I can't turn my PC off!! (Interesting problem?).

I just had freeze using OE a few minutes ago and when I
pressed the off button it refused to die. I took the front
panel off and pressed the microswitch? directly and it
still remainded on. I the end I had to switch it off at the
mains.
I checked the switch and it appeared to be 'stuck in'
ie there appeared to be no movement. Anyway I tried
to pull it out a little but I am unsure if that had any effect or
not.
I put the front cover on and then I switched it on at the mains,
it did not power up straight away as if the switch was still stuck
in so I had to press the power on button to boot up my PC as
normal. I noticed the on button had it's usual 'springyness' which
it lacked when I had earlier tried to switch it off.
Anyway the 'interesting' bit, I was curious as to whether
I would be able to switch my PC off via the switch, so I decieded
to give it a quick press to see if the 'springyness' was still there
knowing that I would have a few to hold it down for 5 seconds
before it would actually power down. ( I didn't actuallly intend
to power it down, just check the 'feel' of the switch.
Much to my surprise the screen immediately went black and
the box issued three short beeps, "beep beep beep", they
all sounded the same lenght to me.
I though it had crashed but I gave the switch another press and
it came back up directly into windows, right back into this
message which I was typing.
I think this may have happened before when I was crouching down
looking at the CPU fan as it booted it (to see it was running free),
I got the same three beeps and I think I *may* have touched the on button
with my knee a moment earlier, but I am not 100% sure.

Anybody got any ideas on this?
It may explain some of my mysterious reboots and perhaps
freezes I have been getting, posted in this thread, although
the freezes tend to happen almost exclusively when I am using
Outlook Express

I had been concerned that my PSU was overloaded (only 90W)
and that that might explain my reboots.

I do appear to have a dodgy power button though, but it might
be more complicated than that. I do not know how they work
but they are more than a simple on/off as there *should* be
a 5 second delay before power down..

A few other points. If my power switch was indeed 'stuck in'
then my machine should have powered down after 5 seconds.
So... it can't have been stuck in? and therefore must have been
'stuck out' (although I tried pressing the switch directly pretty
firmly)

And why did I get three beeps and a black screen when I just
pressed the off button for a moment? Firstly is anything was going
to happen it should not have happened for at least 5 seconds.
Secondly if anything did happen it should have been a power
down, not the three beeps and a black screen, also windows
and everything else was still running ok when I pressed the on
switch again, it didn't have to go through the boot process as I
expected.

So where did the three beeps come from? I thought you only
got these at boot up, when the BIOS is doing it's checks.
(Am not too hot on the BIOS by the way, is it 'running' all the time
so to speak? I presume some of it must be running otherwise my
computer would not work?)

And anyone explain how the on/off button works? Does it
involve an electro-magnetic stitch?
Presumably there is a wire going back into the PSU to
switch off the power there. Mine is an ATX PSU and
micro? ATX case, I understand? that earlier models had a
'live' wire (230 V) coming out to the switch but that that is
not the case with ATX's?

And does any of this rambling point to a faulty/overloaded
PSU?

Thanks for any input, it will be appreciated.

half_pint.

PS When I have posted this I will try pressing the off button
again to see what happens.

"half_pint" wrote in message
...
I just had freeze using OE a few minutes ago and when I
pressed the off button it refused to die. I took the front
panel off and pressed the microswitch? directly and it
still remainded on. I the end I had to switch it off at the
mains.
I checked the switch and it appeared to be 'stuck in'
ie there appeared to be no movement. Anyway I tried
to pull it out a little but I am unsure if that had any effect or
not.
I put the front cover on and then I switched it on at the mains,
it did not power up straight away as if the switch was still stuck
in so I had to press the power on button to boot up my PC as
normal. I noticed the on button had it's usual 'springyness' which
it lacked when I had earlier tried to switch it off.
Anyway the 'interesting' bit, I was curious as to whether
I would be able to switch my PC off via the switch, so I decieded
to give it a quick press to see if the 'springyness' was still there
knowing that I would have a few to hold it down for 5 seconds
before it would actually power down. ( I didn't actuallly intend
to power it down, just check the 'feel' of the switch.
Much to my surprise the screen immediately went black and
the box issued three short beeps, "beep beep beep", they
all sounded the same lenght to me.
I though it had crashed but I gave the switch another press and
it came back up directly into windows, right back into this
message which I was typing.
I think this may have happened before when I was crouching down
looking at the CPU fan as it booted it (to see it was running free),
I got the same three beeps and I think I *may* have touched the on button
with my knee a moment earlier, but I am not 100% sure.

Anybody got any ideas on this?
It may explain some of my mysterious reboots and perhaps
freezes I have been getting, posted in this thread, although
the freezes tend to happen almost exclusively when I am using
Outlook Express

I had been concerned that my PSU was overloaded (only 90W)
and that that might explain my reboots.

I do appear to have a dodgy power button though, but it might
be more complicated than that. I do not know how they work
but they are more than a simple on/off as there *should* be
a 5 second delay before power down..

A few other points. If my power switch was indeed 'stuck in'
then my machine should have powered down after 5 seconds.
So... it can't have been stuck in? and therefore must have been
'stuck out' (although I tried pressing the switch directly pretty
firmly)

And why did I get three beeps and a black screen when I just
pressed the off button for a moment? Firstly is anything was going
to happen it should not have happened for at least 5 seconds.
Secondly if anything did happen it should have been a power
down, not the three beeps and a black screen, also windows
and everything else was still running ok when I pressed the on
switch again, it didn't have to go through the boot process as I
expected.

So where did the three beeps come from? I thought you only
got these at boot up, when the BIOS is doing it's checks.
(Am not too hot on the BIOS by the way, is it 'running' all the time
so to speak? I presume some of it must be running otherwise my
computer would not work?)

And anyone explain how the on/off button works? Does it
involve an electro-magnetic stitch?
Presumably there is a wire going back into the PSU to
switch off the power there. Mine is an ATX PSU and
micro? ATX case, I understand? that earlier models had a
'live' wire (230 V) coming out to the switch but that that is
not the case with ATX's?

And does any of this rambling point to a faulty/overloaded
PSU?

Thanks for any input, it will be appreciated.

half_pint.

PS When I have posted this I will try pressing the off button
again to see what happens.


Well that was quick!!
I got exactly the same thing again, three beeps and a black screen
again, 'cured' by pressing the on button again (back into windows).


I am going to try again and listen carefully to the beeps.

Yep it's done it again (tried twice) three beeps.
All sounded the same lenght to me.

"half_pint" wrote in message
...
I just had freeze using OE a few minutes ago and when I
pressed the off button it refused to die.

Windows was crashed. It couldnt' shut down/go to sleep mode. It should have
shut off after holding the button for 5 seconds or so (some PCs are longer)

snip
Anyway the 'interesting' bit, I was curious as to whether
I would be able to switch my PC off via the switch, so I decieded
to give it a quick press to see if the 'springyness' was still there
knowing that I would have a few to hold it down for 5 seconds
before it would actually power down. ( I didn't actuallly intend
to power it down, just check the 'feel' of the switch.
Much to my surprise the screen immediately went black and
the box issued three short beeps, "beep beep beep", they
all sounded the same lenght to me.

PC went into sleep mode. Pressing it again will wake it up.

"Noozer" wrote in message
news:5aHgc.176337$oR5.168569@pd7tw3no...

"half_pint" wrote in message
...
I just had freeze using OE a few minutes ago and when I
pressed the off button it refused to die.

Windows was crashed. It couldnt' shut down/go to sleep mode. It should
have
shut off after holding the button for 5 seconds or so (some PCs are
longer)


Windows didn't seem to crash as when I pressed the power button again.
windows was running perfectly fine, no problems whatsoever, no exceptions
at all, it was running as sweet as a plumb.



snip
Anyway the 'interesting' bit, I was curious as to whether
I would be able to switch my PC off via the switch, so I decieded
to give it a quick press to see if the 'springyness' was still there
knowing that I would have a few to hold it down for 5 seconds
before it would actually power down. ( I didn't actuallly intend
to power it down, just check the 'feel' of the switch.
Much to my surprise the screen immediately went black and
the box issued three short beeps, "beep beep beep", they
all sounded the same lenght to me.

PC went into sleep mode. Pressing it again will wake it up.

But why?
I don't think it was the same sleep mode as when the power management
kicks in otherwise moving my mouse would have restarted it again,
and the power managment sleep mode doesn't give three beeps.

I am unsure if I tried moving my mouse so I will try it now.

Two minutes later.

Well actually you are right the mouse movement did wake it up,
congrats!!

Question is why did it go into sleep mode? Is it meant to do this?
I have never tried a short press on the power button before so
I don't know if it is normal behaviour or not. Is it? Seems like it is?

It doesn't explain why I could not switch it off initially though does it?
Or does it?

Thanks for your help.

half_pint - half_solved?

"half_pint" wrote in message
...

"Noozer" wrote in message
news:5aHgc.176337$oR5.168569@pd7tw3no...

"half_pint" wrote in message
...
I just had freeze using OE a few minutes ago and when I
pressed the off button it refused to die.

Windows was crashed. It couldnt' shut down/go to sleep mode. It should
have
shut off after holding the button for 5 seconds or so (some PCs are
longer)


Windows didn't seem to crash as when I pressed the power button again.
windows was running perfectly fine, no problems whatsoever, no exceptions
at all, it was running as sweet as a plumb.

I meant that Windows had crashed (your OE crash) so couldn't react when you
pushed the power button.

snip
Anyway the 'interesting' bit, I was curious as to whether
I would be able to switch my PC off via the switch, so I decieded
to give it a quick press to see if the 'springyness' was still there
knowing that I would have a few to hold it down for 5 seconds
before it would actually power down. ( I didn't actuallly intend
to power it down, just check the 'feel' of the switch.
Much to my surprise the screen immediately went black and
the box issued three short beeps, "beep beep beep", they
all sounded the same lenght to me.

PC went into sleep mode. Pressing it again will wake it up.

But why?
I don't think it was the same sleep mode as when the power management
kicks in otherwise moving my mouse would have restarted it again,
and the power managment sleep mode doesn't give three beeps.

BIOS sleep mode? Is BIOS set to shut down PC or put it to sleep?

I am unsure if I tried moving my mouse so I will try it now.

Two minutes later.

Well actually you are right the mouse movement did wake it up,
congrats!!

Question is why did it go into sleep mode? Is it meant to do this?
I have never tried a short press on the power button before so
I don't know if it is normal behaviour or not. Is it? Seems like it is?

It doesn't explain why I could not switch it off initially though does it?
Or does it?

Windows handles the shutdown when the button is pushed... the same as
Start-Shutdown-Standby. Since the PC was crashed as you mentioned in the
original post, pushing it couldn't do anything.

"Noozer" wrote in message
news:niIgc.174978$Ig.90021@pd7tw2no...

"half_pint" wrote in message
...

"Noozer" wrote in message
news:5aHgc.176337$oR5.168569@pd7tw3no...

"half_pint" wrote in message
...
I just had freeze using OE a few minutes ago and when I
pressed the off button it refused to die.

Windows was crashed. It couldnt' shut down/go to sleep mode. It should
have
shut off after holding the button for 5 seconds or so (some PCs are
longer)


Windows didn't seem to crash as when I pressed the power button again.
windows was running perfectly fine, no problems whatsoever, no
exceptions
at all, it was running as sweet as a plumb.

I meant that Windows had crashed (your OE crash) so couldn't react when
you
pushed the power button.


No usually I can always switch off via the power button by holding it in.

snip
Anyway the 'interesting' bit, I was curious as to whether
I would be able to switch my PC off via the switch, so I decieded
to give it a quick press to see if the 'springyness' was still there
knowing that I would have a few to hold it down for 5 seconds
before it would actually power down. ( I didn't actuallly intend
to power it down, just check the 'feel' of the switch.
Much to my surprise the screen immediately went black and
the box issued three short beeps, "beep beep beep", they
all sounded the same lenght to me.

PC went into sleep mode. Pressing it again will wake it up.

But why?
I don't think it was the same sleep mode as when the power management
kicks in otherwise moving my mouse would have restarted it again,
and the power managment sleep mode doesn't give three beeps.

BIOS sleep mode? Is BIOS set to shut down PC or put it to sleep?


I am not sure - probably the start button is shown in the manual
as start/sleep so I guess it ment to do what I thought was an error.
I hav never used standby before.

I am unsure if I tried moving my mouse so I will try it now.

Two minutes later.

Well actually you are right the mouse movement did wake it up,
congrats!!

Question is why did it go into sleep mode? Is it meant to do this?
I have never tried a short press on the power button before so
I don't know if it is normal behaviour or not. Is it? Seems like it is?

It doesn't explain why I could not switch it off initially though does
it?
Or does it?

Windows handles the shutdown when the button is pushed... the same as
Start-Shutdown-Standby. Since the PC was crashed as you mentioned in the
original post, pushing it couldn't do anything.

It had always worked before when windows has crashed/froze.

Windows handles the shutdown when the button is pushed... the same as
Start-Shutdown-Standby. Since the PC was crashed as you mentioned in
the
original post, pushing it couldn't do anything.

It had always worked before when windows has crashed/froze.

Holding it down for 5+ seconds should always shut it off, but it's not a
clean shutdown. It's the same as pulling the power plug basically.

Momentary push should tell Windows to do its Shutdown or Sleep (depending on
your settings). It will only happen if Windows hasn't crashed.

"Noozer" wrote in message
news:iLVgc.180586$Ig.161093@pd7tw2no...
Windows handles the shutdown when the button is pushed... the same as
Start-Shutdown-Standby. Since the PC was crashed as you mentioned in
the
original post, pushing it couldn't do anything.

It had always worked before when windows has crashed/froze.

Holding it down for 5+ seconds should always shut it off, but it's not a
clean shutdown. It's the same as pulling the power plug basically.

Momentary push should tell Windows to do its Shutdown or Sleep (depending
on
your settings). It will only happen if Windows hasn't crashed.


What initially happened is windows (OE) appeared to crash, dead keyboard
and mouse so I tried to reset via power button but it would not
power down no matter how long I help the button in.

The button appeared 'dead' to the touch (no springyness).