There is something interesting I noticed. I flashed Skulls before on all my machines (no Wake on Lan or similar enabled) and I use older thinkpads.
If Qubes is powered off, I noticed that the Ethernet lights (green and orange) do not turn off, if the ethernet cable stays plugged in (green on, orange blinks). Even if I take it out and plug in a different cable from the same switch.
If I take out the ssd (machine powered off, power cable plugged in), there is no light, if the ethernet cable is plugged in! Using a different distro and booting from USB (while ssd with Qubes is removed) resulted in no networking lights after poweroff.
Does someone maybe have any idea what is the root cause of the green lights on/orange blinking after poweroff (if the ssd is attached)? If the cable is plugged in, do the Ethernet cable lights turn off on your machine after Qubes is powered off?