PC Power Problems

[JacKz5o]

Well for the past month I have had some problems with booting up my system. If I press the power button all the motherboard lights and stuff will come on but it won't boot. I'll have to turn off the switch on the back of the PSU, wait a few seconds, then turn back on and press power switch on case. Its been like this for like a month and I have always planned on posting to see whats wrong but haven't had the time.

Well anyway today, it won't boot up at all. I unplugged all the molexes and everything and plugged it back in and still no boot. I went to take out a stick of RAM to clean off some dust and then when I put it back in it boots... Ok....... so, then I went to turn it off again and it still won't turn on AGAIN after the shut down. I tried everything and it still wouldn't work..

Then I decided to hold down the two motherboard and case power switches at the same time and then power on the PSU and now it booted again........

Anybody ever had this problem before? I don't want to turn my computer off since it might never boot back up again lol.

 

[Namslas90]

Sounds like one of your switches or connectors is going bad or dirty.

 

[AsRock]

You have the reset switch on the power switch connectors and visa versa ?..

 

[panchoman]

its possible that your psu might not have the power to boot up your system. try unplugging some hardware and see if it'll boot.

 

[JacKz5o]

Sounds like one of your switches or connectors is going bad or dirty.

This was my thought at first but the same switch sometimes turns on while at other times it doesn't. I tried both my case switch and motherboard switch and it would be pretty rare for both of them to go bad at the same time :\

I haven't touched the onboard power switch in like a year lol.

You have the reset switch on the power switch connectors and visa versa ?..

Nope. This PC has been running flawlessly for almost a year and a half now. I haven't touched anything inside in month, except when cleaning every couple of weeks.

its possible that your psu might not have the power to boot up your system. try unplugging some hardware and see if it'll boot.

Well like I said above ^ its been running fine for a year and a half. I just ran about 15 minutes of Orthos and all my rails were stable and everything.

 

[Namslas90]

You kind of mention that all the switches are OLD.(slight chance but not impossable)

Maybe it's time for a new Mobo.

EDIt; Disable "case Open" check in BIOS

 

[JacKz5o]

You kind of mention that all the switches are OLD.(slight chance but not impossable)

Maybe it's time for a new Mobo.

EDIt; Disable "case Open" check in BIOS

The motherboard is perfectly fine, at least it seems so to me.

I'm pretty sure its the power supply's problem. I had to turn off the power supply and turn back on every time I went to boot for the past month. Just today it won't boot up at all until I held down all the power switches and stuff.

What does "case Open" do?

 

[panchoman]

i think it triggers an alarm on my mobo if the case is open

 

[AsRock]

panchoman still could be right as power supplys degrade over time.

Maybe a connector is lose ?. I have a feeling thats were the problem is and would be interested in hearing what it was when you get it solved.

 

[JacKz5o]

i think it triggers an alarm on my mobo if the case is open

Isn't that disabled by default on non-factory motherboards? I know I don't get any messages when I open my case up.

panchoman still could be right as power supplys degrade over time.

Maybe a connector is lose ?. I have a feeling thats were the problem is and would be interested in hearing what it was when you get it solved.

I disconnected everything then plugged it back in and it still won't boot so its not a connector issue I don't think. I don't know how I solved it, it just booted when I held down some random buttons.

 

[panchoman]

capacitors age causing the psu to have capacity, the xtreme calc actually has a cap aging factor thats used to determine what your psu wattage should be, how bout you calc our wattage using that calc and factor some cap aging in too http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp

 

[Namslas90]

What does "case Open" do?

Depends on the Mobo, it will either 'alarm' or refuse to turn on.

Check your PSU output voltages look for a loss of greater than 5%. If it is greater than 5% then your PSU is probably overworked, getting old, going out.



EDIT - try resting CMOS.

 

[JacKz5o]

capacitors age causing the psu to have capacity, the xtreme calc actually has a cap aging factor thats used to determine what your psu wattage should be, how bout you calc our wattage using that calc and factor some cap aging in too http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp

I did that like a year ago just to see what it would say and it said I needed over 650W

Depends on the Mobo, it will either 'alarm' or refuse to turn on.

Check your PSU output voltages look for a loss of greater than 5%. If it is greater than 5% then your PSU is probably overworked, getting old, going out.



EDIT - try resting CMOS.

My voltages are fine and stable just like when I got first got the PSU:

I cleared CMOS too like 4 times during my first attempt at trying to make it boot Haven't touched the CMOS reset cap in almost a year

Everything works almost perfect when the system boots, only the booting part is the problem. I haven't turned my rig off yet but I'll try maybe later tonight or tomorrow and see if it will boot back on