For example, there may be some kind of problem in the power settings that we have set before. It may also be the case that some of the hardware components that we have installed on the PC are to blame for all of this. In addition, we must take into consideration that when turning off or restart windows there are many configurable options behind it all. But don’t worry, we are going to review the most common points to solve all this that we are telling you about and that the equipment does not turn on by itself again.
Fix computer power failure
The inconveniences that this process of automatic ignition to which we refer, is something that we should not allow. To begin with, a completely useless energy consumption is carried out that does not benefit anyone. At the same time, certain background processes that we do not want to start without our consent can be produced or executed. To all this, we can add the scare that we can get in the middle of the night if the computer is nearby and it starts up by itself.
Locate the guilty hardware components
Between this point, the first thing we are going to do is take a look at what component or components may have put our computer into operation. This is something we can achieve by opening a command prompt window with administrator permissions, something we can do by typing cmd in the search box.
Next, we execute the following commands in the window that appears:
powercfg -lastwake powercfg –devicequery wake_armed
It is worth mentioning that the first of them lets us see the last device that I can in operation the equipment. Meanwhile, the second shows a list with the devices that can activate the Windows computer to check the reason why it turns on only because of the hardware.
Check the physical buttons on the PC
Whether we work with a desktop computer or with a laptopmost of these teams have a mechanical button that we use daily to turn on and even turn off the equipment as such. Over time, this simple yet useful hardware component can be damaged and cause problems both when turning the computer on and off.
Sometimes it can even cause the PC to start on its own in certain circumstances when we have no intention of using it at that moment. For example, if this happens at night and we are close, the scare can be significant. Therefore, we recommend you to open the CPU of the computer and take a look at that button and its cables and connectors in case there is anything loose that we can see at first glance. If we are not experienced users in this type of hardware checks, perhaps we should take the CPU to an expert to take a more in-depth look at it.
At the same time, this can also be caused by the connector for said button on the motherboard, which we should also check.
Disable fast system startup
At the same time, we must bear in mind that not only the hardware that we have installed on the PC can be to blame for all this. It may be the case that some type of configuration or parameter activated in the operating system is responsible for the failure. For example, this can be given by the boot mode that we will have configured in Windows.
What we should know here is that Microsoft software proposes a faster startup mode in order to save time. This is something that allows us to speed up the process of turning on the computer, but it can also be the cause of this failure. Therefore, below, we are going to show you the easiest way to disable this quick start that we are talking about. You have to know that this mode does not completely turn off the PC, so it can lead to an automatic start. To do this, click on the battery icon on the taskbar to select Power Options.
In the window that opens, in the left panel, click on choose the behavior of the Start / shutdown buttons. So here we will see that the option to Turn on fast startupwhich we should uncheck.
Delete activation timers
Another of the functions that we do not pay too much attention to and that can cause the PC to fail to power on, are the action timers. Here we refer to a task scheduled at a specific time that makes Windows turn itself on. To solve the problem send the configuration of these, we go back to the power options mentioned before.
In this case, in the left panel, click on the link that says Change the frequency with which the computer enters a state of suspension. Next, we click on Change advanced power settings, which leads to a new small window. In this we display the suspension list, and we can now see the option of the commented timers. So now we only have to deactivate them definitively to fix the bug.
Remove automatic system reboot
Along these same lines, we also want to talk about another functionality that can sometimes be very useful, but not now. This is a functionality that is activated by default by i if the PC fails. Specifically, what it does in this case is that the system restarts itself. What we are going to do now is deactivate this automatic restart, for which we use the key combination Win+R. In the run box type the following:
sysdm.cpl
In the window that appears, we are located in the Advanced / Settings tab of the Startup and recovery section. We go to another new window in which we already have the possibility of unchecking the box reboot automatically.
Limit power on by keyboard, mouse and network
There are several devices that we generally have connected to our computer. But if there are two that are especially important, it is worth highlighting both the keyboard and the mouse. However, we must bear in mind that these have the ability to start our PC with a simple movement. No matter how small, these elements can cause the PC to start working on its own or without us noticing.
Therefore, what we can do in this regard is prevent these hardware components from behaving in this way. We are going to achieve this through the device manager that we can access by right-clicking on the start menu. Here we have to locate the keyboard input on the one hand and the mouse input on the other and click with the secondary button to access their properties. In the window that appears, all we have to do is go to the tab called power management and uncheck the Allow this device to reactivate the computer box.
Keep in mind that we will have to carry out this same process on both devices, the mouse and the keyboard.
Prevent the LAN from waking the computer
As with the keyboard and mouse, this can be produced by the function Wake On Lan if we have Windows connected to a network. It may be the case that Windows turns on by itself when another computer needs to communicate or exchange data. Since it is built into the hardware, the network adapter, this could be a possible reason why this is happening.
To avoid this, as before and from the Device Manager, within the Network adapters section we look for the one we are using, without changing anything that appears as MiniPort. Now we access the properties of the network card in the Power Management tab. Once here, we uncheck the box Allow this device to wake the computer.
In addition, we must also access the advanced options of the web card (the one that is connected via cable, not the Wi-Fi connection). Within this section, in the Property section, we must select the option Wake on magic packet when system… and change the value to disabled.
After deactivating this function, we have instructed the network card to ignore any order that comes from the router or outside that invites it to turn on remotely. If we want to use this functionality to connect remotely to the computer, we will have to activate it again.
In addition, we must also access the BIOS/UEFI of our equipment to also deactivate this function. This function is generally found in the Power Management or Power Functions section, depending on the BIOS or UEFI it is in Spanish or English. After deactivating the WoL (Wake on Lan) function of the board and after deactivating the network card function, the equipment will not turn on again through any instruction it receives over the network. If we do not want to modify this option because we use it regularly, all we have to do is disconnect the PC plug or the switch if it has one on the back and reconnect it when we may need to access its content. Another option is to use a smart plug that allows us to remotely manage the equipment’s power from any mobile device, to avoid a problem if we forget to plug it back in before leaving home.
Be careful with the settings of certain applications
Needless to say, we almost constantly install and use a multitude of programs on a Windows-based computer these days. In fact, nowadays many of them are left running in the background doing different tasks of all kinds. What’s more, on certain occasions we even forget that those applications to which we refer are constantly running. We tell you all this because they can be the cause of these unexpected startups of the operating system. And it is that there are some of these programs that are already configured by default, or that we configure ourselves, that are in charge of shut down and restart the computer by themselves.
Even on certain occasions it is enough that we configure certain software so that it turns off by itself, and that mistakenly causes the unexpected start of the system. A clear example of all this can be found in the P2P clients that we use to download torrent files. On many occasions we configure these applications so that they turn off by themselves once all the content download processes have finished. One of the reasons for all this is that we may leave the PC on downloading those torrents overnight and we want the computer to turn itself off once everything has been downloaded.
However, as we mentioned before, this can cause the computer to suddenly start again, all because of that configuration in the torrent client. Therefore, if we experience this bug that we are talking about, we could also try deactivating the corresponding functionality of the P2P program. If we see that the team stops starting on its own, already…