Last night, my PC unexpectedly turned itself on during the night. This has only happened once, but I think the house power might have gone out for a few minutes right before my PC powered off. My setup includes an i5 3470 CPU, 16GB DDR3 RAM, an ASRock B75M-DGS R2.0 motherboard, a Corsair CX power supply, and a Radeon R7 360p graphics card. What could cause this behavior?
3 Answers
It sounds like your PC might be set to automatically power on when the power is restored. Check your BIOS settings—there’s usually an option for what happens when power is restored after an outage. You can choose whether to turn it on, keep it off, or restore it to the previous state.
Good point! If your machine is off prior to a power cut, that BIOS option shouldn’t activate, but you should definitely check your settings to be sure it's configured how you want it. Also, it might be worth looking for any updates for your motherboard’s firmware to avoid any glitches.
If your PC was off before the outage, it should stay off when power returns unless there's a specific BIOS setting activated. You might want to investigate that, just to be sure. Also, consider getting an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) if power outages are a regular issue.

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