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iMac turning ON from power off

C

constantin.poto

Suspended
Original poster
Mar 10, 2008
12
0
Hey everyone,

I have just purchased a new iMac 27 inch and everything is working great but there is one thing that bugs me so very hard and that is that the computer is turning itself on each morning for some reason.

So to get it straight it is not on sleep mode. It is a complete shut down and it still turns on.

I have checked and made sure there is no Schedule set inside the Power Saver / Schedule.

I have read on forums that the EyeTV is causing this although I do not have an EyeTV so would could be my issue?

I have connected to the iMac 1 Wireless Router on ethernet, one Belkin USB port to have more USB slots available and the UPS APC Black ES 700.

Other then this I connect the Kanex video converter for the PS3 but I do not leave the mini DVI display port connected all the time. I only connect it when I need to use the PS3.

Any help would be appreciated as this is getting frustrating. :mad:
 
If it turns on at the exact same time every morning, then there's necessarily some software doing the scheduling. If it's at different times then it's something faulty in your Mac OS installation.
Did you try to reset PRAM?
 
Bernard SG said:
If it turns on at the exact same time every morning, then there's necessarily some software doing the scheduling. If it's at different times then it's something faulty in your Mac OS installation.
Did you try to reset PRAM?
Click to expand...

Not sure if it turns on at the same time as I wake up and the computer has the black screen but I can slightly hear it running. They are so silent you can't even tell. :)

As the PRAM reset I did not tried that. Will do soon. Will have to see if it turn on tomorrow after this.
 
I had the issue a few weeks ago but only once, not recurring like your case. I can't remember if I did the PRAM reset or if it just went awy by itself :).
If it doesn't solve your issue, my guess would be that there are remnants of software in your Library folder doing the silly thing.
 
Bernard SG said:
I had the issue a few weeks ago but only once, not recurring like your case. I can't remember if I did the PRAM reset or if it just went awy by itself :).
If it doesn't solve your issue, my guess would be that there are remnants of software in your Library folder doing the silly thing.
Click to expand...

Yeah it is really strange indeed. Will have to wait until tomorrow and see what happens. Thanks for the support. Will let you know if the PRAM worked. ;)
 
Yes so it seems we are back on the drawing board. The technique is not working. It is turning on at 7 in the morning.
 
OK, so it's complicated.
You'll have to investigate deeper and there are so many possibilities. I'll get back to you later with a list of things to look for.
Now the thing that should kill the problem at its root is to do a full re-install of your Mac OS, if you have a Time Machine Backup. It's simple but time-consuming.
 
Bernard SG said:
OK, so it's complicated.
You'll have to investigate deeper and there are so many possibilities. I'll get back to you later with a list of things to look for.
Now the thing that should kill the problem at its root is to do a full re-install of your Mac OS, if you have a Time Machine Backup. It's simple but time-consuming.
Click to expand...

Yeah having to reinstall everything is not an option as time is not what I have for the moment. I am still hoping this can be solved without reinstall.
 
OK, the most annoying part with your problem is that you have to wait until the next morning to know whether an attempted fix worked or not.
2 things for now:
- First in your System Preferences>Accounts, look what you have in your "Login Items". You can basically remove everything that's there, however, keep iTunes Helper.
- in your Home Folder, look in Library>Application support. If there are folders there that does not belong to an Application that you use, trash them mercilessly. Don't worry about screwing something up. if you delete something linked to a needed application, the App will re-create it anyway when you launch it next.

Then restart your iMac (you can even reset PRAM again) and wait for next morning :D.
 
Last edited:
Isolate the problem

constantin.poto said:
Yeah having to reinstall everything is not an option as time is not what I have for the moment. I am still hoping this can be solved without reinstall.
Click to expand...

try to isolate whats turning it on.

1. Unplug the ethernet cable - or turn of the wireless. Maybe its turning on because its receiving some kind of request.

2. Do the same with your external devices.

3. Do you have "wake on LAN" activated?

4. Sorry to be pedantic, but are you really sure is powered down and not asleep?
 
davids8477 said:
try to isolate whats turning it on.

1. Unplug the ethernet cable - or turn of the wireless. Maybe its turning on because its receiving some kind of request.

2. Do the same with your external devices.

3. Do you have "wake on LAN" activated?

4. Sorry to be pedantic, but are you really sure is powered down and not asleep?
Click to expand...

I will have to try to disconnect all usb hard drives and then try one time with the internet off and see what happens.

Wake for network access is disabled.

As for the computer being in power off and not sleep yes I am sure. It's ok to ask. ;)
 
constantin.poto said:
UPS APC Black ES 700
Click to expand...

I was wondering... is the iMac set to turn on after power loss?

Could it be a function of the UPS suffering either a power event at that time (or itself having some scheduled event such as a battery test) which is making the iMac think it had lost power and therefore is time to power up? To eliminate this, you could plug directly into the wall rather than the UPS for a night.
 
Check to see if your iMac is scheduled to turn on at 7:00:
System Preferences > Energy Saver > Schedule (button in the bottom right corner)
 
Update:

Last night before shutting down the computer I made sure to disconnect the Ethernet cable from the internet and use only the Wireless. It seemed this may have worked as the computer did not turned on again.

As for all the settings you have specified no I have nothing set to power up the computer after a power failure or any schedule.

I am not sure yet if the Ethernet cable was the reason the iMac was turning on but I will have to leave the cable out of the iMac and test it again and see if tomorrow morning it will stay shut. If so then I may have found the problem.
 
Second night past and the iMac did not turned on anymore. Yup I think it was the Ethernet cable.

Thank you all for your help. :)
 
I'm glad to hear you seem to have solved your problem.

Now, sorry, but a simple question. You say you use wireless. Then what was the original purpose of the ethernet cable connection?
 
John T said:
I'm glad to hear you seem to have solved your problem.

Now, sorry, but a simple question. You say you use wireless. Then what was the original purpose of the ethernet cable connection?
Click to expand...

Can be preferable. If I had the choice I would use a wired connection (as long as the router is nearby :p) as it is more reliable in my experience.
 
John T said:
Thanks for the info. However, I find no difference in speed between a wired ethernet connection and my Airport Extreme.
Click to expand...

The speed of your internet is almost always the limiting factor - not whether you have a wired or wireless LAN connection.
 
Flip the switch off on the mains wall socket.

If it still turns itself on after that then I suggest you contact a priest!
 
davids8477 said:
The speed of your internet is almost always the limiting factor - not whether you have a wired or wireless LAN connection.
Click to expand...

Well, Internet speed might not differ significantly, but intranet speed takes a hit if I'm on wireless. I keep my iMac on Ethernet so I can copy files faster to and from my networked hard drives and other networked computers we have in the house.
 
The issue seems to be back... I am not using the wired connection anymore and last night at 6:40 I shut down the iMac trying to go to sleep after a long time of work and after 20 minutes at 7 in the morning sharp it just turned on from power off so no sleep no nothing...

I know I do not want to wake up at 7 in the morning every day so I did not set anything and checked it but it still does it. :(

Need serious help with this...
 
The final, desperate solution would be to unplug the mains lead from the wall socket! :)
 
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