Computer starts by itself

Hello everybody

I am having this little problem that's bugging me, everyday at 7:00 AM one of my computers starts by itself. So I did look in the event viewer and the first entry of the day is at 7 am and as follows. "Information" gives the time and what is running and is TCPIP. Some times it turns off by itself since I have setup for Standby in 25 minutes, but sometimes stays on and I need to turn it of manually.
This is the message from Event Viewer:

"The System detected that Network adapter NVIDIA...Controller Packet Scheduler Miniport was connected to the network and has initiated normal operation over the network adapter"

At this point I don't know if any programs is starting the system and where should I start looking
BIOS as been updated to last firmware, and there is no setting allowed to start PC in BIOS (Modem, LAN.....), also CMOS was reset.

Thanks in advance to all the wonderful people who spend time helping us the computer handicapped

Luis

 

I think there's a setting in modern mobo. It should be under power management. Something like Wake on LAN. What's your mobo?

 

akhilles, thank you for your reply

Sorry didn't write the specs previously

MB Asus M2N-SLI DELUXE
Win XP Media center 2005 SP2
Cable Internet Modem Always On
System on Standby
D-Link DI-524 Router (Troublesome PC is Wired)

As per your question I already checked the BIOS set up, Wake on LAN is under Power Menu, APM Configuration and is set as follows:

Restore on AC Power Loss..............Off
Power On by PCI/PCIE devices........Disable (This is the set. for Wake on LAN)
Power On by external Modems.........Disable
Power On by ATC Alarm.................Disable
Power On by Mouse......................Disable
Power ON by Keyboard..................Disable

Luis

 

Was your pc off or in sleep/hibernation when it woke up? If it is off, there's no way it will wake up by itself with everything disabled in bios. You can clear cmos & load bios defaults to see if that helps. If it's in sleep/hibernation, it's software-related. It could be anything. Did you install the nvidia firewall?

 

Allright, this PC is the Media Center and is accessed by wife and son, therefore is on Sleep Mode all the time, I am thinking the same way you do, is program related, now where do I start checking what program is causing the start?
I could try msconfig, disable all the programs and start one everyday to see if one of those is the trigger, is there an easier way? Will take a while.

To your question, no I didn't install the nvidia firewall

Luis

 

I'll bet it is plugged in directly to an outlet/mains. One way to prevent it from turning itself on, attach it to a surge suppressor and turn the suppressor off. (I had a computer that would turn itself on at 9pm ever night).

Are your security programs set to check for updates at a particular time?

 

Thanks plodr, but no it's not plugged directly to an outlet, regarding security programs, everyone is set to manual update, as testing purpose and I don't have any schedule task listed, I know I can turn it off every night but this problem is bugging me.

Luis

 

Last question: if your bios has a setting to boot from network, is it disabled?

 

I had been having the same problem until reading this thread and then finding the bios entry to disable. My question is, why does this setting exist, and why would a pci device be given the ability to wake a computer? Specifically, why a dial-up modem or a video card?
And what a wonderful way to learn something new about how these devices work.

 

Yes the bios as this setting, but is disabled, the only thing I can think of is that a program running in the background as set itself to check for updates at this specific time, the only problem is that I don't know witch one. I might have to use msconfig and start one program every night until I find the culprit, if it's a program causing this, it will be awhile.

thanks.

Luis

 

Easier way, at 7:01am, go to the computer bring up task manager and note what is running. I'd think whatever woke up the computer would show up there. (At night, note what ws running before it went to sleep).

 

I think it might be updating..I'd check your windows update settings and maybe virus scan features. Maybe one of them is instructed to kick in at that time...

 

I did what you suggested and as soon boot up finished I opened Task Manager and processor was at 99% until 7:45 when turned off by Standby. It seems like there was no program running

 

Automatic update is set up to "Notify but don't automatic download"
My Anti Virus is Norton enterprise, I know Norton is a resources huger but as a matter of fact in this PC works great, I had it in my other 3 systems and had to remove it and install Avast!. Any ways I can't find the settings for this version of Norton automatic updates. I am going to search some more tonight.

 

OK, I found the settings for Norton updates. Is set to Update every Friday at 8 PM...... Now what?

 

Norton is the problem, then. It wakes up the pc to download updates. Either set it to update when the pc is on or ask Norton forum. Maybe a start-up script in command line.

 

Thank you akhilles, I will follow up on your suggestion regarding Norton, although is set to update at a certain time, it might have embedded an script to start at that time everyday.

Luis

 

All right I am back, I am sorry for the delay but I was making sure the problem was gone. Even though Norton was set up to update on Fridays at 8 PM it was starting the system everyday at 7 AM. I just un-check " Enable schedule automatic updates" and the problem is gone. Now is time to remove Norton and install Avast!.

 

Smart move. make sure you search here and get the Norton Cleanup Tool so Norton is completely off the computer.

 

Thanks plodr, I already have the tool, I did removed Norton from all my PC's 3 of them, I already have the tool, although the tool doesn't remove everything
in reality going into the registry is necessary to completely remove all traces of Norton and Symantec.

 

Hi. Since it seems you have a Media Center PC, it may be the ehsched.exe program that is starting up. Look in the Event Viewer's Application and Services Logs, and then look for an Information entry that has a Date and Time stamp of about 0702. Click on it and you should see 0700 under the General tab. (I cannot take credit for this info. I found this inadvertently and -gulp- "lost" it.) In any case, this is the culprit. My Dell laptop starts at 0837ET everyday. From what I recall, this is not even in the Task Scheduler and it seems Microsoft went through "great pains" to hide this. When I find it I will post a link to the source. If anyone else finds it, please post the link here.

I hope this helps.

 

OK! I found it. I hope this helps.

The link to the explanation: http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/thread/21568.aspx

The link to the program to change the time: http://www.avsoft.nl/Tools/guidedltime/

I hope this helps.