have (and is it on a network), and which exact model Modem do you have.

I want to make sure you do not have WOL setup in the BIOS of your Mobo or in the Drivers of your NIC (if the NIC is not integrated into the Mobo).

Take Care,

Richard

P.S. If your Modem is a WinModem, also called Modem for Windows, then it would be worth getting a real Modem (USRobots Performance Pro Modems are excellent) and use the WinModem as a paper weight. (All they are really good for.)

[henry crun]

Richard, apologies if this is not the info you need but I am not a technical person.

Mobo = motherboard ? Micro ATX L7VMM
NIC = network internet connection ? reading directly from Control Panel/Network Connections,
Local Area Connection.......Network cable unplugged......Realtek RTL8139/810xFamilyFastEthernet.

The only info I can find on the modem is as I stated in my last post. It came with the pc and is internal.

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

henry crun,

Just as a test, unplug your network cable from your NIC when you shut it down, and see if to boots up again on its own.

Take Care,

Richard

P.S. NIC = Network Interface Card

[henry crun]

Richard, thank you for your help but I think we had better leave it there.
As I said, I am not a technical person and I wouldn't recognise the Network Interface Card if I tripped over it let alone the cable it is connected to.

My main thought when I asked the original question was there might be a virus or worm that was causing it to boot up on its own, I did not think it could be a hardware problem after 18 months of trouble free service.

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

henry crun,

I have a couple of options for you:

First, follow the Guide for Eliminating Spyware, Adware, and Random Popups

Then I would download Hijack This! and let Liam look over you the log.

That way we will know if your computer has any pests in it or not.

Take Care,

Richard