[Resolved] Computer starts by itself & other problems

[Lenny]

My oldest computer (specs below) has developed a problem in which, even after a clean shutdown, it will sometimes (maybe 50% of the time) restart by itself using within 10 seconds. I have always had everything in the BIOS that that might start the PC disabled (WOL, USB, etc). After the PC auto-restarts I will again press the power button to shutdown at the Windows user login screen, it will shutdown but again start back up. This is a new issue. This behavior isn't like telling Windows to "restart". The PC actually comes to a full shutdown for a few seconds (fans off, etc) and then it restarts. I've had to resort to turning off the PSU power switch after a shutdown to keep it shutdown.

Another recent issue - for the first time in a long time I needed to use the DVD drive to install a game. The drive wasn't working at all so I deleted the device from Windows Device Manager and scanned for new hardware. It found the drive and it started working. I was able to install the game successfully. However since that time that PC has been experiencing BSODs rather frequently, a few times a day. I'm not sure if this issue is related to the auto-restart so I thought I'd mention it as well.

Any ideas on either issue?

Specs:

Athlon 64 X2 3800+ (1.8 Ghz Toledo core) @ default
Foxconn 6150BK8MC-KRSHN2 motherboard
Integrated Nvidia 6150 graphics
Retail AMD CPU cooler
2.0 GB DDR RAM
80 GB Western Digital SE hard drive
DVD-ROM drive
Fortron "Blue Storm" 500w ATX 12v 2.0 PSU
Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit

[wonkanoby]

unplug case switch

use a small driver to short 2 pins for a second

does it start shutdown as normal

if yes looks like the case switch

if you have another psu swap it and see if it then behaves

[uddarts]

i'd start with disconnecting the case power switch lead from the mb.

then if that's not it, swap out the psu or just disconnect the atx, p4 and hd from the board and then attach another psu to those connections.


then......

edit: i'm getting slow.

ud

[Lenny]

Now that I think about it that Fortron PSU had problems in the recent past. I remember some times when a really bad odor was coming from it. I had a thread here about that. I have a spare TT PSU I could try. I could try the case switch short as well. Good suggestions. Thanks guys.

uddarts, I like your sig

[Lenny]

I disconnected the case switch lead, shorted the connectors with a screwdriver and the PC shutdown as expected. About 10 seconds later the PC started back up with nothing connected to the case switch lead.

I reconnected the case switch lead and swapped out the PSU. The PC still starts by itself after shutdown.

So the auto-start mystery remains ...

Regarding the BSODs, I noticed the DVD drive, which I mentioned I'm having problems with, was jumpered for slave instead of master. Not sure if that could have been causing problems but I changed it to master.

[wonkanoby]

system properties, advanced,startup recovers

then untick restart

[Lenny]

system properties, advanced,startup recovers

then untick restart

That's already unchecked. When I get a BSOD I have to manually restart.

I just went into the advanced power management options and disabled everything there that might allow the PC to be restarted automatically. I also unchecked "allow this device to wake the computer" for the USB mouse and keyboard in Device Manger. I'll do some testing to see if any of that helps.

[Lenny]

After unsuccessfully trying several more things I finally solved the auto-restart problem by doing a jumper CMOS clear. I don't know why that worked but it did.

The BSODs are however still happening. I had to put the original Fortron Blue Storm PSU back in because it has a PCIE power connector which is needed for the 7900GS video card I had to install yesterday. I don't know if the BSODs are PSU related or not at this point. I think I'll try a Repair Install of Windows 7 next.

[Lenny]

I did an upgrade/repair install of Win7 and that didn't help the BSODs. At first it would BSOD when entering standby but now it's also BSODing just at the desktop surfing the web.

I've tried pulling out 2 of 4 sticks of RAM, removing extra PCI cards, changing BIOS settings. I just can't seem to stop the BSODs.

Maybe I'll trying taking the Antec 550w PSU out of my main rig and test with that.

[Lenny]

I did a clean install of Win7 yesterday. So far that has done wonders. No more BSODs. It shuts down cleanly. Standby works again. The original install was Win7 32-bit on an 80 GB drive but this time I installed 64-bit on a 160 GB drive, not that it should make any difference for the problems. I'm still using the original Fortron Blue Storm PSU.

Based on this experience I'd have to guess that something was corrupted or there was possibly a bad driver installed.