Hi, I've heard of a comp turning itself off while on and then looping. But this problem is in the opposite effect. The comp was turned off last night. In the middle of the night I heard a popping noise from the speakers (which is normal when the comp turns on). I didn't think much about it since it was like 2 in the AM, so when I woke up this morning, the same pooping noise was occuring. When I looked over at the computer the CPU was turning itself on, and before it ever reached the flash screen it would turn itself back off again. This would occur 5 or 6 times before it would go through the same routine before turning itself off completely and then remaining off for approx. 1 to 2 minutes before doing the exact same thing again (turning itself on and then 2 to 3 seconds later turning itself back off) Anyone have any ideas on what the heck this is and how to resolve it? P.S. After a few hours of this, it booted itself on its on to Windows and it remained there for several minutes. I was able to see that my files were all intact, but eventually it turned itself off and back on again, going into the same loop. Then it stopped for a few minutes and turned itself back on and off several more times.

I can only offer a guess...psu is failing or if you just added some hardware, psu could not be up to the load. Assuming it's a hardware issue and assuming your hp is Intel powered, I have to assume a power issue. It's certainly possible your problem could be heat related (dirty heatsink or failed heatsink fan) and more detailed information as to the exact pavilion we're dealing with and its current configuration will get you some better answers. Skip

If the PC is turning itself ON, then I don't think it was ever completely OFF. Shut down tonight. Unplug the power cable for a few minutes and plug it in again. I bet it doesn't happen after that. If it does there is a short in the switch.

After A LOT of pouting, I took it to the Geek Squad who first stated it was the power supply. Then after hooking it up, they said it was fine, and immediately stated it had to be the motherboard. They then stated they didn't sell motherboards, so I took it to another place who said it was both the motherboard and the power supply. Something about when the power supply goes, it'll take the motherboard with it . . . something to that effect. So anyways, my desktop is there, and I'll find out Monday if all that resolves the problem. To answer the previous posts... no there weren't any recent updates/upgrades/etc, and the comp was turned off (no green light indicators on the front or back of the CPU and the monitor had shut down with it). **There was a lightning storm a few days ago, but I have a pretty good surge protector that should have protected the comp from that. But even with that said, the problem didn't occur until a few hours after I had turned the comp off. It just turned on all by itself and looped every 1-2 seconds before it ever got to the flash screen.

I don't know how it could be the mother board. That's insane.

Simple fix to this is to make sure the actual power to the tower (that rhymes!) is turned off. So, if it's on a power strip or surge protector, turn the power off at that source. I'm sorry to say this may end up costing you a pretty penny. If this ever happens again, you may want to consider waiting more than four hours after posting your initial problem before taking such a drastic step.. Just a suggestion. Life is more painless for those who are brainless.