PC Turns Off Immediately After Pressing Power Button--Must be Held Down to Power On

[parufy]

Hey everyone! I have a weird issue that cropped up when I moved back into my dorm after winter break (so around 7 weeks now... I've been busy lol). Whenever I try to power on my system the lights, fans, and the rest all wake for a split second then everything plunges back into darkness. The issue is extremely consistent--it happens every single time I press the power button. Pressing it again just does the same thing. I have to hold the button down for around a second for the computer to actually maintain power.

The process goes like this:
press power button > everything springs to life (for around half a second) > everything dies (RGB components turn off immediately) > graphics card PCI-E power connector fault lights all turn on and persist for 3-ish seconds as they slowly fade out > press power button again > exact same thing happens > HOLD power button > exact same thing at first, but then BOOM: she's awake. computer boots like nothing was awry.

Nothing changed between moving my computer from my home to my dorm besides removing then reinstalling my graphics card for transport. I even buckled my desktop in the back seat with a seatbelt and set it on a blanket to prevent transport trauma.

I'm really not sure what the cause of this issue is, hence the General Hardware category. I suspect some issue with the power button's debouncing timer, but why?? How? Would that even cause the computer to shut back down like this? So, power supply issue? Motherboard? Case... firmware? (do they have that?)

Note: my power supply (Corsair RM850x SHIFT) arrived beaten up in shipping through Best Buy's genius idea to tape two smaller boxes together rather than find one larger box that would actually fit it inside? I never had any issues with the power supply, and I still don't under load, but maybe some component involved in the power on process was damaged in the recent transport process.

Appreciate yall

 

[psyko12]

Does it also happen if you jump the motherboard to turn the computer on , bypassing the power button itself?

Also could be the PSU, do you have a spare or borrow a spare one to check?

 

[mad1394]

I had a similar issue in the past and it turned out to be the power supply. Computer would start or not when I pressed the power button, was quite random and hard to diagnose.
First step would be to bypass the power button as previously said.

 

[Bill_Bright]

issue that cropped up when I moved

Whenever a computer is transported, before powering on at the new destination, it should be opened up and every power and data cable connection should be double checked to ensure it is securely fastened.

I realize you babied it, seat-belting it in the back seat. But you still lugged it out to the car, drove over a bump or two; perhaps some railroad tracks, then lugged it into your dorm room. And you were digging around inside to remove the card and reinsert the card. A cable could have been knocked loose. Being a modular PSU, be sure to check both ends of the cables.

Since everything inside the computer depends on good, clean, stable power, I agree with psyko12 and recommend your beg, borrow, stea... err... borrow a spare PSU to swap in and see what happens. This is especially so in your case since you indicated your Corsair suffered some damage. Then of course, triple check your connections again.

You might also check your BIOS Setup Menu to see if there is some obscure power button action setting that somehow changed. I don't recall any settings that affect powering on, but there maybe some. Not sure how it would have changed, however, unless your CMOS battery is weak.

 

[_roman_]

Corsair RM850x SHIFT

I had a semi defective CORSAIR RM750 which annoyed me for over a year. I had a lot of discussion with amazon.de to get that one refunded. Power supply issues are hard to diagnose as an end user. it is enough when the power supply unit causes one or two issues a week, like i had. The replacement enermax power supply unit gave me since than a proper working computer. AFter the two weeks testing period, when i just wired from the glass panel side the psu inside my existing computer, i discussed with amazon.de // Not all, but my Corsair psu i previous owned was trash.

--

I'm an electronics guy. I collected all those computer case cables. These are still the same. I would as suggested by someone else, use another computer case power button cable to rule out a defective case.

If that does not work.

Does the issue happens with the bare minimum parts needed to boot up the computer?

Just to make it 100% clear (i hope you get my point)
1x mainboard
1x psu
1x dram stick
1x cpu graphics
only power connector connected to the mainboard from the front panel.

 

[parufy]

Does it also happen if you jump the motherboard to turn the computer on , bypassing the power button itself?

Yes, I just tried this and it did all the same stuff.

Also could be the PSU, do you have a spare or borrow a spare one to check?

One of my roommates (with a desktop) is away on a music performance trip for the weekend...

 

[Vya Domus]

Could just be the button itself, unplug the power button and short the pins on the motherboard with a screwdriver or something and see if same thing happens.

Nvm, saw you already did, then the power supply is probably the issue, does the motherboard have debug LEDs ?

 

[Bill_Bright]

If it does turn out to be the power button switch on your case, and if your case also has a Reset button, an easy workaround is to simply pull the two wires from the motherboard's front panel I/O header and tie them back out of the way. Then move the two wires from the Reset switch to where the power switch wires used to be. Then just use the Reset button from now on.

 

[parufy]

If it does turn out to be the power button switch on your case, and if your case also has a Reset button, an easy workaround is to simply pull the two wires from the motherboard's front panel I/O header and tie them back out of the way. Then move the two wires from the Reset switch to where the power switch wires used to be. Then just use the Reset button from now on.

Unfortunately, it seems the case/power button are not the root cause since the same issue appeared after bypassing the power button.

 

[Bill_Bright]

That's too bad. I would try to borrow another PSU to see what happens.

 

[parufy]

does the motherboard have debug LEDs ?

Yes: CPU, RAM, VGA, BOOT

 

[Vya Domus]

Yes: CPU, RAM, VGA, BOOT

Can you see them blink if only for a short while ?

 

[Ruru]

One of my roommates (with a desktop) is away on a music performance trip for the weekend...

Just remember to do a good cable management after borrowing

 

[neatfeatguy]

Whenever a computer is transported, before powering on at the new destination, it should be opened up and every power and data cable connection should be double checked to ensure it is securely fastened.

I realize you babied it, seat-belting it in the back seat. But you still lugged it out to the car, drove over a bump or two; perhaps some railroad tracks, then lugged it into your dorm room. And you were digging around inside to remove the card and reinsert the card. A cable could have been knocked loose. Being a modular PSU, be sure to check both ends of the cables.

Since everything inside the computer depends on good, clean, stable power, I agree with psyko12 and recommend your beg, borrow, stea... err... borrow a spare PSU to swap in and see what happens. This is especially so in your case since you indicated your Corsair suffered some damage. Then of course, triple check your connections again.

You might also check your BIOS Setup Menu to see if there is some obscure power button action setting that somehow changed. I don't recall any settings that affect powering on, but there maybe some. Not sure how it would have changed, however, unless your CMOS battery is weak.

When I moved a few years ago I babied my computer on the drive over - just a short drive, about 2 miles. When I finally got around to using the computer everything worked just fine....until it didn't.

First there were no issues. Powered on, ran great!
Soon it had issues powering on. I swear I pressed the power button the first time....right? Uh, maybe I didn't push it hard enough as I was walking by. I'll push it again....oh, there it goes, its powering on!
One day it just wouldn't power on. Son of a....!
Open the case up, come to find out that the GPU wasn't seated properly anymore. It must have come loose during the move and upon slight movements here and there as we're settling in and unpacking over the next few weeks the extra movements were just enough to get the GPU to wiggle out far enough to cause the system to no longer power.

I reseated the GPU, double checked all cables and have had zero issues since.

 

[Bill_Bright]

When I moved a few years ago I babied my computer on the drive over - just a short drive, about 2 miles. When I finally got around to using the computer everything worked just fine....until it didn't.

Just lifting a computer into our arms creates movement inside the case. And it can cause a computer case to twist and torque just a little. And if a connection was not completely tight and secure initially, that movement can cause one or more of the contacts in that connector to break (electrically "open"). It may stay open or, when setting it back down again contact is made again.

It may not cause problems at first but there is a chance some contaminate got in there and over time - perhaps aided by the natural expansion/contraction of matter during heat up/cool down cycles - more contamination builds up enough to prevent mechanical contact (essential for good electrical contact) from being made.

So yeah, while perhaps it was just a coincidence and your move may have had absolutely nothing to do with your computer problem, it is similar experiences to that that led me into the habit - and recommendation - to ALWAYS double check all data and power connections (and yes, inserted cards and RAM too) once at the final destination and before starting it up the first time again.

This is particularly true if, at any time during the move, someone else might handle the computer. And if that is ever a possibility, I ALWAY (and recommend others do too) remove the cooler before transport - especially if a heavy, side-firing cooler.