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My Dell laptop is on Windows 7 Home Premium (yes, I'm getting a new one as soon as the quarantine is over and I can get home to the rest of my equipment) and is currently plugged into an outlet that is controlled by a wall light switch (along with two lamps). I'm visiting so have limited places to plug in and work.

For the past couple of days, when the light switch is turned on, the laptop boots up. It was NOT in Sleep or Hibernate mode. It had been shut down completely the night before. The battery is old (9 years, like the laptop) and only lasts about 15 minutes so I need the power turned on when I DO want to boot up. But now it's booting up on its own.

Did I accidentally change a setting? How do I change it back?

We've had a few quick off-on power blinks during storms, but I think the laptop was off at the time...did something get scrambled?

Is it just old and quirky and there's nothing I can do about it?

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    Check the bios for a power setting, something like power on after power loss, turn it off.
    – Moab
    May 2, 2020 at 16:06
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    Do you have anything connected to USB ports? What else is connected to outlets controlled by that light switch?
    – gronostaj
    May 2, 2020 at 16:08

1 Answer 1

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No, you didn't change any settings. Likely the battery doesn't have sufficient current to retain computer states, so it is dying in between sessions. When the laptop detects current being supplied by the wall outlet turning on, it takes that as a cue to boot up and recover.

Simplest thing to do is just disconnect the power cable from the back of the laptop in between uses, and just leave the power adapter plugged into the wall.

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