Weird smartstrip problem

[drunkatuw]

I've had a smart strip for almost a year now and everything has worked great.  Over thanksgiving, I got one of the emachines from best buy for $199 and planned to put that in my cabinet.  3 months later, I finally get around to putting this new computer in my cabinet.

So I hit the power button and everything turns on and I'm as happy as can be, I can play games that used to be really choppy, but now everything is smooth.  So after a few hours of gaming, I go to turn off the cabinet and the computer shuts down (it's on the switching outlet of the smartstrip), but the tv and marquee lights stay on.

Has anyone had a similar problem as this?  It's like the computer is turned off, but it's still drawing power.  Would just switching power supplies with the old computer fix the problem?

Any advice would be appreciated!

[Silver]

Aha this sounds like an ATX issue - a lot of modern pcs/motherboards/powersupplys try and be clever with there power management. For example they continue to power USB ports and hubs etc....

I would recommend going into the bios of your new pc (normally hit del for f10 while it runs a self-check on power up) and look at the power settings. You may be able to turn on/off various features to make it properly shutdown....

[maraxle]

You could try adjusting the sensitivity and see if that helps.  I've found the Smartstrips I have (LCG1's) to be pretty flakey, so don't be surprised if it doesn't help.

[drunkatuw]

You could try adjusting the sensitivity and see if that helps.  I've found the Smartstrips I have (LCG1's) to be pretty flakey, so don't be surprised if it doesn't help.

How do you adjust the sensitivity?  I don't see any switches or knobs other than the power on/off switch.

[Siffreddi]

drunkatuw,

I had the same problem with my Smart Strip LCG1 after switching to a computer with a small power supply.  I called Bits Ltd. and he said that the LCG1 takes more current for the switched outlets to work, but the new LCG3 would work and also has adjustable sensitivity.  He actually offered to send me the LCG3 in exchange for my LCG1 at no cost to me.  Bits Ltd. even paid shipping.  I setup the LCG3 and everything is working fine now.

[drunkatuw]

drunkatuw,

I had the same problem with my Smart Strip LCG1 after switching to a computer with a small power supply.  I called Bits Ltd. and he said that the LCG1 takes more current for the switched outlets to work, but the new LCG3 would work and also has adjustable sensitivity.  He actually offered to send me the LCG3 in exchange for my LCG1 at no cost to me.  Bits Ltd. even paid shipping.  I setup the LCG3 and everything is working fine now.

How do I know if I have an LCG1 or LCG3?

[Siffreddi]

drunkatuw,

I had the same problem with my Smart Strip LCG1 after switching to a computer with a small power supply.

[drunkatuw]

Over the weekend I finally had a chance to mess with my smart strip.  I did find a small plastic screw on the side of the smart strip which changes the switching threshold.  So what I did was turn the screw all the way clockwise and then turned on the computer and then turned the computer off.  The tv/speakers/marquee light did not turn off as usual.  So then I slowly started to turn the  plastic screw counter-clockwise until the tv turned off.  Now I can turn the computer on and off and everything else turns on as expected.