Reboot issue with Inspirion 530

Hi, I am quite sure this is your BIOS setup causing this. It can be changed. You have to enter BIOS and disable auto boot.

I dont have an Inspiron, so I cant provide you with step by step isntructions.

If what I have written here sounds jibberish to you, please reply. I am sure someone with the knowledge will provide you with a step by step instruction.

This issue happened again when I shutdown last night. Any help with this "rebooting" instead of turning off?

Once again, the computer shutdown prpoerly the second try.

I am still having this problem. Dell support had me uninstall Trend pcilllin thinking for some reason this was causing my issue. It did not solve it. When I shut my computer down, it actually reboots itself. I shut it down again and it works. It does not do it every time; It seems to do this after the computer has been on a while. I have shut this computer down after 2 hours runtime and I never have this issue BUT when I shutdown at night after the computer has been on for 10+ hours, it will reboot itself instead of shutting down. The second time it shutsdown properly.

I realize this is a strange problem but it is real. Why I can shutdown after minimal runtime without issue could be a conicidence. HELP PLEASE! THANK YOU!

Just throwing this out as a possibility - might as well try and rule out an operating system error.   See if this helps at all:

Right Click My Computer -> Properties -> Advanced Tab -> Startup and Recovery settings.  Make sure the box for Automatically Restart under the System Failure section is unticked.

If it is an error, then the PC should stop at some point during the shutdown and give you a blue screen with an error code - with that it'll be easier to diagnose the problem.

You can also look in your Event Viewer and see if you can pin down anything unusual:

Right Click My Computer -> Manage -> Event Viewer

Right Click My Computer -> Properties -> Advanced Tab -> Startup and Recovery settings.  Make sure the box for Automatically Restart under the System Failure section is unticked.

IT IS UNTICKED.

You can also look in your Event Viewer and see if you can pin down anything unusual:

This I do not understand but here is what it says:

Application 320 KB

Internet Explorer --

Microsoft office 64 KB

Microsoft office session 64 KB

Security 512 KB

System 320 KB

I looked inside these headers but I do not understand what I am looking at. Application, Security and System all have dated material on it back to my initial startup date March 23,2008. The other 3 are empty.

Any help with what I am looking for would be appreciated.

Another idea:  does it do the same thing if you just shut it off with the power button instead of shutting it down from the desktop (yes, I know it's "wrong" but it won't hurt anything as long as you close all your programs before you do it).

If it does, then something else strange might be going on. 

Doesn't seem too promising, then - if it was a system error it should be blue screening on you. 

If the event log picked anything up, it would show as a yellow ! or a red X - they're all time/date stamped, so if you know the last time this happened you can double click the events at that time and see what shows up.  Google's good for helping decipher what you find (if anything).

Your BIOS settings are here.  You could double check and make sure the Power Management settings are set to default:

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/inspd530/EN/OM/appendix.htm#wp1057460

Other than that, the intermittent nature makes this one a real bear, and it might not even be a software problem.  I know you said this started 2 days after you got it - do you recall adding or installing any programs on your PC right after you got it?  That would be a good place to start experimenting.

I have shutdown today twice without issue. This issue does not happen every time I shutdown my computer but it does seem that its more likely to happen after the computer has been on a while. I generally logon at 7am and logoff at 10pm. It has always messed up at night and never messes up if I shutdown like 4 hours after I log in instead of 10pm at night. Also it always shutsdown properly on the 2nd try at night. I know its a weird problem but I do not want it to get bigger. Weird problem but a problem.