new HP laptop with Vista Ultimate automatically turns itself on from being completely off

I just bought a new, custom HP laptop but it seems to have its own
personality. I'm running Vista Ultimate and haven't yet had a chance
to go through it and figure out all of the possible settings. My
problem is that my computer turns itself on, bypasses the logon/
required password stage, completely loads the desktop by itself from a
state of being completely off and unplugged. It has done this a
couple times now from the standby stage with the top closed,
prohibiting a misc. object to trigger the sensor to wake up. I
thought at first it might have been because the battery was low and it
was turning on from standy to tell me to charge it, but the battery
has been almost full. Though curious, I have brushed this phenomenon
off because I have more important things to concentrate on these days
than figuring this quirk out.

However, today, it turned itself on, with the top closed, again
bypassed the fingerprint and required password logon and loaded the
desktop from being completely off. This is a little strange and
discomforting, as I'm afraid I may have to return it to the factory
and wait for another one and I simply don't have the time for that.

My question is, are there timer settings in Vista that would cause the
computer to turn on like this? I have "windows automatic update"
turned off, though I'm certain something so trivial couldn't have done
this to begin with. Other than that, I can't think of a possible
explanation.

Anyone with suggestions

No suggestion, but a question: are you SURE that your laptop isn't
hibernating, rather than being turned off?

If that is actually the case, then Vista has nothing to do
with the restart. The BIOS (or the power button) is the only
thing that can start it since the operating system is not
even in memory.
Have you checked your BIOS for wakeup events. Nothing explains the
bypassing of the sign on.

Ok, here's my update:

To cover all my bases, I contacted HP via chat through their website
and then through email after the chat proved overwhelmingly
frustrating. I was told several different things and given several
different solutions, the main being to perform a "Startup Repair"
through the BIOS. At first, they said that my computer turned on due
to stored static charges and that I needed to perform a "power
drain". I found this difficult to believe and it also didn't explain
how it bypassed the logon. Then they said my fingerprint software was
malfunctioning and I needed to reinstall it. However, this didn't
explain how I could use the sensor to logon both before and after this
incident. Finally, they said my BIOS was corrupted. After the tips
in this forum and HP's advice to look at the BIOS, I did just that. I
did the startup repair but it didn't show any problems. I then went
back into the BIOS to look for the wake-on LAN option but didn't find
anything of that sort. From what I've read, my model has a limited
BIOS...a new thing they are doing, if I read it correctly.

Finally, they told me to update my BIOS, though I have the latest
update already.

I am frustrated to no end about this but cannot afford to waste more
time on it until next month, at which point I hope to make some head
way regarding the possibility of wake events. I found this old
article about the setting for "wake-up on LAN" which seemed to be spot
on:

Now I just need to find that in the BIOS...

completely sure...set it to "shut down" and it was off all
night...more than 12 hours...not a light on the computer was on, not a
sound of running, nothing until about an hour ago when it magically
started.

First off, thank you both so much for your help!

Second, it appears that I am going to have to take a look at the BIOS
no matter what. I was hoping to avoid this as I am wary of making a
mistake due to my limited knowledge. I wasn't even aware that there
could be such a thing as a wakeup event...I will research this more
and post the results. Here's hoping...

Not sure if this is relevant, but my computer connects using WiFi. I
have read that WoL can happen through WiFi but there are also people
who say it can't. Either way, perhaps it is a stupid question, but
since I can't find anything relevant to LAN or wake-up in the BIOS,
could simply disabling the wireless before I turn the computer off
stop this problem?

Do you have a remote control for your laptop?
I also have a HP computer dv2000 w/remote and it sometimes turnes itself on
due to reactions from other remotes (specfically when i press the guide
button on my xbox 360 remote). Could this be the cause?

Do you have a setting in the BIOS to resume after power interrupt ?
I have that on my desktop. I disabled it.
I do not know if it exists in laptops.

To answer a few of the questions:

-I have a DV6000 and though the quickplay buttoms are over-sensitive (a mere gust of wind can trigger them), my laptop was completely closed when it turned on, so I guess that rules that out.

-As for a remote being the cause, I do have a remote for the laptop but I was reading when it turned on so that also rules that out.

For my own update:

I haven't had any issues with the computer starting up on its own since the start of this thread. I wish I could give a definitive answer as to what "cured" the problem, but I didn't make any hardware changes, so I don't know. The only change, though perhaps the most important, is that I moved and no longer have WiFi in the house. I can only assume at the end of the day that it was the WOL.

I have, however, had many unrelated issues since with the fingerprint scanner and quickplay buttons but I guess that's all for a different topic.

I have the Exact same problem. It is frustrating to me because I cannot just leave my laptop unplugged from the power because it comes on by itself and then drains the battery. And also a few times whenever I have taken it to class in my backpack, I will take it out and its running and usually very warm due to being enclosed. My bios, OS, and everything else is up to date.

I might as well throw my 2 cents in there with the problem I recently started having with my own HP TX-1000Z. As it happens, the problem was directly related to me starting to charge my laptop in my bedroom, as opposed to in the den. I had the laptop in the den for about a year, in which time the laptop never turned itself on. However, the day I started charging it in the bedroom, it started happening with an alarming regularity. And then one of the posts hit the nail on the head. In the bedroom, along with my laptop, runs my Media Center PC. And a Media Center PC comes with a remote...

Need I say anymore?

I haven't had a chance to verify this, but I'm 97.8% sure that it's my Media Center remote that's turning on the laptop. The reason I only notice it in the middle of the night is that as long as the MCE PC is operating, its noise completely drowns out the poor laptop. After it shuts down in the middle of the night (after recording the last program for the night) the noise from the laptop becomes audible.

And that explains why the laptop randomly turns on.

Does anyone know a way to disable this turn on via remote feature -- if this is indeed the case, it would really fix a lot of frustrations.

Remove battery from remote Control?

You need to investigate/review/ reconfigure your power settings. Screen
saver settings > Power management. I would suspect your are not shutting
down your lap top, merely allowing it to go into hibernation.

Your OS does detect whether your system is PC or Lap Top (docked/undocked),
not much into Dell default settings, so you'll need to investigate that
part.

You can go online with an hp tech from their website
It solved my problems with a new vista laptop

So did removing the battery from the remote work? I've been having the same problem with my HP laptop and it's driving me insane! It always seems to happen in the middle of the night. Halp!

I don't know about anyone else but with your Subject: "new HP laptop
with..." why don't you just take it back?
If it's "new" then it should be under warranty ...

I'm having the same problem with my HP touchsmart laptop which I purchased 6 months ago. It's reassuring to know I'm not the only person with this problem. Does anyone know of an easy solution? I'm so scared to take my laptop off charge these days as it likes to switch itself on and drain my battery when I least expect it.

The Culprit = WINDOWS UPDATE
Disable windows updates from automatically installing updates. It some how switches on your laptop and DOES NOT switch it off after the installation.
Microsoft is BS!
Hope it works!