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Computer spins up when power strip is turned on

Kelemvor

Kelemvor

Lifer
Howdy,

I haven't been able to figure this one out yet so here goes...

I have a p4 computer with Windows XP that has been working fine for a long time. I got a new 160 gig seagate drive from hot deals a week or so ago and have been setting it up. Recently I noticed I'm having boot problems that Windows fails to load and then reboots and I get the boot screen with Last Known Hardware, Start normally, safe mode, etc.

If I choose LKGH it starts to boot, flashes a BSOD for a split second and then reboots. When it gets back to the boot menu, if I choose boot normally it then goes through.

What I noticed is that when I turn on my power strip, the coputer start to turn on, drives spin up, etc but then after 3 seconds or so it shuts off. Then when I press the power button to turn it on is when I end up with the boot problems.

It never did this before with the old drive and I didn't notice it the first few times I booted up with the new drive (but I might have just been restarting and not actually turning everything off). But I have no idea why it would do this.

Normally I would turn on the power strip and nothing would happen and I'd then turn on the computer and boot up. I don't know why now it's deciding to start everything up for a few seconds just when I turn on the power strip.

Any ideas?
 
If you have both the old and new hard drives installed, then you may have reached the limit for your PSU. Remove one and see how it boots.

You may have knocked something loose when installing the hard drive, eg; CPU fan. Double check all connectors.

Try a different power strip or none at all. I would highly recommend getting a decent UPS anyway.
 
First of all WHY are you turning off the power stripafter turning off the computer (I assume you're doing this since you say you turn on the power strip before turning on the computer).

Modern computers should NEVER have the power disconnected except to protect them from lightning damage. You should NEVER turn off your power strip. The CMOS battery will discharge over time otherwise.

You may have finally gotten to the point where the CMOS battery is getting close to a critically low voltage. Let the CMOS battery charge up and then reset you CMOS if you think it's still acting strange.

Now even though you've never noticed it before it's perfectly normal for some computers to briefly power up when they're plugged in. Dells do this for instance.
 
Well I was able to video tape the error and get the BSOD. Look slike it says Unmountable_boot_device but there's no STOP code. Just the "An error has been detected"

Looks like I might try a few things and then just wipe the drive and start over.

I also upgraded my BIOS the other day and it can handle two drives so that isn't it. And I always turn off the power strip because that's where the speakers, monitor, USB hub, etc are all plugged into. No the CMOS battery doesn't die since it's never off for more than a couple days at once.

I'll try swapping the drives back to see if the old drive works fine (which I assume it will) and will go from there I guess.
 
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