Windows 10 PC keeps starting itself

[BW86]

I can't seem to get rid of this annoying problem.

My PC will start itself almost everyday at random times. Sometimes at 1am sometimes 11am other times at 4pm. PC isn't hibernating or in standby - it's completely off.

-I checked the bios for any wake on lan options and disabled them.
-Went into device manager and disabled anything with the option to wake the computer.
-Went into Windows update and turned off allow scheduled maintenance to wake computer
-disabled all wake timers in power options

powercfg -lastwake
Wake History Count - 1
Wake History [0]
Wake Source Count - 0

powercfg -devicequery wake_armed returns NONE

Faulty power switch? Case is a Fractal Core 2300


asrock z97 pro4
4690k
wired kb+m
TP-LINK TL-WDN3800 wireless card

EDIT: Turning off the option "Turn on Fast Startup" in "Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Power Options\System Settings" fixed the problem

 

[Ketchup]

When I did a first quick read, the "TP-LINK TL-WDN3800 wireless card" caught my attention.

A couple things I would try:
1. When you are about to power off the computer, remove the wireless card. See if the computer reboots.
2. Do you have another hard drive? Do a fresh install of 10. Do just enough to get all the hardware working and recognized in device manager. Turn the computer off and see if the problem comes back.

 

[Mushkins]

If the PC is confirmed to be 100% completely powered off and its powering back on, it's not a Windows issue as the OS isn't loaded to actually operate anything.

In the bios, make sure "on loss of power" behavior is set to Do Nothing instead of Restart. A failing PSU could cause the BIOS to think there was a sudden power loss and trigger a reboot, or the motherboard could be acting up.

Also check the power button leads to the motherboard. If there's a short in the wire it could be acting like it's been pressed and booting up the computer.

I also wouldn't rule out pets if you have any. Sometimes they just feel like pushing buttons, especially if the case is under a desk.

 

[BW86]

In the bios, make sure "on loss of power" behavior is set to Do Nothing instead of Restart. A failing PSU could cause the BIOS to think there was a sudden power loss and trigger a reboot, or the motherboard could be acting up.

Yep - it's set to Do nothing

Also check the power button leads to the motherboard. If there's a short in the wire it could be acting like it's been pressed and booting up the computer.

Yeah, that was my next move - disconnect the power button lead from the motherboard and see what happens.

Thanks

 

[Puffnstuff]

I had an old inwin case years ago with a bad momentary switch that I ended up replacing myself with a part from radio shack. If unplugging the front panel connector power line doesn't work you can always just unplug the ps from the receptacle until you're ready to power up next time. Just don't let your cr2032 mb battery die and lose all of your settings.

 

[BW86]

Didn't get a chance to remove the power switch from the motherboard - but the computer just started up again. Event Viewer says "The system has returned from a low power state." & "The system has resumed from sleep."

I'm also seeing "Windows Update has started downloading an update" every time the computer starts on it's own.

Turned off an option in Power Options > System Settings called "Turn on Fast Startup"

 

[JimKiler]

Didn't get a chance to remove the power switch from the motherboard - but the computer just started up again. Event Viewer says "The system has returned from a low power state." & "The system has resumed from sleep."

I'm also seeing "Windows Update has started downloading an update" every time the computer starts on it's own.

Turned off an option in Power Options > System Settings called "Turn on Fast Startup"

I have the same problem and I have newish mobo and CPU, Asus Z97-AR + intel 4790K from the spring. This turning on started in November and I thought my 7+ year old PSU was the culprit. It is an enermax and designed to keep the system fans on for 30-90 seconds after powering off for component longevity. But i see others with the same problem. But the other day when i saw it on i looked through event viewer and found nothing prior to when i got it to boot up. Where did you see "The system has returned from a low power state."?

 

[Mushkins]

Didn't get a chance to remove the power switch from the motherboard - but the computer just started up again. Event Viewer says "The system has returned from a low power state." & "The system has resumed from sleep."

I'm also seeing "Windows Update has started downloading an update" every time the computer starts on it's own.

Turned off an option in Power Options > System Settings called "Turn on Fast Startup"

That was going to be my next suggestion, and more than likely it just fixed your issue.

Fast Startup replaces the "Shut Down" action with a very low level sleep state. It does not actually turn your PC off. However "Restart" still does a full shut down & reboot.

Fast Startup is enabled by default in Windows 10. I ran into this exact same issue when I installed the fall update, I did a shut down after installing a bunch of drivers and it still wasn't recognizing them because it wasn't actually shutting down.

Funny enough, the boot times with it enabled vs disabled on my system are absolutely identical.

 

[BW86]

Where did you see "The system has returned from a low power state."?

Windows Logs > System

That was going to be my next suggestion, and more than likely it just fixed your issue.

That's what I'm hoping. I'll let you guys know.

 

[Ketchup]

That was going to be my next suggestion, and more than likely it just fixed your issue.

Yep. I am also pretty sure it was the fast startup.

 

[Beer4Me]

Had the same problem, disabling "Fast Startup" in Win10 fixed my random power-on issue as well.

 

[Puffnstuff]

I've seen strange stuff from fast boot myself but for whatever reason with this 1511 it is behaving so I'm leaving it enabled.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Had the same problem, disabling "Fast Startup" in Win10 fixed my random power-on issue as well.

Does Windows 8.1 / 10 enable this for laptops? Meaning, if I select "Shut Down" on my laptop, will it still stay turned on in a low-power state? I sometimes turn them off, and leave them for a month or so. Don't really want it draining the battery to nothing.

 

[BW86]

Disabling Fast Startup fixed it. Computer hasn't started on its own since I disabled it.

 

[Beer4Me]

Does Windows 8.1 / 10 enable this for laptops? Meaning, if I select "Shut Down" on my laptop, will it still stay turned on in a low-power state? I sometimes turn them off, and leave them for a month or so. Don't really want it draining the battery to nothing.

Sorry, can't help you on that one, moved to Macbook Pro. I would think it should be relatively easy to test however. If you turn off your laptop for a couple days and come back to it with significantly reduced battery life, then I'd assume that is what is draining your battery. If your laptop has SSD, I'd just go ahead and turn off this setting. It's not really saving you any time on the initial boot up process.

 

[JimKiler]

I ensured my BIOS has boot from LAN turned off and and I turned off fast startup as recommended but my PC is still starting on its own. It keeps happening at 10pm central time, very weird. I am going to try changing the Windows Updates from "Automatic" to "Notify to schedule restart". I hope it works because i am running out of options.

 

[Puffnstuff]

In bios insure that all wake on events are disabled.

 

[rgallant]

I ensured my BIOS has boot from LAN turned off and and I turned off fast startup as recommended but my PC is still starting on its own. It keeps happening at 10pm central time, very weird. I am going to try changing the Windows Updates from "Automatic" to "Notify to schedule restart". I hope it works because i am running out of options.

maybe
did you check that time with whats in the task scheduler and event viewer ?
if you do find a 10pm one change it to 0900 pm and see if the task follows the new shut down time

 

[JimKiler]

In bios insure that all wake on events are disabled.

All events were disabled

maybe
did you check that time with whats in the task scheduler and event viewer ?
if you do find a 10pm one change it to 0900 pm and see if the task follows the new shut down time

so far i have no found any but i still need to comb through the long list of ones under Microsoft/Windows/. I will keep checking this long list though.

Finally i am getting somewhere, I found this line in the event viewer:

The system has returned from a low power state.

Sleep Time: ‎2016‎-‎01‎-‎05T03:21:20.934692600Z
Wake Time: ‎2016‎-‎01‎-‎05T04:03:57.549295400Z

Wake Source: Timer - Windows will execute 'NT TASK\Microsoft\Windows\Media Center\mcupdate_scheduled' scheduled task that requested waking the computer.

Hopefully now my PC will stop booting up.