DELL PC - Power Consumption even when shut down

Crabman

I've had a DELL E520 for a couple of months now. It's connected to a power supply which measures power usage on the tower unit, so it can cut power to the peripherals when the PC is shut down. However this PC seems to use a similar amount of power whether on or off, as I adjusted the threshold to switch off when the PC is off, but it then wouldn't switch the rest on when the PC was powered up.

Another thing I noticed this morning, I now switch off at the wall plug following shut down. When I switch the wall socket on, the computer seems to do something, all the LED's at the front light up briefly. This happens before I start it up.

Finally, last night I noticed even after shutting down, the router (attached via ethernet cable to PC) was still blinking number 1 which is where the cable is attached. The other router LED was also blinking (the one indicating sync).

I know it's odd that I've only noticed this after a couple of months, but it'd be helpful if anyone knows what the PC is doing with all the power being used while it's shut down and with the internet connection too.

It also seems to be using 87% of its 1GB RAM at the moment (according to the gadget) but that's another matter, missed the boat with that ebuyer google checkout offer on memory didn't I

Crabman

AJP558

Crabman,

With regard to the LAN connection you should check the E520's BIOS settings for Wake On Lan which allows you to remotely start the PC up over the network if it's enabled. That could account for the network being permanently connected while the PC still has mains power.

When the power to the PC is first switched on it may be performing a quick check on whether you have set it to automatically start up (or not) when power is switched on. This is another BIOS setting. I have my Dell E510 to fully start up when the mains is switched on rather than having to press the button on the PC itself.

I also notice that the "intelligent" power strip is a pictire of one which Tchibo used to sell. I bought 3 of those after finding one from Lidl to be a brilliant idea for my hi-fi, subwoofer, etc. However, all 3 soon stopped working correctly no matter how much I adjusted the threshold. Either the PC would fail to start up all the peripheral equipment or it would fail to shut it all down. We eventually opted to use the master switch to ignore the threshold setting (the main point of the adapter) and just use them as dumb power strips.

If you want me to check exactly what my Dell BIOS settings are I can check and report back later?

Hope this helps.

Crabman

Thanks :beer: You're right, it is a Tchibo 'intelligent' power strip - it was working fine before the new PC came along - is it still a case of hitting DEL repeatedly on startup? I'm not one to enter BIOS and I know what happens if I mess up

I'll delve in without changing anything and see what is going on, well, as soon as my virus check is finished, it's been going for an hour and should be finished in a few mins. Will let you know what I find in BIOS settings, may be helpful to see what yours are in case these aren't very obvious (and to save any mini-disasters which I'm prone to )

AJP558

Crabman,

On my Dell its F2 to enter "Setup" mode when Dell splash screen appears.

The relevant settings in my BIOS are:

Power Management
AC Recovery = On (thats the way I want it, to startup when I switc on at mains)
Auto Power On = Off
Auto Power Time = not applicable
Suspend Mode = S3

POST Behaviour
Fast Boot = On
Numlock Key = On
POST Hotkey = Setup & Boot Menu
Keyboard Errors = Report


Hope that helps.

Good luck with fine tuning the Tchibo. I think you are meant to start with it at max so that peripherals are still on when PC is shut down, then gradually turn it back until peripherals are switched off. That works for me for a couple of times only. Soon, when I switch the PC on the peripherals are left powered off. If I tune the nob again until peripherals switch on, that again works for a short while until eventually the peripherals are left powered up when the PC shuts down. Very annoying as the Tchibo adapter is a brilliant idea if it can be relied on.

Crabman

Well that was an interesting experience! Wake on LAN and remote startup I disabled but upon shut down the router connection still remained lit and active

Also came across two interesting options:

HDD Acoustic Mode - currently set to "bypass" but other options are "quiet/suggested/performance"

Quick Resume - a rapid response to power button presses - currently "OFF".

I'm not sure whether I missed something in the BIOS but I did try to look at all the options.

Crabman

OK I've looked into this more - even though I've altered the BIOS settings, there is still router activity after shutdown. Even after I switch off at the wall socket, activity remains for a good 10 seconds or so.

Upon switching the wall socket on, the power button lights up orange then green, back to orange then off, and router activity through the ethernet cable starts straight away. This is before switch on. Not sure that it can be disabled

Smaller issue but the intelliplug still can't seem to discern between on/off, this could be because the power consumption remains similar