Strange Problem at Shutdown

[PismoGuy]

If the Numlock is on before I begin a normal shutdown sequence, numlock light remains on after shut down. This operation is independent of whether I turn numlock on manually or set on at bootup in bios. The same thing happens with the capslock and scroll lock lights. When the computer is rebooted the lights go out (except numlock if it is set on at bootup in bios). Computer operation seems nominal in all other respects.

System is Shuttle SK41 (SFF) with XP2100 running Win 98 SE.

It almost seems as if the system is not really shutting down for this to occur.

Any Ideas?

 

[Xsorovan]

Do you turn the machine off by pressing the power button or by telling it to shut-down in windows? I had a similiar problem for a while until I realized (some some crazy reason) by windows install had changed itself (?!?!) and when I "powered down" it went into hibernation mode instead of "turning off" which leaves the lights on, on the keyboard. (A good way to test if it is hibernating is if you hit a key on the keyboard (spacebar) and see if the machine starts.

I'm sorry if you have already tried looking at this and this isn't a solution, it was just a solution that worked for me once. If nothing else you might want to make sure that hibernation is disabled in windows.

 

[PismoGuy]

Thanks for your input. The shutdown I use is the standard mouse click on the start button and selection of the shut down button. This is is what I have always used in the past . . . without this problem.

I agree that it appears as though it is in a hibernate mode but it does not wake up with any key strokes (that I have tried). I don't know how to confirm a state of hibernation vs power off by any other means. There is also a sleep mode called suspend to ram which apparently requires pushing the power button to bring back up, but I am not sure how this is engaged (or disengaged). As best as I can tell this is not engaged and I assume is initiated in bios setup.

 

[imported_nocturne]

I have the same thing happening on my NF7-S. I believe it is caused by motherboards keeping the power line active in order to keep the cpu fan running after shutdown in order to cool the processor all the way. It could also happen if you have a USB keyboard plugged into a USB hub that has it's own power source.

 

[PismoGuy]

My keyboard is PS-2 so the light is getting it's power from the motherboard. One thing noticable is that the shut down is very fast (10 sec) compared to another computer also running Win 98 SE (30 to 60 Sec) which led me to wonder about it going into some kind of hibernate mode, but I just don't know how to confirm this.

 

[imported_nocturne]

The way to confirm it is the psu fan. If it's still turning, powers still on. If not, then the comp is off. Also, if you disable hibernation in win98 it won't do it. Likewise if you disable power management in the BIOS.

Simply put, if you tell windows to shutdown its going to shut down. If you have power management enabled it will turn off the computer automatically, unless it's configured in the bios to just SUSPEND (which would be stupid). If power management is disabled and you shutdown, you will get the classic "It's now safe to shutdown your computer."

On my NF7-S I also have a ps2 keyboard. The num-lock light stays on as long as the led on the mobo stays on, and it usually turns off after a while. I presume this is because the mobo is trying to keep the cpu fan going after shutdown to cool the cpu further by keeping the power line active. Since my cpu fan is not hooked up to the mobo, it takes longer to cool off.

 

[PismoGuy]

Thanks for the input, Nocturn. The PSU fan is definitely stopped. But if on the numlock, caps lock and scroll lock all remain on after shutdown. As far as I have observed, they never turn off. Very annoying.

As I originally noted, mine is a Shuttle SFF package that uses a heat pipe heatsink on the CPU and it appears that when I shutdown all fans stop immediately after the relay clicks in the PSU. It all happens within 10 seconds - very fast compared to other systems I have.

I have spent hours in BIOS trying to see if there is some obscure setting that would make the system go into suspend but I don't see anything that distinctly says Suspend "enabled or Disabled". In the Power Management section there is an ACPI function but it is greyed out in a permanently enabled mode. In other areas on the BIOS setup there are references to S1 through S6 but little to explain what these really mean. What is a good reference for BIOS information?

I noted in another post in this forum someone whose mouse led is staying on after shutdown. Possibly the same issue?

 

[imported_nocturne]

I'd imagine it just has to do with the power circuit of modern mobos.... who knows. As long as it's not on a battery driven pc, I wouldn't worry about it.