Main > Main Forum
Newbie Ques - Power Problem
REBIRTH:
--- Quote from: Scoobie on June 10, 2004, 09:50:58 am ---REBIRTH,
I am running WinXP. Where would I go on my computer to setup the CMOS in power management? There are some power options in control panel, is this it and what do I change in there?
--- End quote ---
You get into the CMOS on boot up, before Windows pops up. When you first turn on the PC you have to hit a certain key before the Windows screen shows up. You have to look at your particular PC as for what key you hit - but it is usually the "delete" key or F1 key (check your PC's manual or search the web). Sometimes there will be a quick message shown while booting up like "Hit F1 for setup" that tells you.
Once you hit that key, instead of Windows popping uop your CMOS settings will pop up. Go to the POWER section of the CMOS and change the setting for this (all CMOS's are different, so I can't give you exactly what to look for and change, but there shouldn't be much in that Pwer section so it should be easy to spot). if you can't figure it out , let me know what PC you have and I'll see if I can search for you CMOS particulars.
EVERYONE ELSE: I love all the great ideas here, but I still do not understand the issue. This subject comes up all the time and everytime I get confused like I must be missing something. I am using nothing more than a standard $5 powerstrip and a standard $5 button - I push the button and everything turns on and boots up. I don't get all the need for relays, circuits, caps, smartstrips... for most people anyway, I can see a rare case whenre something like that would be needed, but I would think 99% of people could do what I did for $5-$10 and almost no special talent or time setting it up. I have to believe I am missing something magical that people with these special electronics setups are getting that I am not? I can't imagine what that might be because I hit one button to power up, hit the same button to power everything down - I think that is what everyone is searching for. My assumption is that people do not realize there is a standard setting in almost all CMOS' that will boot up the computer without having to hit the PC power button, so they have to go to great lengths to figure out how to get the PC to turn on without having to physically press the power button on the PC? Seriously, I don't mean to say I am better than everyone else or something obnoxious like that, I am honestly wondering what my setup is lacking. My post a bit earlier in this thread eaxplains what I did. I would love to know what I might be missing? Thanks! :)
Industen:
I also think there are simple ways to do this without a huge hassle. I just bought a SmartStrip and soldered a START pushbutton to my power on wire on the motherboard. Plug the computer into the main outlet and everything else triggers on immediately. I guess that diagram is something you'd have to contend with if your cabinet is an original game, but for Mame simple solutions work.
http://joelsgadgets.com/computeronpushbutton.html
I do have no question though? How exactly can I setup the computer to shut down by hitting the power switch? I have to hold it for 5 seconds to shut it down. Is this a windows setting or power management setting within the BIOS?
REBIRTH:
--- Quote from: Industen on June 11, 2004, 08:44:09 am ---I also think there are simple ways to do this without a huge hassle. I just bought a SmartStrip and soldered a START pushbutton to my power on wire on the motherboard. Plug the computer into the main outlet and everything else triggers on immediately. I guess that diagram is something you'd have to contend with if your cabinet is an original game, but for Mame simple solutions work.
http://joelsgadgets.com/computeronpushbutton.html
I do have no question though? How exactly can I setup the computer to shut down by hitting the power switch? I have to hold it for 5 seconds to shut it down. Is this a windows setting or power management setting within the BIOS?
--- End quote ---
A couple of things - with the smartstrip, or any normal power strip, you can turn on the power management in your BIOS so that there is not need to solder or touch the PC in any way. This is my point, that is what the power managment is all about - turning on and booting up windows without ever touching the power button on the PC. Windows made it so you couldwalk up and touch the mouse, keyboard, anything and it would power up (which most people have no need for so it is set to "off" by default). Turn that on and just by switching the powerstrip on the computer will boot right up. So in your case you soldered a button connected to your PC motherboard, which obviously works, but instead you could have left your PC alone and just pluged it into a standard $5 powerstrip. Then just hit the powerstrip power button, or connect an external button to that powerstrip like I did, and it all turns on and boots up.
As for powering down - most front ends will have an option to "shut down" windows on exit of the front end. If not, you can download a free utility that will do that for you - if you search these threads you can find some that people use. As for me I use Emulaxian which includes the option to power down windows when I exit. So it loads up automatically when that machine boots up, and then when I am done I tell the front end to exit by hitting the "player 2 start and player 1 coin" at the same time and windows shuts down and the PC turns off (you can tell the front end whatever CP button(s) you want to assign to this).