Dell Inspiron 530S PC keeps on turning on by itself?

Hi,

I am still having the power problem.  I came across this link on Tomshardware:

www.tomshardware.com/.../327341-30-computer-powers-itself-bios-setting-p8z77

Similar Power Up problem linked to an LED on the Mother Board for WIFI module.

See text below.

My PC Mother Board has an Amber LED that always remains on.

My Dell documents make no mention of this LED.

Any idea what this Amber LED is?

Is it related to the on-board LAN?

Is it possible to Shut off this LED?

Thanks,

-Kevin

=====================================================

We have a solution thanks to the guys over at ASUS.

"ErP Ready" mode must be enabled under the APM Configuration in the BIOS.

This solved the problem for me. When the machine shuts down with the Wifi adapter enabled, the Wifi LED will go off (instead of staying on like before).

As far as what "ErP Ready" mode is, I am not familiar with it. ASUS said there is a Wifi wakeup and this will disable it. Still doing some research. If anyone would like to explain it, that would be awesome!

EDIT: In the manual, under the "ErP Ready" section, it says, "This item allows user to switch off some power at S5 to get the system ready for ErP requirement."

S5 state is the shutdown/OFF state. So it makes sense when it says it switches off power at the S5 state; it switches off power to the Wifi module, essentially disabling it and not allowing it to turn the machine on. Beyond that, I'm not sure what the purpose of ErP is.

ErP refers to 'Energy-related Products,' a European Union initiative to curb electricity consumption. I presume ErP-ready refers to a particular power-saving mode on your WiFi device.

The motherboard LED is a Dell feature; no doubt your WiFi is a third-party product so it is a different matter altogether.

Should my Motherboard LED stay on?

Thanks,

-Kevin

Sorry for the confusion - I did not post my issue on Toms.  My PC is a Dell 530S with no WIFI.

-Kevin

The motherboard LED shows that the board is getting "flea" power. It should be on as long as the PC is connected to a live outlet, eg not turned off at a power strip, even when the PC is off. Can you try connecting the PC to an outlet on a different circuit?

Is a power strip or surge protector with it's own power switch a work-around for this problem, at least until you find a solution?  I have my PC connected to a surge protector and BIOS is set to "restart after power outage". After shutting down normally, I turn off the surge protector which also turns off the monitor and printer. Next morning, I just turn the surge protector on and the PC thinks it's recovering from an outage and boots itself without me having to press the power button (Yes, I'm lazy!).

Hi osprey4,  just to clarify I didn't flash the BIOS till afterward. I had done a BIOS update which resulted in the exact same symptoms that Kevin is having, which the computer was never able to recover from no matter what I tryed, I ended up scraping it for parts. I wouldn't  upgrade BIOS again, or re-install them as Kevin did. That's just my opinion. I believe they're a memory on the motherboard install by the motherboard manufacturer, and very difficult to work with unless you really know what you're doing, it can be a recipe for disaster.

Hi PineValley,

Sorry to hear about that. Certainly a BIOS update, like any firmware update, carries a small risk of problems that might disable the hardware completely. I recommend that people use "DOS" methods to update firmware, rather than run then from within Windows, but that's not completely foolproof either.