Computer draws 25W when OFF

[rgr78]

Hi. I recently bought a power meter, and was shocked to find out my computer is drawing ~25W when off. I was expecting something around 1-3W, not 25W! Is this common?
And yes, i'm sure it's off. If i disconnect it from the mains, when i reconnect it, it jumps to 25W.
In fact, it draws the exact same ammount of energy when it's OFF than when it's suspended!

Some measurements:
OFF: ~23-25W
Suspended (to ram): ~23-25W
Idle: 88W
Most games: ~250W
OCCT CPU: <175W
OCCT GPU: <255W
OCCT CPU+GPU: <350W

What i already tried/know:
I have 2 USB devices plugged in: A wireless keyboard/mouse and speakers. Unplugging them had no effect on the OFF power draw.
I have a network cable plugged in, but i don't think the wake on lan is enabled. When the computer is off, the NIC link led is off.
The power meter is well calibrated. Tried it on some incandescent and CFL bulbs, and on heaters. Works just fine.

Some specs:
Asus P8P67 Rev. 3 (Sandy Bridge)
Intel i5 2500K (Not overclocked)
CORSAIR TX-650W
EVGA GTX460 EE 1GB
CORSAIR 4GB (2X 2GB) DDR3 1600MHZ CLASSIC / XMS3 (CL9)

What can be causing it, how can i troubleshoot it? Any suggestions?

 

[psaus]

Sounds strange to me too.
Do you have BT Go enabled? I could see this always listening for remote controller input, therefore drawing that 25w. Only thing that comes to mind ATM...

 

[rgr78]

Hmm, had to look that one up. Anyway, there is no specific setting to enable/disable BT Go!, only for bluetooh. Which is enabled. Let me try disabling it.

 

[rgr78]

Nope, enabling/disabling bluetooth had no effect. Besides, shouldn't there be a menu in the BIOS from BT Go? Maybe my MB doesn't have that.

 

[psaus]

According to this you do
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_1155/P8P67/

BT Go would be the Bluetooth, and if you've disabled that, then I would suspect that's good enough.

I'm seeing a couple features like this for your board: http://event.asus.com/mb/2010/ai_charger/

I can only suspect that you have installed an ASUS utility that is preventing the system from truly powering off. AI Charge or something like that is actually invoking an S3, 4, or 5 instead of a full poweroff. Hence the same power draw in sleep vs power off.

If you know which one of these installed, go for the uninstall. Otherwise, as a simple test, boot Ubuntu from CD/USB (the test version, not install), and do a power up and shutdown in that environment. If the system is still drawing 25w after that shutdown I'd have to say I'm truly stumped...

 

[rgr78]

I'm seeing a couple features like this for your board: http://event.asus.com/mb/2010/ai_charger/
I can only suspect that you have installed an ASUS utility that is preventing the system from truly powering off. AI Charge or something like that is actually invoking an S3, 4, or 5 instead of a full poweroff. Hence the same power draw in sleep vs power off.

Ah, i also did not know of that "feature". However, I did not install any asus utility on my system. I try to maitain a lean system, so i skipped all that bloatware, and only installed the drivers i needed. I even skipped the BT driver, because i don't use BT on this computer

If you know which one of these installed, go for the uninstall. Otherwise, as a simple test, boot Ubuntu from CD/USB (the test version, not install), and do a power up and shutdown in that environment.

I had already tried to unplug the PSU from the mains, wait a bit, and plug it back in. It jumps right back to 25W (and remains "OFF"). Just for the sake of it, i did boot and shutdown from an Ubuntu Live CD. Still 25W.

If the system is still drawing 25w after that shutdown I'd have to say I'm truly stumped...

As am I! Thanks for the suggestions though, they were good ones.

Anyone else? I'm now open to stranger explanations...

 

[rgr78]

BUMP