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I bought a new PC last week with Windows 8 on it. The PC is plugged into the master socket of a power strip. I also have a small lamp plugged into the same power strip.

When I turn that lamp on or off, a sound is played on the Windows 8 PC!!!

I could not figure out what sound is played exactly and there is no sound event named 'External device switched on' :-)

I guess switching on the light changes the power consumption in the power strip, but why would the PC and even the OS bother about this?

How can I turn this off?

The sound is not played every time I switch the light on or off, but on average every second time.

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  • I would be very surprised if the PC can spot the difference in the running frequency from turning a domestic light on or off. Does the PC have any ambient light sensors that could be causing this? Nov 13, 2012 at 13:20
  • No, no sensors except for a microphone on a USB headset but Speed Recognition is not turned on. Nov 13, 2012 at 13:22
  • Custom build PC with a Asus P8H77-V board and a Core i7 3770 CPU. Sound on Board. Nov 13, 2012 at 13:34

1 Answer 1

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Are you sure no USB devices are powered by this strip? Maybe a slight short/power drain is causing an external component to be re-detected.

Update

Because Peter has confirmed his printer was in "soft off" mode. I suspect that the turning on/off of the light caused the printer to recycle power internally, thus causing windows to detect a new USB device and making the device attached sound.

To resolve this issue, I would ensure both the power board and connectors are ok and for safety's sake, would replace the board with a new one to ensure the internal connectors can sustain reliable electrical contact.

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  • Thanks for the answer, I'm having the same issue when turning of my amplifier which I use as a speaker for my computer. My keyboard sometimes goes off (and on) when turning the amplifier off.
    – Mixxiphoid
    Nov 14, 2012 at 7:01

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