I want to be able to turn on my monitor, speakers and PC with a power strip. I currently have to turn on the strip and then press the power button on the PC.

Look to your BIOS for something like
"State After Power Failure".
I'm not sure about your Dell bios, but most Award Bios's have this feature.

That is not recommended. Your computer likes having the trickle charge from the wall.

What do you mean "trickle charge from the wall"? Does a power strip block that? What about UPSs?

Power supplies in ATX systems do not completely shut off when the system is powered down. This is so the system can respond to remote commands to turn itself on.

There is no problem with using a power strip to shut down the system completely. In fact, it can protect the system in case of a lightning strike.

There are power strips available that have a special jack to plug the PC in. When you power up the PC it will automatically apply power to the other jacks in the strip.

ham30

I have never heard of a power strip like that. Do you have any idea if there is some special name or designation to look for?

Hi Othehill. It's been a long time since I bought one. I can't remember where I got it. Radio Shack or cyberguys.com might be a good place to try. I'll do some checking and see if I can come up with anything.

A search using "power strip" +switching turned up a few sources.

That is not recommended. Your computer likes having the trickle charge from the wall...duh !

Where do folks get these crazy notions from ?

Trickle charge what ?

My 2 cents. I believe the charger for the mobo battery is active when the machine is turned off.

I can tell you for certain that the motherboard continues to draw a small amount of power when the powerstrip is active but system shut down. The LED in my LAN card is proof enough. That's how the WAKE-ON-..... (Lan/mouse/keyboard) options function. Setting the system to automatically boot as soon as power is applied to the powerstrip doesn't sound like a good idea to me.

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day.
Teach him to fish and his wife will never forgive you.

To per,

Not so. MOBO batteries are litium and definately NOT rechargeable.

To Richard59,

I think you maybe missed the point slightly.

The power strips being discussed provide power to a PC at all times but sense when it is actually powered up and then supply power to the other devices plugged into it i.e. monitor, printer speakers etc.

Kinel- after some searching it seems some lithiums are rechargable, some not. Don't know about the ones used in computers.

Kinel, see here. The batts. in the pc's are non-rechargable. It appears that when the machine is turned off the bios is still powered from the psu. When unplugged the bios is powered from the battery shortening the batt life. http://www.batteryuniversity.com/parttwo-34.htm

Just leave the machine on 24/7 like I do. The electric company needs the cash. I only let the Monitor go to suspend too. I do have a good line conditioner/ surge protector that the machine is connected to.

Per,

Yep, that's the the difference between Lithium and Lithium-Ion and I did say MOBO batteries...lol.

As a footnote and TOTALLY UNOFFICIALLY, Lithium batteries are in fact partially rechargeable !

I would not recommend anyone to do this but by applying a low voltage from a current limited power supply to a lithium battery (a watch battery for instance) just until it is felt to be getting warm, it is possible to eke days, weeks or even months of further use out of it.

I learnt this trick whilst working on remote desert sites in the Middle East where new watch batteries (along with many other of life's pleasures) simply were not available !

I REPEAT - I URGE READERS NOT TO ATTEMPT THIS AS THERE IS A VERY REAL DANGER OF EXPLOSION AND CONSEQUENTIAL BODILY HARM.

Wow guys chill out.
Just to make it real short and simple. The cmos is powered by the power supply as long as the kill switch is in the on postion and the plug in the wall is getting power. You kill the connection to the wall outlet and the cmos is running on the battery. The referance to a trickle charge I think meant the cmos keeper voltage present when the system is shut down. My Toshiba Tecra 520cdt laptop uses a rechargable NiCd battery for the RTC to keep it alive. But none of my desk top units charge the cmos battery.
Now as for a power strip with a control outlet I think it may work as it would be looking for a higher current draw other than the trickle the cmos would be using.
Please post back and let us know if you go that route and if it works.

I may be crazy, but I'm not stupid...