Asus M4A series - is your power button working properly?

Windows XP and Linux both have the same options for the power button:

Standby
Hibernate
Shut down
Ask me what to do
Do nothing

What does your power button do? Mine does nothing or just freezes and I have to reset! My mobo M4A78T-E does the same in Windows & Linux, so it's not a software problem, I'm thinking it's either a BIOS bug or a hardware defect.

Could it be a problem with the case button itself? Are you sure the power switch is wired correctly to the motherboard?

Isn't it just a momentary contact? Even polarity doesn't matter.

- If I press and hold for 4+ seconds, it goes out.
- When computer is off, it turns on.
- When it's on in DOS mode, it turns off or sometimes reboots.
- When the OS is in suspend or hibernation, it wakes up

so it works, except when Windows or Linux is running.

I'm looking to see if others with M4A78T-E or M4A79T Deluxe work fine or not. Anybody?

mine works correct.

lopoetve said:

mine works correct.

Click to expand...

It sort of works with C1E disabled, but system uses an extra 10 watts at idle.

If you set Power Option to "Ask me what to do", you'll get a dialog, but if you pop it several times it will crash.

reb00tin said:

It sort of works with C1E disabled, but system uses an extra 10 watts at idle.

If you set Power Option to "Ask me what to do", you'll get a dialog, but if you pop it several times it will crash.

Click to expand...

In linux or windows? I use it all the time in windows, never have a problem, but it's coded to shutdown. The box is far enough away that if I'm pushing it, I just want it to shut down. I'm old-school AIX for linux, so I'm always using shutdown -h now, or hibernate the thing ~shrug~

lopoetve said:

In linux or windows? I use it all the time in windows, never have a problem, but it's coded to shutdown. The box is far enough away that if I'm pushing it, I just want it to shut down. I'm old-school AIX for linux, so I'm always using shutdown -h now, or hibernate the thing ~shrug~

Click to expand...

Both.

I never shut down, I just suspend, and when I do shut down I do it through the OS. So I don't have reason to be using the power button unless the machine hangs and I need to reset.

However, there is a hardware or BIOS defect, several users posted threads in Asus forums, I responded to some, and I see they have all been deleted.

reb00tin said:

It sort of works with C1E disabled, but system uses an extra 10 watts at idle.

Click to expand...

It sound like had the same problem. Based on my testing I think the problem occurs when the CPU is in a C1E enhanced halt state. If I disable C1E I don't have the problem. Or I can enable C1E and run prime95 (to keep the CPU active) and the power button will work. The problem is that most of the time when you're hitting the power button you're not doing anything on your computer. Therefore there's a good chance the CPU will be in the C1E halt state and cause the power button not to work.

This happened with my Asus M4A79T Deluxe motherboard (which I no longer have, so I can't help troubleshoot this anymore).