Hi, I have no idea what category this should go into, hence the general placement.
My PC sometimes turns on by itself, I haven't been able to identify a pattern yet. It runs Ubuntu server 14.04, although I'm not using it as a server anymore - I just installed Xfce for a GUI and am using it as a regular desktop now. The firewall still has internet ports open though, there's just nothing listening.
I'm wondering whether or not it could have been infected and is working as a bot now. Is it possible that malware makes it up power up when it's off (not asleep, off!)?
It also does that at times when the modem is turned off, so it can't be "on demand", but maybe some schedule. I don't have wake on lan installed either (as far as I can tell...).
What other possible explanations are there for this behaviour?
Do you think I'll have to wipe it completely?

I would check the BIOS configuration, there may be some wake on LAN, wake on WLAN or wake on schedule set (powering up at a specific time repeatedly would be an indicator).

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Hi...

I've never heard of this before but take a look at noidea_77's post here. If you have this setting, it might be worth checking out.

Regards...

Hm, good call. It appears there were some wakeup options enabled (see attachment), but I don't remember enabling those, and I don't really know what they do. Disabled them all now, let's see if it keeps switching itself on.
Can something like this be done by malware over the Internet?

Attached Thumbnails

 

That's a good question, but I don't know the answer. I suppose if the data can be written while the OS is running, then anything is possible.

Well I for one cannot make any changes in Bios while the OS is running, can I? It's necessary to reboot, shutting down the OS to get into Bios. The way it looks in my, albeit very very schematic understanding, is that Bios does something to get the Os booted, but the Os never does anything to Bios (i.e. there is no "channel" for information to travel the other direction), yes?

There's no reason that malware couldn't attempt to manipulate the bios. I don't believe it to be write protected.
Should the bios be ok, try reloading the operating system. It may be a genuine electronic problem where a fault creates curcuit noise allerting the power management system.

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I would more likely put this down to either you having played with the settings when you first bought the machine and accidentally or otherwise turned this on or somebody else who has access to the machine doing it to wind you up. Or even a previous owner of the machine setting it up if it's not brand new.
This isn't to say that it cannot be malware setting it just that it seems the least likely option to me as it's not something I have heard of and from what I can gather it would be difficult to do especially without targeting it to a specific BIOS.

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You're right, it's probably the first thing you mentioned. That's good because it doesn't compel me to do a fresh install (although that might be in order sometime soon anyways).
thanks everyone!