PC will not shut down after thunderstorm (just reboots)

[Quick1]

My friends' Dell XPS 420 was off at the time and working fine, well?for a Vista PC that is. Anyway, now when I do a shutdown from the start button the PC just reboots. I tried an OS re-install first and then even a format of the OS partition followed by a clean install of Vista with no change. The power strip the PC was plugged into was not tripped and still shows a green light. Vista or other hardware functions don't seemed to have been affected. I?ve reseated the RAM, checked all connectors in the case but can?t find any obvious problems.

What else should I check? Help!

 

[habbakuk87]

try taking out the cmos battery for a while

 

[Quick1]

habbakuk87: Hmm...Ok, easy enough, I'll try that one tonight.


Any other suggestions?

 

[masteryoda34]

Dont buy a Dell? Sorry, that wasnt helpful.

 

[oynaz]

Is your rig a laptop? If so, try removing the battery for a minute while the computer is off.

 

[corkyg]

The rig in question is not a laptop, but a Dell XPS 420.

420

If all that was protecting it during a T-storm was a power strip surge protector, there could be damage to mobo components, and/or the power supply. The PSU is where I would start testing.

 

[Quick1]

masteryoda34: I didn't, I build my own. This PC belongs to a friend and I'm trying to help them out.

corkyg: m/b damage is what I considered also but it works perfectly otherwise. Everything seems to be running well including onboard video and audio. I'll see if someone at my work has an extra p/s I can swap out and test. Thx!


Thanks guys, anyone else?

 

[Paperdoc]

In the BIOS, is there a place to specify actions to take for certain events? Like, pushing to On / Off button does one thing, but holding it in for more than 4 seconds does something else? Check how those are set - maybe a power glitch changed a bit somewhere in the BIOS setting records.

 

[Rifter]

check the caps and other components on the board and PSU they can still be damaged even if board was off. especially if only had a cheap surge protector.

 

[lxskllr]

If you don't get it sorted out, maybe just ignore it. Sleep works pretty well in Vista, and it still reboots for updates. If you really need it off for some reason(vacation?), yank the power cord during reboot.