Booting a PC and projectors from a mains switch

[Prof Tanda]

Hello,

I've been asked to find a solution for switching a Windows 7 PC on and off from a mains switch.

I'm aware PC's can be set to reboot automatically after power failures but I wasn't sure how advisable it is to simply cut the power on the PC to turn it off? This is something that will be done on a daily basis.

I'd prefer to find a solution which gracefully shuts down on cutting the power and boots again on power being restored.

Can anyone help?

- - - -

To complicate things a little more :) - the PC is plugged in to a number of Epson TW3200 projectors which also need to be powered on and off with the same switch.

The projectors are set to light up automatically when the power is connected.

However, they currently need ~6-7 mins to power down following the PC shutting down (the lamps switch off after 5mins with no source, then the fans run for a further 1-2mins)

Any suggestions how this might hook up with the mains switch controlling the PC?

Cheers,

Tand

 

[Ghostman 1]

Starting is no problem, But You cannot just shut down a computer with a switch without damaging the hard drive, each time you hold the start button to manually shut down a computer, it puts a ding/bad sector on your hard drive.. The computer must go through a process to shut down right..

 

[Prof Tanda]

Thanks Ghostman.

each time you hold the start button to manually shut down a computer, it puts a ding/bad sector on your hard drive.

That's what I thought about cutting the power. :/

Unfortunately, the spec I've been given is that the power is for an entire section of the building where the PC is housed will simply be turned off each day when the building closes. I've since found this combination of a UPS and some software called Powerchute which triggers a graceful shutdown on a power outage...

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/3377...ing-your-apc-ups-easier-during-power-outages/

Have you had any experience with this?

Also, you mention...

Starting is no problem..

Do you know a good reference to look for in relation to this?

I think I read somewhere that Windows auto-boot on power-on only brought the PC back to the state that it was in at the time of an outage, ie. it re-boots the PC if it was running when it lost power. Does auto-booting work with power being resumed after the PC was shut down properly?

Thanks again!

Tand