'ere's a funny thing...

[jimtherev]

I have a computer which refuses to stay shut down!

<Start> <Shut down> ... everything happens as usual: 'Logging off', 'Saving your settings' 'Shutting down' , Click! everything shuts off, all lights off, monitor goes into standby. Then...

12 seconds later (always 12 seconds), as I'm walking off to make me cuppa, the thing starts up again. Boots up normally and resumes from a cold start - i.e. not resume from standby or hibernate.

The only way to stop this happen is to hold the power button down during the POST for the requisite 4-5 seconds, then the thing stops and stays stopped.

It's doing me 'ed in.

For those who are interested:

Elite chipset with Intel 865G northbridge and ICH5 southbridge; 3G Pentium, 2Gb DDR.

Not set to wake on lan; not set to wake up on ring.

OS is XP SP3 - not that I can think of any difference that can make...

I've scratched head till sore, but that didn't seem to make any difference: I've tried cursing at the thing: ditto.

Any constructive suggestions? (Even though I don't have my money in an Icelandic bank, I don't feel like junking the thing just yet.)

Glum Jim

[al446]

Just pull the feckin plug. Life's too short.

[Loose rivets]

Put a plastic bag over it...starve it of oxygen.


But it really rings a bell. One will deliberate.

[Saab Dastard]

What happens if you press the power button to shut it down, without using the Windows Start [?]* menu shutdown? This should work (non-harmfully), but you may need to hold the power button down for a few seconds.

SD

* Conceptually, that to me is like ejecting a floppy disk on old Apple Macs - drag to the bin!

[fmgc]

Is the CMOS battery running down?

[green granite]

Not being funny but when you get the shutdown box up asking you what you want to do it does say "shut down" and not "restart" doesn't it, catches me out quite often if I've been doing re-boots

[frostbite]

Try installing a desktop link to shutdown.exe and see if it still restarts after using that.

Keep the icon well away from the others though!

[jimtherev]

Thanks for the messages of encouragement!

in order...

al - plug's behind desk & I've got a bad back!
rivets - not sure that would work... might try it if I get desperate, then it would prob. cook itself to death: that would do it.
SD - I'll try that & report, but tomorrow: for some reason Pprune is taking **ages** to connect & change boards tonight here
fgmc - dunno: worth a try I guess, but it still keeps time if I go away for a couple of days. Anyway I've got a few 2032s somewhere...
gg - hmm, definitely not. In any case, restart does what it says on the tin, if I want to do a reset, & instantly
and finally , Fb, I'll try that, too.

'tis wierd: I've had this mboard for 15 months, and it's done a few funny things, but never this one up to a few days ago - and I can't even blame Mr Gates this time.

Onward & upwards; back tomorrow, unless I try rivets' plan, in which case it'll be covered in fire brigade foam.
Jim

[John Marsh]

Microsoft article may be of use:
Windows XP restarts unexpectedly or restarts when you shut down the computer

Plus other comments at PC won't sleep or shut down, only restarts | Ask Metafilter

SD: I've had to use the power button method on occasion. Sometimes this makes XP check files & folders on the next boot-up. I've also known it to mess up the desktop. (But when nothing else works, what can you do?)

[jimtherev]

Cracked it!

Thanks everyone: for information, I tried everything suggested except the bag and pulling out the plug. But JM's suggestion put me on the right track.

What was happening (somehow, although LAN restart was disabled) was that the router was sending out a 'where are you?' signal 12 s after shutdown, and the computer was unable to resist...

I enhibited the restart by disabling the "Restart by PCI PME" function in the MoBo setup pages. Shouldn't have any effect, but it does.

Thanks for all the fun, chaps.
Jim

[Bushfiva]

Shouldn't have any effect, but it does.

Um, it should have an effect, and it did :-)

[dazdaz]

Jim
Happy to help