Shutdown leads to power off but 5-10 sec later comp self-powers back on and reboots to 98se

[r***@home.com]

Hi All,
My brother-in-law's brother has an old Dell computer with win98SE
on it. For the past couple months, when he chooses to shut down, the
computer actually does shut down, and the power light goes off. Then
about 5-10 seconds later the light comes back on and the whole
computer starts up again, starting with the Dell splash screen, and
then going on to restart 98SE.
The only way he can kill the computer is by shutting it off by
pulling out the power plug. But then it runs scandisk when it starts
back up.
Its been ages since I used 98se. I tried looking around his
setup but could not find anything to correct the problem. All I could
do was duplicate it. Every time.

Any suggestions out there about what could be causing this, or
any fixes that I might try? I'm quite savvy with XP, and am familiar
with all the diagnostic programs, regedit, etc., etc so I'm confident
that I could follow any technical solutions/ideas you might have.

Thanks a lot!

ron

[MotoFox]

Sounds like the power supply unit inside the computer is going out. Really the
only way you can fix it is to replace the unit altogether.

¡¡¡-----BEWARE-----READ THIS BEFORE YOU TRY ANYTHING, VERY IMPORTANT----¡¡¡

Many old Dell computers (and probably some newer ones) do use the standard ATX
form factor power supply connectors for the motherboard, but they are wired in a
non-standard way. So if you connect a Dell motherboard to a standard non-Dell
power supply, or connect a Dell power supply to a standard non-Dell motherboard
you'll fry either component or both, and I'm surprised they haven't been sued
over it yet.

Morsels of knowledge:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATX#Issues_with_Dell_power_supplies
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dell_computer#Criticism

If you do intend to keep using the existing mothrboard you'll likely have to
call Dell and order a new power supply box one from them, if you can still get
one, or try to scrounge one out of another Dell machine.

Usually what I end up doing when fixing up old Dell systems is just replace both
the power supply *and* motherboard with a better/standard one at the same time.
The boards and power supplies Dell gives you usually are junk anyways and you'll
want something better before long. In any case, the components are (mostly)
*physically* compatible, e.g. an off-the-shelf micro-ATX motherboard will likely
still fit inside a Dell micro-ATX case, but they are far from being
*electrically* compatible.

[Don McC]

Post by r***@home.com
My brother-in-law's brother has an old Dell computer with win98SE
on it. For the past couple months, when he chooses to shut down, the
computer actually does shut down, and the power light goes off. Then
about 5-10 seconds later the light comes back on and the whole
computer starts up again, starting with the Dell splash screen, and
then going on to restart 98SE.

First, check to see that "RESTART" is not checked instead of
"SHUTDOWN" on the shutdown menu.

Use Ctrl-Alt-Del just after booting-up to see what programs are
normally running. Then use the computer.

My guess is that a program is hanging at shutdown. Use Ctrl-Alt-Del
just before shutdown to stop one or more programs from running.
Suspect any program that wasn't running just after booting-up.
If the computer shuts down successfully, you'll have found the culprit.
Then the offending program can be uninstalled and reinstalled.

BTW, if a computer hangs on shutdown, hold in the power button
(10-15 seconds) until the computer turns off. Safer than unplugging.

--
Don

Facts are stubborn things, but statistics are much more pliable.
~ Mark Twain

[98 Guy]

Post by r***@home.com
My brother-in-law's brother has an old Dell computer with win98SE
on it. For the past couple months, when he chooses to shut down,
the computer actually does shut down, and the power light goes off.
Then about 5-10 seconds later the light comes back on and the
whole computer starts up again, starting with the Dell splash
screen, and then going on to restart 98SE.

Check the BIOS settings. Probably something changed there.

Could be because the on-board battery has died and needs to be replaced.

[98 Guy]

I'm re-posting this, but adding microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion to
the group list in case someone else there has other ideas.

Post by 98 Guy

Post by r***@home.com
My brother-in-law's brother has an old Dell computer with win98SE
on it. For the past couple months, when he chooses to shut down,
the computer actually does shut down, and the power light goes
off. Then about 5-10 seconds later the light comes back on and
the whole computer starts up again, starting with the Dell splash
screen, and then going on to restart 98SE.

Check the BIOS settings. Probably something changed there.
Could be because the on-board battery has died and needs to be
replaced.

[glee]

Post by 98 Guy
I'm re-posting this, but adding microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion to
the group list in case someone else there has other ideas.

Post by 98 Guy

Post by r***@home.com
My brother-in-law's brother has an old Dell computer with win98SE
on it. For the past couple months, when he chooses to shut down,
the computer actually does shut down, and the power light goes
off. Then about 5-10 seconds later the light comes back on and
the whole computer starts up again, starting with the Dell splash
screen, and then going on to restart 98SE.

Check the BIOS settings. Probably something changed there.
Could be because the on-board battery has died and needs to be replaced.

I don't see what the CMOS battery would have to do with it. Yes, the
BIOS settings can change if the battery fails, but it's unlikely this
setting would be changed to a non-default....plus he'd see more obvious
signs (clock and calendar inaccurate at startup, checksum error at
startup with prompt to enter setup).

I agree a possible cause is a change in the BIOS setting that controls
what action will occur in the event of a power outage (stay shut down,
or restart), but that would imply a problem with the power switch or
supply....maybe.

I'd have to review all his particular BIOS settings to see if there was
another one that could cause this. I don't recall seeing any that quite
align with this symptom, do you? Windows does not appear to be
involved, since it's actually shutting down, then doing a full start on
its own. A BIOS power management setting, maybe.....or the
aforementioned power failure setting combined with a hardware fault.

Dell BIOS....yuk...not much configurable in those....

[98 Guy]

Post by glee

Post by 98 Guy

old Dell computer with win98SE on it. For the past couple
months, when he chooses to shut down, the computer actually
does shut down, and the power light goes off. Then about
5-10 seconds later the light comes back on and the whole
computer starts up again, starting with the Dell splash
screen, and then going on to restart 98SE.

Check the BIOS settings. Probably something changed there.
Could be because the on-board battery has died and needs to be replaced.

I don't see what the CMOS battery would have to do with it.

Well first off, any computer that originally shipped with Windows 98
that is still in use today and still has it's original motherboard
battery will almost certainly have a dead battery by now.

And not everyone notices a system time and date that is off - even way
off.

Post by glee
I agree a possible cause is a change in the BIOS setting that
controls what action will occur in the event of a power outage
(stay shut down, or restart), but that would imply a problem
with the power switch or supply....maybe.

Here's a theory:

Some Bios's have various power-on settings, like power-on from keyboard,
from LAN, and even power-on based on time or some combination of
date/time. It's possible that the battery has failed, that it did
change some power-on settings, and this system is now set to power-on at
00:00:00, which is what the on-board clock resets to when it loses power
5 seconds after shut-down.

It's possible that the user did get one of those "bios settings have
changed" or "checksum error", but that probably happened back when this
power-on problem started to happen (apparently several months ago) and
once the checksum has been reset, that message doesn't happen again.

Or it could be a stuck power or reset button on the front of the
computer case.

Or it could be a power supply problem.

But before doing anything else, I think it's wise to change the battery
(probably a type CR-2032, 3-volt coin-shaped battery) and then
methodically go through the bios settings and set them as desired, as
well as the clock date and time. If that doesn't solve the problem,
then look at the power and reset buttons, then swap out the power
supply. There isin't much else (or perhaps nothing else) that could be
causing this.

Post by glee
Dell BIOS....yuk...not much configurable in those....

I've never been a fan of name-brand computers - I always build my own
desktop PC's.

[Esra Sdrawkcab]

Post by 98 Guy
I'm re-posting this, but adding microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion to
the group list in case someone else there has other ideas.

Post by r***@home.com
My brother-in-law's brother has an old Dell computer with win98SE
on it. For the past couple months, when he chooses to shut down,
the computer actually does shut down, and the power light goes
off. Then about 5-10 seconds later the light comes back on and
the whole computer starts up again, starting with the Dell splash
screen, and then going on to restart 98SE.

is it connected to broadband? I'd suspect "wake-on LAN" being set, and
some scrote on the internet is trying to hack the PC.

I suggest disabling wake-on LAN and see if the problem goes away.

[legg]

Post by glee

Post by 98 Guy
I'm re-posting this, but adding microsoft.public.win98.gen_discussion to
the group list in case someone else there has other ideas.

Post by 98 Guy

Post by r***@home.com
My brother-in-law's brother has an old Dell computer with win98SE
on it. For the past couple months, when he chooses to shut down,
the computer actually does shut down, and the power light goes
off. Then about 5-10 seconds later the light comes back on and
the whole computer starts up again, starting with the Dell splash
screen, and then going on to restart 98SE.

Check the BIOS settings. Probably something changed there.
Could be because the on-board battery has died and needs to be replaced.

I don't see what the CMOS battery would have to do with it. Yes, the
BIOS settings can change if the battery fails, but it's unlikely this
setting would be changed to a non-default....plus he'd see more obvious
signs (clock and calendar inaccurate at startup, checksum error at
startup with prompt to enter setup).
I agree a possible cause is a change in the BIOS setting that controls
what action will occur in the event of a power outage (stay shut down,
or restart), but that would imply a problem with the power switch or
supply....maybe.
I'd have to review all his particular BIOS settings to see if there was
another one that could cause this. I don't recall seeing any that quite
align with this symptom, do you? Windows does not appear to be
involved, since it's actually shutting down, then doing a full start on
its own. A BIOS power management setting, maybe.....or the
aforementioned power failure setting combined with a hardware fault.
Dell BIOS....yuk...not much configurable in those....

Wake on LAN?

RL

[Hot-Text_MyNews]

How to give right Info!

Buy A Lithium Battery 3V
and put it in first!
$3.USA

I here a Dell Dimension XPS T550
Running Windows 98 se sp1

I restarted
whit i see the Dell logo i do

KeyBoard ShortCut

Delete

Entering SETUP .....

In Main
Set the Clock Time and Date!

at the top tub you see Boot
Enter it

you see

On LAN [Stay off]
Fisrst Boot Device [Removable Devices]
Second Boot Device [ATAPT CD-ROM Driv]
Third Boot Device [Hard Drive]
Fourth Boot Device [Network Boot]

KeyBoard ShortCut

F10 Save and Exit

You Good to Go have Fun!

Bill r

[r***@home.com]

Hi again

Thanks for the many replies and suggestions. I appreciate all the
comments & ideas.
We ended up borrowing a dell power supply from a repair shop
(no charge) and everything worked OK. So the problem is there.
Now he just needs to decide if he wants to buy a new or used power
supply, or just go for it with another new (or newer) computer.
My suggestion to him was to get a whole new computer (actually
newer.) The shop has some decent used ones for sale that are much
better.

Thanks again everyone.

Ron

[98 Guy]

I'm re-posting this to mpw98.gd because ***@home apparently didn't
bother to do that.

He mentions nothing about the on-board battery of the PC in question.

A used power supply shouldn't cost more than $20.

Post by r***@home.com
Hi again
Thanks for the many replies and suggestions. I appreciate all the
comments & ideas.
We ended up borrowing a dell power supply from a repair shop
(no charge) and everything worked OK. So the problem is there.
Now he just needs to decide if he wants to buy a new or used power
supply, or just go for it with another new (or newer) computer.
My suggestion to him was to get a whole new computer (actually
newer.) The shop has some decent used ones for sale that are much
better.
Thanks again everyone.
Ron

[MyNews]

On the dell power supply just Buy a Working One!
and put a new on-board battery Too to be safe!

Thanks 98 Guy