FAULT - Sometimes won't boot up

blitzwing85

blitzwing85

blitzwing85

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Reykjavik, Iceland
PC has recently started to have trouble turning on.

I switch it on, and the fans start going (loudly as they do for the first second or 2). However, sometimes it just stays in this stage with the fans running but nothing else happening.
Normally, after a couple of seconds it beeps and then finds the drive and OS (Win7) and boots up.


If I then hold the power button until it turns off, it just does the same again and again. The ONLY way to get it on, and this works 100% of the time is to turn if off at the plug, while it is stuck trying to boot up. Then turn it back on at the plug and it works.



Is this likely to be an OS fault, or a drive fault, or something else?


I've tried al lthe connections and that doesn't seem to be the issue. Nothing is loose. Once it's on, it works perfectly fine. It does it about 1/3 times now.
 
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blitzwing85 said:
Is this likely to be an OS fault, or a drive fault, or something else?
Click to expand...

If it was an OS fault, you would still see the POST, so that one can be ruled out. The same with the drive, it would probably say something along the lines of "insert bootable media and press enter to continue".. so I would go with the "something else" option.

I would try taking all but one RAM stick out.. trying again.
If that doesn't work i'd take out the graphics card and reinstall it (if you have one).

If that doesn't work, i'd also try using on board graphics to see if any display can be seen at all.

Make sure you have checked ALL of the cables and even gone as far as unplugging and re-plugging (but since you say turning it off and on works, I would rule this out).

Failing that, I would think that it could be a PSU fault. It could be something else, but after checking ALL of the above, that would be where my money would be.

Perhaps you could let us know all of the spec of your PC to check the PSU is enough? I know it has been working, but they do wear slightly over time, so if it is very close and the PSU is old, this may be it.


I am assuming you see nothing on the screen at all? If you see the POST, then ignore everything I just said :)
 
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MooMoo444 said:
What is shown on the screen when it gets stuck, does it pass the POST checks all the time?
Click to expand...

Nothing shows on the screen at all when it happens. The only thing that happens at all is that it powers on. Then it just sits there until it's turned off at the wall then on again.
 
NutterzUK said:
If it was an OS fault, you would still see the bios etc and the bootup starting, so that one can be ruled out. The same with the drive, it would probably say something along the lines of "insert bootable media and press enter to continue".. so I would go with the "something else" option.

I would try taking all but one RAM stick out.. trying again.
If that doesn't work i'd take out the graphics card and reinstall it (if you have one).

If that doesn't work, i'd also try using on board graphics to see if any display can be seen at all.

Make sure you have checked ALL of the cables and even gone as far as unplugging and re-plugging (but since you say turning it off and on works, I would rule this out).

Failing that, I would think that it could be a PSU fault. It could be something else, but after checking ALL of the above, that would be where my money would be.

Perhaps you could let us know all of the spec of your PC to check the PSU is enough? I know it has been working, but they do wear slightly over time, so if it is very close and the PSU is old, this may be it.


I am assuming you see nothing on the screen at all?
Click to expand...

Full spec of PC as ordered from OCUK in 2011. So it's about 27 months old

Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor - Retail £139.99 1 £139.99
OcUK ATI Radeon HD 6870 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE Deus Ex PC Game £104.15 1 £104.15
OcUK V-Line 221V2SB 22" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black £69.99 1 £69.99
MSI H67MA-E35 Intel H67 (Socket 1155) DDR3 MicroATX Motherboard - (Sandybridge) **B3 REVISION** £54.16 1 £54.16
OCZ ModXStream Pro 600w Silent SLI Certified Modular Power Supply £49.99 1 £49.99
Zalman Z9 Plus Tower Case with Fan Controller - Black £35.82 1 £35.82
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (ST3500413AS) £25.82 1 £25.82
Corsair Value 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Low Voltage Dual-Channel Kit £15.98 1 £15.98
Samsung SH-S222AL/BEBE 22x DVD±RW SATA Lightscribe ReWriter (Black) - OEM




PSU issue sounds like a probable cause based on what you say there. Because it seems like it's powering up, but it's like it's not able to get it going from there. But switching it off at the wall then on again seems to get it going.

Thinking back, I have had 2-3 occasionas a few months back where it actually shut down while in use. I'd forgot that had happened as hasn't done it recently.


I'll take the whole thing apart and put it back together again and try removing one of the RAM sticks too and if not, then may need to look at a new PSU
 
600w should be easily enough though, I put it in a calculator and got a recommendation around 378w. I don't know if the OCZ PSUs are any good or have any problems. The calculator has an option for capacitor aging with this description:

"Electrolytic capacitor aging. When used heavily or over an extended period of time (1+ years) a power supply will slowly lose some of its initial wattage capacity. We recommend you add 10-20% if you plan to keep your PSU for more than 1 year, or 20-30% for 24/7 usage and 1+ years."

You should still be good even if that is up to 40% or 50%. But then again it could be some other issue with the PSU, or not the PSU at all.. but it would be my best guess given the behaviour you describe, especially as you say it turned off when you were using it a few times.

Any chance you were gaming at the time?
 
NutterzUK said:
600w should be easily enough though, I put it in a calculator and got a recommendation around 378w. I don't know if the OCZ PSUs are any good or have any problems. The calculator has an option for capacitor aging with this description:

"Electrolytic capacitor aging. When used heavily or over an extended period of time (1+ years) a power supply will slowly lose some of its initial wattage capacity. We recommend you add 10-20% if you plan to keep your PSU for more than 1 year, or 20-30% for 24/7 usage and 1+ years."

You should still be good even if that is up to 40% or 50%. But then again it could be some other issue with the PSU, or not the PSU at all.. but it would be my best guess given the behaviour you describe, especially as you say it turned off when you were using it a few times.

Any chance you were gaming at the time?
Click to expand...

Seems like an odd one then. The times when it turned off were before this not starting problem started happening and since this new problem has got worse, it hasn't turned off....so that's weird but still could be related.

No i rarely ever game on it these days. It's used 90% of the time by my wife for her work and only ever used for a couple of hours a time.


PSU still seems suspect though based on what is happening. I could just swap it out with a mates but as it doesn't happen every time i'd have to use it for a few days to know for sure.


I hate these intermittent faults...
 
does it only do it from a cold bootup? if so a touch more dram voltage and or cpu memory controller voltage might help

not sure what its labelled as on msi bios tho
 
wazza300 said:
does it only do it from a cold bootup? if so a touch more dram voltage and or cpu memory controller voltage might help

not sure what its labelled as on msi bios tho
Click to expand...

No it does it on a normal restart. But once it's stuck in that position, I can try the cold boot and it just happens again. So it does it in either situation.

I can turn it off by holding power button, then turning mains off and it will do it next time it's turned on. The only way to break the cycle is to turn it on, let it get stuck then turn the mains off.


At least this has prompted me to actually take it apart and clean it out etc anyway and clean up the memory and all that. It's running fast again so just need to sort this issue out.

Probably be over the weekend before I have any time to really look at it so I'll try all the tips mentioned in the posts and see where I am
 
Well, I think we can safely say the PSU is the culprit!
Went to check PC out last night and it was completely dead.

Didn't have time to test it with a multimeter but just going to order a new PSU today.


With the setup posted above, anyone fancy listing one that will work fine with this?
 
Hm, just checked manufacturers page for the PSU I have and it has a 3 year warranty!

Still want to order one anyway but will then try and get mine sorted out under warranty
 
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