Computer not really booting up (sort of :/)

Greenlizard0 · 24 Aug 2007 at 11:17

When I boot up my computer it sometimes loads up, and most of the time it doesn't. I don't seem to be getting any sort of feed to my monitor, and the hard drives don't load windows or anything.

It's really bizarre (sp), I can't for the life of me figure it out.

I've had similar problems before and they have been motherboard related.

I have also discovered that I can't reboot my machine. I can shut it down and turn it back on again, but I can't restart windows at all.

I'm still quite drunk atm, hope this makes sense, can anybody give us a helping hand please?

twistedfaith · 24 Aug 2007 at 12:24

I think you're right when you say it could be the motherboard. I once dealt with a machine that had similar problems to the ones you're having and replacing the motherboard fixed it. It could be anything from the sounds of it, but like I said - main suspect would be the motherboard...not exactly an easy component to replace with a spare to test it!

Greenlizard0 · 24 Aug 2007 at 12:55

For god's sake, most components in my machine are less than a year old. Grrr..

twistedfaith · 24 Aug 2007 at 13:08

I would also suggest testing your PSU, just in case - at least thats easy enough to test

MarkBald1989 · 24 Aug 2007 at 13:13

Possibly motherboard i had a similar problem

ghgh · 24 Aug 2007 at 15:20

twistedfaith said:
I would also suggest testing your PSU, just in case - at least thats easy enough to test

seconded..that problem could be caused by a dodgy PSU or test another PSU in your system.

Greenlizard0 · 27 Aug 2007 at 00:36

ghgh said:
seconded..that problem could be caused by a dodgy PSU or test another PSU in your system.

Hmm...it's an Enermax 550W PSU, which before this windows installation (where the problems on bootdown and bootup appeared to have started from) has acted completly fine:

Enermax 550W
8800 GTS
Firewire/USB combi PCI card
Creative Fata1ty Sound card
2x DVD RW drives
4x Sata Drives
1 25cm fan
1 12cm fan
1 9cm fan

2wenty4our · 27 Aug 2007 at 02:39

ghgh said:
seconded..that problem could be caused by a dodgy PSU or test another PSU in your system.

Double seconded.
Before I got my PurePower 680W repaired, it would take no notice of the front power button, and would randomly boot the machine after 30 mins or so from receiving power from the main and when shutting down, it would randomly come on again after 10 minutes or so. Though it would reboot fine.

If you're so inclined, try testing your PSU by taking the ATX lead out of the mobo and connecting two of the pins together, should fully start the PSU, I'm sure somebody else could tell you exactly which pins to connect.
If the PSU starts perfectly every time you try this, then it's most likely a motherboard fault, and although rare could be a problem with your power switch wiring.
Not rebooting though, strange, guess your psu could be misinterpreting the signal and just powering down.