AutoZero
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PC turns itself on...
Windows 2000. ASUS A7A 266 motherboard. Bios version is dated 3-27-01, current but there is an update available. Wake on LAN disabled, wake on power loss disabled, wake on anything is disabled in the BIOS. This PC turns on (after a normal shut down in windows) anywhere from immediately to 30 minutes later. Now, if you kill the power supply to the PC for a couple seconds and then turn the power supply back to the on position, the PC does NOT turn on unless you hit the power switch. This is the 3rd motherboard i have had on this power supply, this is the only time i have encountered this problem (300 watt powermax). I am working on getting an altenate power supply to to try it, but by "resetting" the power supply it leads me to believe that the power supply may be fine. Really don't want to flash the BIOS (its a pain in win 2000). Anybody expierence this type on issue before?
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ASKER
Yeah, i've been playing with this for about a month now. Have tweaked the BIOS alot, user defined this and default that, disable that one, enable this one... in order to flash the BIOS, i would have to create a partition and install 98 on it, so i can boot into DOS, unless i'm mistaken and its possible to boot into DOS in 2k? Can't seem to find a friend that i can "borrow" a power supply from, will have to purchase a new one to check it. Thanks for the feedback!
ASKER
Thanx for the bootdisk link. Good site, but i can't seem to find win 2k boot disks... is there such a thing? i already have the 4 install disks for set up of 2k, but they don't offer a DOS environment.
You cannot get into DOS mode with W2K boot disks. W2K and upcoming XP do not have DOS mode at all.
If you need to boot to DOS, you need a DOS, Win95, Win98, or WinME boot disk. All of these are DOS based and you can boot to DOS.
If you need to boot to DOS, you need a DOS, Win95, Win98, or WinME boot disk. All of these are DOS based and you can boot to DOS.
sounds pretty wack dude.. You sure the computer is not posessed by satan ?
-Is the computer setup to power off on shutdown ?
http://www.winguides.com/registry/display.php/251/
-Did you try disabling APM in the bios & in windows ?
-Is the computer setup to power off on shutdown ?
http://www.winguides.com/registry/display.php/251/
-Did you try disabling APM in the bios & in windows ?
Uh Oh jhance it sounds like one of those Gremlins again. hehe
It sounds like a BIOS problem seeing how the time intervals of when the machine resumes is quite varied. Any problems when doing a Restart from Windows?
The Crazy One
It sounds like a BIOS problem seeing how the time intervals of when the machine resumes is quite varied. Any problems when doing a Restart from Windows?
The Crazy One
AutoZero,
First, you don't need a Windows 2000 boot disk, any bootable floppy will do as long has you have the BIOS ROM files on it.
As for the gremlins, have you double checked the connections (small connectors) from the case to the motherboard to insure that they are connected correctly?
Dennis
First, you don't need a Windows 2000 boot disk, any bootable floppy will do as long has you have the BIOS ROM files on it.
As for the gremlins, have you double checked the connections (small connectors) from the case to the motherboard to insure that they are connected correctly?
Dennis
ASKER
yes Dew have checked connections multiple times... and in order to create the boot disk i need i have to get into DOS to do it, this is per the ASUS website... so yes if i had access to a 98 machine i could just create the disk on that machine and then just boot off it... as far as gremlins go... i have fumigated the house twice in the past week AND i have a vicious attack cat as well... no gremlins... lol... thanx
Okay, let me know what you are able to work out.
ASKER
no problems when doing a restart... in fact this system is rock solid... have never even seen a blue screen... no problems anywhere else... have even been into the registry to check things out, but will double check what you have given me Housenet.... Thanx
oh and if you check my first post, i've been all over the BIOS... in fact i learned so much about this BIOS i was able to get about 5% more performance out of it...
oh and if you check my first post, i've been all over the BIOS... in fact i learned so much about this BIOS i was able to get about 5% more performance out of it...
Well, I think you're going to have to flash the BIOS to fix this. From http://overclockersclub.com/asusa7a266.shtml:
But when it came time to shutdown the thing would not shut off. It just kept rebooting into windows and the power switch would not work. I had to unplug it from the wall to get it to shut off. An update of the BIOS to v.1004 solved this problem. The BIOS update also added the ability to step the front side bus in 1Mhz intervals. Other than that it was a very easy install.
http://cgi.asus.com.tw/cgi-bin/dl.asp?filename=mb/socka/m1647/a7a266/aa261006.zip
-d
But when it came time to shutdown the thing would not shut off. It just kept rebooting into windows and the power switch would not work. I had to unplug it from the wall to get it to shut off. An update of the BIOS to v.1004 solved this problem. The BIOS update also added the ability to step the front side bus in 1Mhz intervals. Other than that it was a very easy install.
http://cgi.asus.com.tw/cgi-bin/dl.asp?filename=mb/socka/m1647/a7a266/aa261006.zip
-d
ASKER
This may resolve my issue, will check it out over the next couple of days and get back to you on it. Thanx.
ASKER
Well i have resolved this issue... the BIOS update did resolve this issue... interesting way this was done, i used a win98 boot disk with the flash utility for the asus mobo. That filled the disk completely. Had to put the bios update AND the flash utility on disk 2, run the flash utility on disk 1 and then insert disk 2 to flash the new BIOS. Does not boot unless i tell it to. NICE. Thanx everyone!
ASKER
I thought the BIOS upgrade would resolve it from the get go. I was really posting this to see if someone has had a similar expirience with this type of issue. Thank you.
AutoZero:
See my post with the link to overclockersclub.com's review of the board where they had the same problem. You can now also tweak your FSB in 1 MHz steps (as described in that article). Glad its working for you now at least!
Just FYI...the only files that really need to be on that boot disk are io.sys, msdos.sys, and command.com. All the other stuff is useful if you are going to do some hard drive troubleshooting or installation of Windows (fdisk, format, cd-rom drivers, etc etc etc).
-d
See my post with the link to overclockersclub.com's review of the board where they had the same problem. You can now also tweak your FSB in 1 MHz steps (as described in that article). Glad its working for you now at least!
Just FYI...the only files that really need to be on that boot disk are io.sys, msdos.sys, and command.com. All the other stuff is useful if you are going to do some hard drive troubleshooting or installation of Windows (fdisk, format, cd-rom drivers, etc etc etc).
-d
ASKER
That problem was different... I had no problem shutting down, it would NOT STAY shutdown. I'd walk away and come back into the room 20 minutes later and it was back on. Sometimes i'd shutdown, start to walk away and it would boot again. My power switch WOULD work, that was how i made it stay off, i had to kill the power supply on the back of the PC.
Thanx for the info on the boot floopy, i did try and remove uneccessary stuff like fdisk, but didn't want to take too much off either.
Thanx for the info on the boot floopy, i did try and remove uneccessary stuff like fdisk, but didn't want to take too much off either.
My first suspicion would be the BIOS settings but you've mentioned that this is checked.
My 2nd suggestion would be to replace the MB since the circuitry to do this is there and can be defective. But I think it's highly improbable that this same problem would happen on multiple MBs.
So I would then suspect your power supply. The signal that comes from the MB and tells it to switch on may be defective and it gets triggered by noine or something. It should be a simple thing to swap the PS out for another one. But if that doesn't fix the problem, I'm out of ideas....