Request advice on auto power up and boot

[bder]

Hi there,

I am currently developing a kiosk type PC which should only be switched on several hours a day. I know how to automatically switch off the PC using the "shutdown -s -f" command scheduled with the Task Scheduler in Windows XP.

However, I do not know how to automatically startup the computer at a specified time (either using hardware or software). We use a time clock on the power supply of the other components (screen etc.) to switch the power on and off at the required hours, but can this also be used to power on (and boot) the PC?

Does anybody know a viable solution to this problem?

Any help is greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance,

bder

 

[bder]

mpilchfamiliy,

i was requested to implement this feature. As to the reason, I assume it's because of the power consumption.

There must be some way to achieve this, I just don't know how (yet)



Sure hope somebody has a good solution...

Thanks again,

bder

 

[bder]

Thanks, I'll have a look at that.

 

[mkaibear]

Some BIOSes have a "wake up" feature implemented which allows you to tell the computer to wake up at a certain time.

Failing that, check to see if you can put a "Wake on LAN" card into the system - then ping it from another machine.

 

[bder]

mkaibear,

thanks for the advice. Unfortunately it is a completely stand alone system without access to any network.

I was just thinking, wouldn't it be possible to hibernate XP and make it wake up at a specified time? Or possibly configure the BIOS or motherboard to power up whenever there is actually power available? In this case I could simply utilize a time clock on the power supply...

bder

 

[mkaibear]

You can hibernate XP and make it wake up at a specified time. the BIOS may be configurable to turn on at a specific time - I'd suggest having a look in the BIOS of whatever motherboard you are getting and see what's available through there!

 

[bder]

mkaibear,

I am now using a BIOS feature called "Boot on Power Fail" which was disabled in the standard config. By enabling this feature, the computer will boot when power supply is restored.

Its a good solution as I use the timer clock on the power supply...

Thanks for the advice.

 

[mkaibear]

Excellent! Glad it's all sorted