The Ghost Of Christmas Present?

[mrdee 1]

I am not sure whether or not this is a hardware related problem, but the hardware is one of the suspects in this problem, so I am posting it here.

 

I have never known anything like that before, and I wonder if anyone has, the main question here is:

 

"Can a switched off computer switch itself on again"?

 

Well, according to my experience, it can.

Here is the full story:

 

I have a Packard Bell PC with the following specs:

Intel Dual Core processor 2800 Mhz.

2 Gb of RAM

1 TB hard drive

Running Windows 7 Ultimate Edition.

Sometimes, there are times when the machine does not get used for a while (sometimes for a few weeks at a time).

 

I assume (correct me if I am wrong, please) part of the problem might have something to do with the above, as sometimes, when I switch it on after a period of inactivity, it costs me a number of attempts to boot the machine up.

 

What happens is, the machine starts up as normal, but before it gets to the Windows login screen, it seems to reset itself and starts again from the very beginning.

Sometimes it starts up normally after a few attempts, sometimes it gives me a screen advising me to do a Windows repair, which I attempt to do when asked to do so.

 

When the machine does boot up eventually, it just works good as gold and carries on to do so for the entire session.

 

However, the weirdest occurrence of all is the following (it almost makes me think there is a sort of ghost living in my PC, hence the title of this topic):

 

Sometime, I go into the room where the PC is located, I turn on the monitor, and what do I see?

The monitor shows activity as if the PC is attempting to boot up, I don't mean I am greeted with the Windows login screen, but the screen once again shows the screen giving me the option to start Windows normally, or do a repair.

 

How on earth is that possible?????

How can a PC that has been shut down, and shut down properly, switch itself on????

I would understand if you shut down, and the PC did not actually get to shutting down properly, but, in my case (because I am aware of the problem) i always wait until the PC has shut down properly and completely.

 

Has anyone else experienced anything similar?

If so, does anyone know the cause of the problem and even better, a cure for it?

 

I will be very interested to read stories from people who have gone through something similar.

Edited January 1, 2012 by mrdee (see edit history)