Old PC sometimes does not shutdown (power off) and start properly

[schlauchboot]

Hi,

I have a 9.5 years old PC (from the boot messages: DMI: FUJITSU SIEMENS ESPRIMO P7935 / D2812-A1, BIOS 6.00 R1.13.2812.A1 03 / 19 / 2009, OS openSUSE Leap 42.3) that shows a strange behavior on shutdown since a couple of weeks. I only inserted another PCI LAN card 9.5 years ago when the PC was new. I didn't change anything of the hardware later.

Sometimes the system just won't shut down properly. Sometimes the OS does shut down, but the power switch on the front panel is still shining and the fans are running. The behavior is similar to shutting down the system without powering off. In this case I have to press the power switch for a couple of seconds to reset the system, then it will power off. Sometimes the PC does shut down and power off but then, a couple of seconds or even minutes later it switches on all by itself. In this case is doesn't boot. Only the power switch on the front panel shows that the power is on and the fans start running. Resetting the system helps (to power it off again). But in this case, the system will not start as usual later. I have to press the power switch for some seconds to get the system to boot, sometimes repeatedly.

Last time, the system repeated powered on all by itself over and over again. First, it powered on and off all by itself repeatedly, Then it powered on and I had to reset the system to power it off. After a short while, it powered on again. I had to plug off the power cord of the PSU to stop that (the PSU itself has no power switch). The next day the system almost didn't start. I had to repeatedly plug on and off the power cord and press the reset button. After a while the system started.

Some time ago, I repeatedly got a message from the BIOS, that I unfortunately didn't write down. Something with "MEBinit: .... FW... configuration..." or similar. The message said, that I should press ENTER to continue. I did as requested the the system started to boot without error. There is no such message in the manual of the motherboard. Now, this message does no longer show up.

To prove that the system does shut down, here the last messages of the syslog, the day the PC powered on and off all by itself repeatedly:

=======================================
Dez 28 01:34:13 venus1 systemd[1]: Stopped target Local File Systems (Pre).
Dez 28 01:34:13 venus1 systemd[1]: Stopped Create Static Device Nodes in /dev.
Dez 28 01:34:13 venus1 systemd[1]: Stopped Remount Root and Kernel File Systems.
Dez 28 01:34:13 venus1 systemd[1]: Reached target Shutdown.
Dez 28 01:34:13 venus1 systemd[1]: Starting /etc/init.d/halt.local Compatibility...
Dez 28 01:34:13 venus1 systemd[1]: Started /etc/init.d/halt.local Compatibility.
Dez 28 01:34:13 venus1 systemd[1]: Reached target Final Step.
Dez 28 01:34:13 venus1 systemd[1]: Starting Power-Off...
Dez 28 01:34:13 venus1 systemd[1]: Shutting down.
Dez 28 01:34:13 venus1 systemd-shutdown[1]: Sending SIGTERM to remaining processes...
Dez 28 01:34:13 venus1 haveged[498]: haveged: Stopping due to signal 15
Dez 28 01:34:13 venus1 haveged[498]: haveged starting up
Dez 28 01:34:13 venus1 systemd-journald[479]: Journal stopped
=======================================

The strange thing is, that these problems only show up sometimes, not always. I would say, between 30% and 50% of the time.

Is there anything I can do about this, besides buying a new PC?

Thanks in advance!

 

[schlauchboot]

Hi,

yesterday the problem occurred again: after first powering off, the system repeated to power on and off all by itself, without starting to boot. After I pressed the reset button the system finally tried to boot again, but before it displayed the following message, which I wrote down this time:

Establishing System Configuration....
MEBx Init Error: FW Init Complete not set
Press any key to continue...

After pressing a key, the system started to boot. After booting and shutting down again, the system only powered off, after I pressed the reset button, but then is stayed powered off.

Today the system seems to run smoothly again, no message, it just boots.

I would like to repeat, that I didn't change anything on the system with respect to hardware or the BIOS configuration for years. I only regularly update my operating system.

Do you have any idea?

Thanks in advance!