problem turning pc on

[sony mavica]

anybody know what could be causing this problem

this has been happening for the last couple of weeks or longer when i go to turn my computer on the light on the power button just flashes and the fans in the pc turn on but computer does not boot so i have to switch pc off at the back take power cord out and wait about 1min or so then plug it back in switch it on at the back then when i power it on sometimes it will power on fine other times i have to switch it off again at the back of the pc then on again and when i power it back on the light on the front of power button starts flashing and fans turn on but if i press the open button on the dvd drive once or twice the pc boots as normal and pc will work 100% fine

anybody know what is going on i really don't have the money to buy another computer or even buy new parts for this one so hope this problem could be fixed

thx

[bitslice]

Google suggest motherboard is faulty.
although if you have a friend with a PC you could try using his PSU to see if your PSU is at fault.
Try cleaning the PSU, sometimes dust makes them overheat and shut down.

To get a PSU to power up without a motherboard, stick a paperclip from the green wire to any black wire.

as with most troubleshooting, try disconnecting everything from the M/B including sound cards etc and see if the thing boots.
When we know which bit is failing we can suggest a possible fix

[sony mavica]

Google suggest motherboard is faulty.
although if you have a friend with a PC you could try using his PSU to see if your PSU is at fault.

To get a PSU to power up without a motherboard, stick a paperclip from the green wire to any black wire.

as with most troubleshooting, try disconnecting everything from the M/B including sound cards etc and see if the thing boots.

will give it a try

[wraper]

Most likely electrolytic capacitors in the PSU have died. Don't suggest using it as is. If it is crappy enough, it may fail in a way that will destroy all other hardware in the PC.

[imidis]

I'll just share a super odd moment. I had an odd one I've not really seen before. The computer would sometimes turn on, sometimes not, sometimes give a non-existent error code (6 beeps), sometimes not. Turned out to be a corrupt bios. Re-flashed and it was fine. Odd, just always good to think outside the normal issues as well if the normal culprits turn up nothing. PC troubleshooting can be fun sometimes.

[System Error Message]

Try this, unplug it, and press the power button for 30 seconds to discharge the entire system, than try. If the issue is still there there might be a short sometime. Ive seen this happen when not using motherboard riser screws with the case.

If the PSU failed the system would be unstable rather. CPUs if they fail would prevent booting. Motherboard failure would consistently prevent booting (though the discharge method usually works). I have rescued many computers this way. Thanks to the lax of knowledge on discharging it is one way you can get hardware cheap as people think its broken when its not.

Motherboards have lots of components that a failure usually wont stop the boot process, only may cause havoc from OS like getting an exclamation mark in device manager, causing the PC to freeze.

[Ampera]

As an experienced person in computing (I work with a load of old tat in my spare time) I would suggest that the PSU is the first thing to stop using. As said previously they have a bad habit of busting everything else in the system. I don't think it's the CPU not seated, and the motherboard is fine. Those problems would produce symptoms more drastic than working on occasion. Normally if you have a store bought prebuilt machine (Dell is a damn BARON at this) the PSUs are made using the cheapest crap possible. You normally don't even buy PSUs by specs, you buy them by brand and then meet your requirements. People have lost machines over cheaping out on their PSUs. Cooler Master and Corsair are normally reliable brands. Trust me, buying the brand name PSU might seem like money wasted on a name, but it's a name that enlists quality parts and testing into their items.

The reason for the partial power on is that the PSU might not be supplying enough power to all the rails, so you get some stuff on, some stuff not. However I could be ENTIRELY wrong (I sometimes am) so try doing everything, Reseating connectors is my first suggestion. Only reseat the CPU if you know what your doing or you have nothing else to try, since they are VERY fragile, and can go thermally wrong if you don't install them proper.

Best of luck, I just got done with a 5 day tango with an old PCI/AGP system, that wasn't fun.

[bitslice]

Cooler Master and Corsair are normally reliable brands. Trust me, buying the brand name PSU might seem like money wasted on a name, but it's a name that enlists quality parts and testing into their items.

They don't actually make their own PSUs, but the various OEM companies that do on their behalf are OK, many have 5-7 year guarantees now.

[Brumby]

Except for the optical drive trick, you could have been describing the exact same problem I had with my machine.

I thought it might have been something to do with the CPU upgrade I did recently - and it was .... indirectly.

Before the startup hassles, my 'new' CPU was getting too warm, so I upgraded the cooler to a heat pipe type - fitted an extra case fan and re-dressed the interior cabling to allow for a freer air flow.

This ran fine for a few weeks - and then I started getting intermittent problems, just like those you describe.  Sometimes a press of the reset button was enough ..... sometimes it was a real pain.


To cut a long story short, I found the power header to the motherboard was not properly secured and the clip was not engaged.  It seems that when I re-dressed the cabling, the thick harness going to this header put a little too much pressure on the connection and it worked slightly loose.

The solution: Simply removing this header, checking it and refitting, making sure the clip was engaged.

Over time, the cable harness had conformed to its new position, so the is no longer any undue stress ... and my machine has booted up first go every time since.

[edpalmer42]

I've seen various PCs that either wouldn't turn on or had trouble turning on.  In many cases, it turned out to be the power supply, specifically the +5 standby supply rather than the motherboard.  If you have a DMM, check the voltage - doesn't matter if the computer is on or off as long as it's plugged in and the power switch is turned on.

[Brumby]

Murphy will ensure your problem won't be so easy to fix as mine ... but you can always hope he's taken a holiday.

[Monkeh]

I've seen various PCs that either wouldn't turn on or had trouble turning on.  In many cases, it turned out to be the power supply, specifically the +5 standby supply rather than the motherboard.  If you have a DMM, check the voltage - doesn't matter if the computer is on or off as long as it's plugged in and the power switch is turned on.

Just because the voltage is good, doesn't mean the rail is. Honestly, it sounds like the +5VSB rail is good, as the soft-on circuit is working.

I'd verify it's actually asserting PWR_OK.

[sony mavica]

thanks guys but now it seems when im using the pc since i made this post today and about 4 times i have had a message popup in the bottom right corner saying Nvidia Display driver stopped working and has recovered ect

could the video card be causing the problem

[Monkeh]

It's more likely to be a symptom than the cause.

[bitslice]

Nvidia Display driver stopped working and has recovered ect

I've had the same message for months, followed by a bluescreen a few seconds later.

Cured it by removing the GPU heatsink, cleaning it, reapplying thermal paste and then adding an external fan.
Now I just get the occasional warning, but not the subsequent bluescreen.

These could easily be two separate issues.

[Brumby]

These could easily be two separate issues.

I'm inclined to agree.

My experience with problematic video cards has been predominantly about heat.  With a machine starting up from cold - in the thermal sense - I would separate the two.

Then, there is the possibility that they are related, but I'd bet my $1 that they are not.

[wraper]

thanks guys but now it seems when im using the pc since i made this post today and about 4 times i have had a message popup in the bottom right corner saying Nvidia Display driver stopped working and has recovered ect

could the video card be causing the problem

It could be because of unstable power. And display driver will crash because of just any problem in a system, like glitching main RAM. The fact that DVD drive trick helps to start it, suggests that loading the power rails differently, helps to preventing PSU going into protection (voltage rails have shared regulation). Seriously, disassemble the PSU and check if electrolytic capacitors are bulging. Even if you won't kill motherboard or GPU because of unstable power, your HDD may feel very bad about it. The fact that you need to disconnect it from the mains to start again, suggests that internal protection in the PSU kicks in, to prevent frying other hardware. Also, no way you would need to disconnect the power if it was GPU fail, in that case power button is more than enough to start PC again.

[SeanB]

New PSU time for sure. The old one will have bulged caps and split sleeves on some, and they will all be toasted brown. That it fails on turn on says the PSU is failed, not failing, and the video card errors are indicative of a very high ripple on the 12V rail. Change the PSU immediately, before it cooks the rest of the computer from high voltage as it fails out of regulation until it finally reaches 100% on time on the drive side which blows the switching transistors. By then the 5V rail will be at 10V and the 12V rail will be past 30V.

[daybyter]

I had a problem with the 5v rail. Attached usb devices stopped my pc from booting. Unplugged the usb stuff and the pc booted just fine.

[Ampera]

These could easily be two separate issues.

I'm inclined to agree.

My experience with problematic video cards has been predominantly about heat.  With a machine starting up from cold - in the thermal sense - I would separate the two.

Then, there is the possibility that they are related, but I'd bet my $1 that they are not.

You see, I'm not. This now sounds more like a post failure than a power issue. At this point LITERALLY anything can cause a computer to not post. A borked GPU can do that, as I have been dealing with borked GPUs and post failures for the past 5 days (Finally fixed!)

But the PC not wanting to post could be PSU, Bad RAM, a bad peripheral on an ATA/SCSI bus, a bad PCI/PCI-E/Expansion card, poorly seated CPU, and whatever else you could think of. Some times these result in a visual or auditory error, but there have been cases with me that a peripheral just decided to not let the PC boot for some reason. Why unplugging it and plugging it back in works? Idk maybe your shaking the gremlins loose. PCs are complicated parts that have required dozens of engineers to even conceive on a base hardware level, and base concepts are still in use fresh from the early 1980s. As a result you can as a computer engineer come up with a logical and likely solution, to find some bugger off part was not in right.

My failproof suggestion is to unplug everything inside you do not need to start the computer. No drives, minimal RAM, only a GPU (If you have an iGPU or an APU (Intergrated Graphics) use that instead of a dedicated card, or if you are using that regularly use a dedicated card if you have one), and take out any other expansion cards. The point is to unplug as many things as you can think of in order to eliminate most of the components as possible issues. Then if you have the parts, start replacing stuff. I'd suggest swapping out the PSU first. All of this can stem from bad/unclean power or voltage spikes/drops starting or stopping. PSUs are like suspension bridges. You build it right, it will last for decades, you do not build it proper, like the majority of those on the market, you end up with a magic smoke machine.

If you understand how CPUs are installed, you can try reseating it (Or swapping it out, but this is an unlikely issue because it wouldn't run at all of the CPU was in wrong)

At this point you can understand one thing. A part is causing the computer to not turn on. This is all you need to know, because you can most likely replace one thing.

[sony mavica]

These could easily be two separate issues.

I'm inclined to agree.

My experience with problematic video cards has been predominantly about heat.  With a machine starting up from cold - in the thermal sense - I would separate the two.

Then, there is the possibility that they are related, but I'd bet my $1 that they are not.

You see, I'm not. This now sounds more like a post failure than a power issue. At this point LITERALLY anything can cause a computer to not post. A borked GPU can do that, as I have been dealing with borked GPUs and post failures for the past 5 days (Finally fixed!)

But the PC not wanting to post could be PSU, Bad RAM, a bad peripheral on an ATA/SCSI bus, a bad PCI/PCI-E/Expansion card, poorly seated CPU, and whatever else you could think of. Some times these result in a visual or auditory error, but there have been cases with me that a peripheral just decided to not let the PC boot for some reason. Why unplugging it and plugging it back in works? Idk maybe your shaking the gremlins loose. PCs are complicated parts that have required dozens of engineers to even conceive on a base hardware level, and base concepts are still in use fresh from the early 1980s. As a result you can as a computer engineer come up with a logical and likely solution, to find some bugger off part was not in right.

My failproof suggestion is to unplug everything inside you do not need to start the computer. No drives, minimal RAM, only a GPU (If you have an iGPU or an APU (Intergrated Graphics) use that instead of a dedicated card, or if you are using that regularly use a dedicated card if you have one), and take out any other expansion cards. The point is to unplug as many things as you can think of in order to eliminate most of the components as possible issues. Then if you have the parts, start replacing stuff. I'd suggest swapping out the PSU first. All of this can stem from bad/unclean power or voltage spikes/drops starting or stopping. PSUs are like suspension bridges. You build it right, it will last for decades, you do not build it proper, like the majority of those on the market, you end up with a magic smoke machine.

If you understand how CPUs are installed, you can try reseating it (Or swapping it out, but this is an unlikely issue because it wouldn't run at all of the CPU was in wrong)

At this point you can understand one thing. A part is causing the computer to not turn on. This is all you need to know, because you can most likely replace one thing.

thanks since trying what you have said the computer boots fine now well i have only shut down and left computer for a couple of hrs 4 times but every time ive come back to use it has booted up fine

still getting the error Nvidia Display driver stopped working and has recovered ect well only had it pop up twice in 4 times i used the pc 

funny thing is i played gta v for about an hr and never got the message strange as gta v using a lot of graphics card and also played tony hawks 4 and never got the error

my video card is nvidia gforce gts 450

[Monkeh]

This continues to smell like a bad power supply.

You really should try doing something about it sooner rather than later.

[sony mavica]

anybody know what could be causing this problem

this has been happening for the last couple of weeks or longer when i go to turn my computer on the light on the power button just flashes and the fans in the pc turn on but computer does not boot so i have to switch pc off at the back take power cord out and wait about 1min or so then plug it back in switch it on at the back then when i power it on sometimes it will power on fine other times i have to switch it off again at the back of the pc then on again and when i power it back on the light on the front of power button starts flashing and fans turn on but if i press the open button on the dvd drive once or twice the pc boots as normal and pc will work 100% fine

anybody know what is going on i really don't have the money to buy another computer or even buy new parts for this one so hope this problem could be fixed

thx

How old is the PS? See if you can get another PS to try out. If it is not a high power PC that requires many hundreds of Watts then just get any cheap PS. My PS is such a thing and it has been going for nearly 9 years. I have salvaged a couple of PS's from the discarded PC's I find on the footpath. Just for the eventuality my old PS decides to fail.

its like 4/5 years old

[Ampera]

These could easily be two separate issues.

I'm inclined to agree.

My experience with problematic video cards has been predominantly about heat.  With a machine starting up from cold - in the thermal sense - I would separate the two.

Then, there is the possibility that they are related, but I'd bet my $1 that they are not.

You see, I'm not. This now sounds more like a post failure than a power issue. At this point LITERALLY anything can cause a computer to not post. A borked GPU can do that, as I have been dealing with borked GPUs and post failures for the past 5 days (Finally fixed!)

But the PC not wanting to post could be PSU, Bad RAM, a bad peripheral on an ATA/SCSI bus, a bad PCI/PCI-E/Expansion card, poorly seated CPU, and whatever else you could think of. Some times these result in a visual or auditory error, but there have been cases with me that a peripheral just decided to not let the PC boot for some reason. Why unplugging it and plugging it back in works? Idk maybe your shaking the gremlins loose. PCs are complicated parts that have required dozens of engineers to even conceive on a base hardware level, and base concepts are still in use fresh from the early 1980s. As a result you can as a computer engineer come up with a logical and likely solution, to find some bugger off part was not in right.

My failproof suggestion is to unplug everything inside you do not need to start the computer. No drives, minimal RAM, only a GPU (If you have an iGPU or an APU (Intergrated Graphics) use that instead of a dedicated card, or if you are using that regularly use a dedicated card if you have one), and take out any other expansion cards. The point is to unplug as many things as you can think of in order to eliminate most of the components as possible issues. Then if you have the parts, start replacing stuff. I'd suggest swapping out the PSU first. All of this can stem from bad/unclean power or voltage spikes/drops starting or stopping. PSUs are like suspension bridges. You build it right, it will last for decades, you do not build it proper, like the majority of those on the market, you end up with a magic smoke machine.

If you understand how CPUs are installed, you can try reseating it (Or swapping it out, but this is an unlikely issue because it wouldn't run at all of the CPU was in wrong)

At this point you can understand one thing. A part is causing the computer to not turn on. This is all you need to know, because you can most likely replace one thing.

thanks since trying what you have said the computer boots fine now well i have only shut down and left computer for a couple of hrs 4 times but every time ive come back to use it has booted up fine

still getting the error Nvidia Display driver stopped working and has recovered ect well only had it pop up twice in 4 times i used the pc 

funny thing is i played gta v for about an hr and never got the message strange as gta v using a lot of graphics card and also played tony hawks 4 and never got the error

my video card is nvidia gforce gts 450

Glad it all works. Replace what you wish, but a reliable PSU is always a good idea (I know from dear, dear experience).

[sony mavica]

my friend came over today and took a look at my graphics card and saw my cpu fan was a little dusty so he took it off but when putting back on he broke one of the clips on it now i can't use that computer till i get a fan so now im having to use a android tv box as my pc

might just have to save up for a new pc and just sell this one for parts i will keep the hdd tho as there is important stuff on them