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how to auto self-boot a computer?

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question
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is there a way to auto self-boot a computer, like a software that powers a computer?

thought
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you know nowadays the computers are not like what they are used to. where the power switches are “dead-wired”, so you can set the computers on a timer plug or a timer extention lead for “self-power” or “self-shutdown”

problem
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you see my office building is fairely new, so we get an electricity cut during the night. meanwhile i like to leave my machine render 3d images after work, so what im trying to achieve is after the electricity cut. i like to have a program that can bring back the computer online (on power)

current solution
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its either in BIOS or a function LAN wake-up calls, the down side is the machine’s BIOS doesn’t have a self-boot function.

for LAN wake-up calls we will need to have another machine up and running, but it’ll do no good since the electricity cut will cut off all computers in the same time

Topic

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but icelemon, what ‘brains’ would be able to run the computer if it were powered off? gotta be something ‘built in’ unless you gonna program robot to hit the front panel switch (rdl)…
a BIOS with a ‘return to last state’ after power failure is the only way i know of. how long are the outages? i wonder how long you could stay ‘up’ in ‘suspend’ or powersave mode using a battery…

why not use the biggest ups you can afford, then have why not have it ‘suspend’ quickly into power saving mode when it goes on battery. maybe it could last thru the outage and you could run a batch file that would execute after line power resumes. if you have xp and a APC ups then it’s all built into Control Panel/Power…/UPS otherwise you’d have to use the software that comes with whatever ups you had…

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i know. i was thinking a bit like hard wiring the Power button like the ones in the old days.

like, it keeps on as long as you press it again. no matter if there’s an electricity cut or etc. i don’t know. im not a hardware techie haha

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You say you leave the computer running tasks after hours.

If so, allowing it to be powered off and then attempting to recover on it’s own is a BAD thing.

I’m surprised you have not had some kind of system crash, or corrupt file from the sudden power down.

Your BEST all around option for this particular situation is to install a UPS for any PCs that you wish to keep running.

You need to figure out the longest power outage, and size the UPS appropriately.

An alternate hardware solution would be to build up a circuit that wires in parallel with your power switch, and after a reasonable delay, provides a 250 mS pulse to power up the PC.

I would delay at least 30 seconds after power is returned to allow most of the surges from other equipment powering up to settle out of the line.

The circuit could be designed and built by just about anyone with electronics circuits knowledge. It could be powered from a wall transformer, or perhaps the PCs 5 volt standby line.

Chas

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thanks, getting a UPS will be a dream to achieve. my boss is hardly gonna spend money on it. i guess its not something we can do about it.

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I’m at a loss here why start it up again? If you want to render images starting the computer isn’t going to allow you to start a program at best it will just start Windows and waste power that someone is paying for.
The Best Thing to do is here is get a UPS and allow the system to power down saving any work in progress and then when the morning comes restart the unit and either do other work or allow it to continue rendering the image. Instead of just restarting it you need to save any work part way completed before the system shuts down don’t you?

As The Chas has said it’s possible to construct a circuit that will restart the unit after power is reapplied but it will not start the program running again will it?

As well the servers should have some form of filtering on them so protect them from the nasties when the power is restored so they should have the ability to continue running and allow the Wake On LAN option but for the life of my I can’t see the advantage to that as all it would do is to restart the unit not restart the program and let it continue from where it left of when the power outage occurred.

Col

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thanks, getting a UPS will be a dream to achieve. my boss is hardly gonna spend money on it. i guess its not something we can do about it.

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What in the world type of office shuts the power off in the middle of the night?

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it was quite new just until lately we’ve convinced the managers to quit shutting down the electricity in the end of the day. i think the owner was trying to save money

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