PC powers up when Space key pressed

  • Thread starter Thread starter Terry Pinnell
  • Start date Start date
T

Terry Pinnell

There's something odd happening with my power options on this 5-year
old MESH Athlon 1800 (1 GB) running XP Home. Under Control Panel >
Power Options I don't use Hibernate (not enabled) or Standby (set to
'Never'). All I have under the Power Schemes tab is 'Turn off monitor'
= 'After 20 mins'.
But:

1. After using Start > Turn Off Computer > Turn Off, the PC appears to
power down (HD and monitor both power off). But it is obviously *not*,
because the LEDs for Power and HD are both still on.

2. By accident I discovered that if I press the keyboard Space key,
the PC powers up again! (No other key I tried seems to do it. Nor a
mouse click of any kind.)

What can be the possible cause please?

Also, under the Advanced tab, I don't really understand how to
interpret the drop-down box options. At present I have
'When I press the power button on my computer:' set to 'Shut down'.
Why would I ever want anything else? For example, 'Do nothing' seems
pointless!

And 'When I press the sleep button on my computer:' is set to 'Stand
by'. But what exactly is the 'Sleep Button'? As far as I know I just
have a Power button and a Reset button, and that's been the case with
all my PCs.

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK
 
Evan Platt <evan@theobvious.espphotography.com> wrote:

>On Thu, 27 Dec 2007 06:03:00 +0000, Terry Pinnell
><terrypinDELETE@THESEdial.pipex.com> wrote:
>
>>There's something odd happening with my power options on this 5-year
>>old MESH Athlon 1800 (1 GB) running XP Home. Under Control Panel >
>>Power Options I don't use Hibernate (not enabled) or Standby (set to
>>'Never'). All I have under the Power Schemes tab is 'Turn off monitor'
>>= 'After 20 mins'.
>>But:
>>
>>1. After using Start > Turn Off Computer > Turn Off, the PC appears to
>>power down (HD and monitor both power off). But it is obviously *not*,
>>because the LEDs for Power and HD are both still on.
>
>Your HD light is ON? Something's wrong. That light should only be on
>with HD activity. Is it normally on all the time?

Thanks Evan, appreciate the fast reply.

I was just about to report back that I have isolated the cause of the
LED puzzle. It seems due to a self-powered USB hub. Pulling its
adaptor from the mains socket switches off both CPU case LED. Still
seems some sort of design flaw, don't you think?

>>2. By accident I discovered that if I press the keyboard Space key,
>>the PC powers up again! (No other key I tried seems to do it. Nor a
>>mouse click of any kind.)
>>
>>What can be the possible cause please?
>
>Look in your BIOS for any "wake on" options.

Thanks, will do so on next reboot.

>>Also, under the Advanced tab, I don't really understand how to
>>interpret the drop-down box options. At present I have
>>'When I press the power button on my computer:' set to 'Shut down'.
>>Why would I ever want anything else? For example, 'Do nothing' seems
>>pointless!
>
>For tards who maybe have a tendancy to hit the power button by
>mistake.
>
>>And 'When I press the sleep button on my computer:' is set to 'Stand
>>by'. But what exactly is the 'Sleep Button'? As far as I know I just
>>have a Power button and a Reset button, and that's been the case with
>>all my PCs.
>
>You may not have a sleep button. It's on some keyboards.

OK, understood, thanks.

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK
 
On Thu, 27 Dec 2007 06:03:00 +0000, Terry Pinnell
<terrypinDELETE@THESEdial.pipex.com> wrote:

>There's something odd happening with my power options on this 5-year
>old MESH Athlon 1800 (1 GB) running XP Home. Under Control Panel >
>Power Options I don't use Hibernate (not enabled) or Standby (set to
>'Never'). All I have under the Power Schemes tab is 'Turn off monitor'
>= 'After 20 mins'.
>But:
>
>1. After using Start > Turn Off Computer > Turn Off, the PC appears to
>power down (HD and monitor both power off). But it is obviously *not*,
>because the LEDs for Power and HD are both still on.
>
>2. By accident I discovered that if I press the keyboard Space key,
>the PC powers up again! (No other key I tried seems to do it. Nor a
>mouse click of any kind.)
>
>What can be the possible cause please?
>
>Also, under the Advanced tab, I don't really understand how to
>interpret the drop-down box options. At present I have
>'When I press the power button on my computer:' set to 'Shut down'.
>Why would I ever want anything else? For example, 'Do nothing' seems
>pointless!
>
>And 'When I press the sleep button on my computer:' is set to 'Stand
>by'. But what exactly is the 'Sleep Button'? As far as I know I just
>have a Power button and a Reset button, and that's been the case with
>all my PCs.

The space bar is generally used to "wake up" from the "sleep" mode.
The stand by setting as mentioned could be the culprit. Set it to
"shut down".
 
Check Power Management and BIOS... you have it set wrong... its only going
into
SLEEP or HIBERNATE.

"Terry Pinnell" <terrypinDELETE@THESEdial.pipex.com> wrote in message
news:hoe6n35t4uko2r6n8odhb0bhm1venpkfik@4ax.com...
> There's something odd happening with my power options on this 5-year
> old MESH Athlon 1800 (1 GB) running XP Home. Under Control Panel >
> Power Options I don't use Hibernate (not enabled) or Standby (set to
> 'Never'). All I have under the Power Schemes tab is 'Turn off monitor'
> = 'After 20 mins'.
> But:
>
> 1. After using Start > Turn Off Computer > Turn Off, the PC appears to
> power down (HD and monitor both power off). But it is obviously *not*,
> because the LEDs for Power and HD are both still on.
>
> 2. By accident I discovered that if I press the keyboard Space key,
> the PC powers up again! (No other key I tried seems to do it. Nor a
> mouse click of any kind.)
>
> What can be the possible cause please?
>
> Also, under the Advanced tab, I don't really understand how to
> interpret the drop-down box options. At present I have
> 'When I press the power button on my computer:' set to 'Shut down'.
> Why would I ever want anything else? For example, 'Do nothing' seems
> pointless!
>
> And 'When I press the sleep button on my computer:' is set to 'Stand
> by'. But what exactly is the 'Sleep Button'? As far as I know I just
> have a Power button and a Reset button, and that's been the case with
> all my PCs.
>
> --
> Terry, East Grinstead, UK
 
On Thu, 27 Dec 2007 01:53:36 -0500, richard <spam@google.dom> wrote:
>The space bar is generally used to "wake up" from the "sleep" mode.
>The stand by setting as mentioned could be the culprit. Set it to
>"shut down".
Actually, older computer BIOS's (back when 600mHz was popular) would
wake on either Mouse Click or Keyboard (Space-bar) activation. I had
a friend who would leave his set that way, and conviently his hard
drive light stayed on all the time and would go-off occasionally....
 
Everybody else has already addressed most of the other points, so I'll take
this one:

> Also, under the Advanced tab, I don't really understand how to
> interpret the drop-down box options. At present I have
> 'When I press the power button on my computer:' set to 'Shut down'.
> Why would I ever want anything else? For example, 'Do nothing' seems
> pointless!

Ever had a young child pushing all the buttons he can find? Under those
circumstances, you'd probably *want* the power button to do nothing.
 
It can be used to enter sleep mode or (if you wanted to bypass the time,
enter hibernate). It of course is used to power off
(hold for four seconds) and power on.
"Homer J. Simpson" <root@127.0.0.1> wrote in message
news:OoOo4cKSIHA.3400@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> Everybody else has already addressed most of the other points, so I'll
> take this one:
>
>> Also, under the Advanced tab, I don't really understand how to
>> interpret the drop-down box options. At present I have
>> 'When I press the power button on my computer:' set to 'Shut down'.
>> Why would I ever want anything else? For example, 'Do nothing' seems
>> pointless!
>
> Ever had a young child pushing all the buttons he can find? Under those
> circumstances, you'd probably *want* the power button to do nothing.
>
 
Homer J. Simpson wrote:
> Everybody else has already addressed most of the other points, so I'll take
> this one:
>
>> Also, under the Advanced tab, I don't really understand how to
>> interpret the drop-down box options. At present I have
>> 'When I press the power button on my computer:' set to 'Shut down'.
>> Why would I ever want anything else? For example, 'Do nothing' seems
>> pointless!
>
> Ever had a young child pushing all the buttons he can find? Under those
> circumstances, you'd probably *want* the power button to do nothing.
>
>

Or a cat tippy toeing over the keyboard!
 
>>> Also, under the Advanced tab, I don't really understand how to
>>> interpret the drop-down box options. At present I have
>>> 'When I press the power button on my computer:' set to 'Shut down'.
>>> Why would I ever want anything else? For example, 'Do nothing' seems
>>> pointless!
>>
>> Ever had a young child pushing all the buttons he can find? Under those
>> circumstances, you'd probably *want* the power button to do nothing.
>
> Or a cat tippy toeing over the keyboard!

:o) Didn't think of the keyboard--I've never had one with a power button on
it.
 

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