Boot problem - not the normal type!

[viking777]

I have recently discovered that my machine is booting itself automatically sometime after it has been shut down. The first three times I noticed it running unexpectedly I dismissed it as myself simply failing to switch it off, but last night it booted up only an hour after I had switched it off and I saw the lights on the machine when I walked past it so I looked into the logs and the evidence was there, it had been shut down and yet there is was running .

Here are the answers to some questions you might want to ask.

Q] When did you first notice this happening?
A] I can tell you precisely, on August 27th. I came back from a weeks holiday to find that my machine had an uptime of over 7 days.

Q] Did you do anything to the machine just before you went away?
A] Yes, I installed LMDE 201108rc on the 19th August, the day before I went away. I am not saying that this is the culprit, it may be pure coincidence, but it has never happened before that date.

Q] Does it occur at a regular time or time interval?
A] It is difficult to say for sure, but I don't think so, I think it is more a random problem, it has probably occurred 4 or 5 times in 3 weeks.

Q] Do you use hibernate or suspend?
A] Never! I see no reason for these things to even exist, and I certainly don't use them deliberately. The button from which I shutdown my computer calls /sbin/halt which should do what is says and halt it. If it is putting it into some hibernate state instead then that is definitely against my wishes and a serious bug with the operating system. When it shuts down all the lights go off except for the 'power connected' light (because it remains plugged in) and moving the mouse or tapping the keyboard will not wake it. Also, when it is started up manually it performs a full boot cycle.

Q] Could it be booted by LAN?
A] Network booting is disabled in my bios.

Q] Could cron be booting it?
A] I wouldn't think that cron would be capable of doing this from a full power off situation, but I am not certain about that. My crontab has only two entries in it, both of which I put there and both of which are '@reboot' so should not occur at any other time. Root has no crontab entries. Naturally, for a linux system /etc/cron.daily has several scripts in it but they do not look much different to any other system I have:

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ls /etc/cron.daily/
0anacron*  bsdmainutils*  exim4-base*  mlocate*  rkhunter*
apt*       chkrootkit*    logrotate*   ntp*      samba*
aptitude*  dpkg*          man-db*      passwd*   standard*


Q] What do your log files show?
A] Extract from /var/log/messages:

Sep 7 18:58:56 acer shutdown[5028]: shutting down for system halt
Sep 7 18:59:00 acer kernel: Kernel logging (proc) stopped.
Sep 7 18:59:00 acer rsyslogd: [origin software="rsyslogd" swVersion="5.8.3" x-pid="1739" x-info="http://www.rsyslog.com"] exiting on signal 15.
Sep 7 19:59:44 acer kernel: imklog 5.8.3, log source = /proc/kmsg started.

Extract from auth.log

Sep 7 18:17:01 acer CRON[4885]: pam_unix(cron:session): session closed for user root
Sep 7 19:59:54 acer CRON[1909]: pam_unix(cron:session): session opened for user xxxxx by (uid=0)
Sep 7 19:59:54 acer CRON[1910]: pam_unix(cron:session): session opened for user xxxxx by (uid=0)
Sep 7 19:59:54 acer CRON[1910]: pam_unix(cron:session): session closed for user xxxxx
Sep 7 19:59:54 acer CRON[1909]: pam_unix(cron:session): session closed for user xxxxx
Sep 7 19:59:58 acer gdm-session-worker[2195]: pam_unix(gdm3-autologin:session): session opened for user xxxxx by (uid=0)
Sep 7 19:59:58 acer gdm-session-worker[2195]: pam_ck_connector(gdm3-autologin:session): nox11 mode, ignoring PAM_TTY :0

The xxxxx's are just to hide my username from the rest of the world, nothing sinister.

Extract from daemon.log:

Sep 7 18:58:57 acer ntfs-3g[1353]: Unmounting /dev/sda1 (ACER)
Sep 7 18:58:59 acer modem-manager[1793]: <info> Caught signal 15, shutting down...
Sep 7 18:58:59 acer acpid: exiting
Sep 7 18:58:59 acer ntpd[2547]: ntpd exiting on signal 15
Sep 7 19:59:45 acer NetworkManager[1600]: <info> NetworkManager (version 0.8.4.0) is starting...
Sep 7 19:59:45 acer NetworkManager[1600]: <info> Read config file /etc/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.conf
Sep 7 19:59:46 acer NetworkManager[1600]: <info> VPN: loaded org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.pptp
Sep 7 19:59:46 acer NetworkManager[1600]: <info> trying to start the modem manager...
Sep 7 19:59:46 acer dbus[1590]: [system] Activating service name='org.freedesktop.ModemManager' (using servicehelper)
Sep 7 19:59:46 acer dbus[1590]: [system] Activating service name='org.freedesktop.PolicyKit1' (using servicehelper)
Sep 7 19:59:46 acer modem-manager[1614]: <info> ModemManager (version 0.5) starting...

It is very clear that it was shut down at 1858 and started up again at 1959 but why and how?

Over to you all!

[clpo13]

Here's one possibility I can think of. Many BIOSes have a setting that allows you to choose what the computer does after a power failure (return to previous power state, stay off, power on, etc.). Is there such a setting in your BIOS, and if so, what's the setting? If the computer is, for some reason, set to power on after a power failure, it could be that the power cord is bad or there's a bad connection somewhere along the line. Of course, if the computer doesn't randomly turn itself off while you're using it, that possibility lessens dramatically. Just a thought.

[zerozero]

i'm subscribing to this topic because this has happen to me as well and i want to find out why:

- i shut-down the comp in the end of the night and in the next morning i find it in gdm (i always though it was me not shutting it down properly, but now i see that maybe not...
- happened just a few times (2-3) and can't recall when (not in the last week, for sure), so it's hard to hunt for any logs, without a specific date.

[viking777]

clpo13
Thanks for that info I will have a look at the bios later on.

zerozero
That is interesting. Maybe you don't remember this, but do you think you were running LMDE 201108rc when you shut down?

[zerozero]

hi viking,
no i was running this test install that is a 201012-64b;
but clpo13's post led me to one idea: i have top-up electricity (you sure know what i'm talking about), and in this cases we have a emergency backup that is only activated (automatically) during the night; honestly i don't know how it works but for example my electric clock doesn't reset when that emergency backup comes up; now all my occurrences were during the night (for your logs i see 19h59, is it considered night?)

[viking777]

There have been no power outages around my area for months (like you I can tell by the electric clock) and my bios has no settings for action after mains failure and anyway it is a laptop so it has a battery which is fully charged and would automatically take over if the mains power failed. So I don't think that is the case for me.

[hairybiker]

Not a solution, but an idea. What I do is have my system on a "wireless power plug" that when I switch off I power off the socket as well, so no standby current used (my Dell box was taking 15W in standby + the 25W in standby of my 5.1 speakers (now mostly switched off) now it takes 0W on standby and cant switch on until I power it up using the remote control. I have power on on power restore set so it automatically starts when I power the socket.

These power plugs were £5 at Asda a while back for 4 when I bought mine. I have my TV switched with an E-on power plug that uses the TV remote to power the plug in the same way so when I power it off it completely shuts down.

[viking777]

I have never heard of those hairybiker, but quite a useful item I would think. As you say it is not a solution though, what happens if my pc mysteriously powers up when the mains are isolated (because it is a laptop with a battery in it) - answer, I get a flat battery as well as a puzzle

[hairybiker]

Hmm remove the battery

[viking777]

Or better still, solve the problem

[wyrdoak]

Now you've gotten me watching my Acer I keep mine on listening to an audiobook 'till I fell asleep. I noted that my wifi modem was flashing that it was trying to be used but wasn't connecting to the computer trying to connect to it. Skynet trying to take over the world? I turned off my SSID broadcast just in case it's the neighbors trying to connect.

[AlbertP]

The wifi light flashing when there's no computer connected, just means that the router broadcasts its SSID to give computers the ability to connect to it. It surely does not mean that someone is secretly connecting to the network.

[xircon]

Late to the party, happening here also.
Nothing really that I can add. It is a laptop, it does it regularly, I dismissed it as my fault until today when I checked it was shut down and it woke by itself approx one hour later.

/var/log/syslog

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Oct 10 13:45:38 n5010 named[1634]: no longer listening on 192.168.0.4#53
Oct 10 13:45:38 n5010 named[1634]: exiting
Oct 10 13:45:40 n5010 kernel: Kernel logging (proc) stopped.
Oct 10 13:45:40 n5010 rsyslogd: [origin software="rsyslogd" swVersion="5.8.5" x-pid="1457" x-info="http://www.rsyslog.com"] exiting on signal 15.
Oct 10 14:47:10 n5010 kernel: imklog 5.8.5, log source = /proc/kmsg started.
Oct 10 14:47:10 n5010 rsyslogd: [origin software="rsyslogd" swVersion="5.8.5" x-pid="1421" x-info="http://www.rsyslog.com"] start
Oct 10 14:47:10 n5010 kernel: [    0.000000] Initializing cgroup subsys cpuset
Oct 10 14:47:10 n5010 kernel: [    0.000000] Initializing cgroup subsys cpu


From my post viewtopic.php?f=189&t=83164

[viking777]

I used my laptop this morning (plugged in) and switched it off about 1030am. It was switched off in its bag until I switched it on again (plugged in) at 1530pm. I was surprised to find that my battery charge was low. Having read xircon's post above I checked through my log files and sure enough I find it has switched itself on again at about 1330pm. I thought this problem had gone away, but it obviously hasn't.

This seems to be the most relevant log message:

Oct 10 13:31:06 acer kernel: [11070.300833] tg3 0000:08:00.0: wake-up capability enabled by ACPI

Another user is also reporting this behaviour here:

viewtopic.php?f=191&t=83150

[AlbertP]

tg3 is an ethernet driver.

Please check your BIOS configuration, and try if resetting BIOS defaults helps.
Or try upgrading your BIOS.

[viking777]

tg3 is an ethernet driver.

Please check your BIOS configuration, and try if resetting BIOS defaults helps.
Or try upgrading your BIOS.

I checked the bios when I first started this thread (see the first post) nothing has changed since then. And I am sorry but I am not flashing my bios when I am away from home and have no other machine to work on if it all goes wrong. I appreciate the suggestion none the less.

[xircon]

And my BIOS is up to date and I can see nothing in the settings.

[wilo108]

I have the same issue. The whole power management is a bit screwed up in general on my laptop (Dell Precision m4600), to be honest. Most of the time (but not always) if I start it up without the AC power connected, it shows as being on AC power anyway. About half the time when I start it up when it's plugged in it detects the battery, about half the time it does not (until I disconnect the AC power, and then it notices that the battery is present). Suspend and hibernate work only intermittently.

I've been assuming all this is connected. To the others on this thread: do you have other kinds of power problems like this, or is everything else okay?

(I've also been assuming that the ACPI config of this laptop is simply not well supported by the kernel, and figuring I'll have to wait until my problems are solved by a kernel update. Does this seem likely to others, too?)

[viking777]

@wilo108. I personally have no problems with battery detection at any time, and since I never use suspend or hibernate I wouldn't know if they had a problem anyway, but problems with those 'features' have existed since the dawn of time in Linux, so I wouldn't read anything into that.

Would a kernel upgrade fix it? I really don't know enough to tell you with any authority, but based on previous experience with a laptop that would never shut down (unless you held the power button down) I would suggest not.

My personal guess (and that is all it is) is that this is probably more to do with the machine failing to shut down properly rather than magically starting itself up. There are such things as 'wake on lan' of course, but in my own case the machine is not even connected to any lan and neither is it connected to any internet source when it is not expressly in use with my mobile broadband dongle, the chances of it waking due to an outside connection are absolutely zero. I have also noticed that there are times when it takes a long while to shut down (it always shuts down in the end, but it takes some time) so this may be a similar, but not so severe, problem as the last laptop I owned.

[AlbertP]

[quote="wilo108"(I've also been assuming that the ACPI config of this laptop is simply not well supported by the kernel, and figuring I'll have to wait until my problems are solved by a kernel update. Does this seem likely to others, too?)[/quote]
This has been a common Linux issue ever since the introduction of ACPI.
Windows does not behave like the ACPI standard, so computer manufacturers also don't have a reason to keep to those standards. At least Toshiba is known to have ACPI problems with any other OS than Windows (though the kernel already contains many work-arounds for Toshiba hardware).