Motherboard Doesn't Switch on Immediately

Undesirable · 27 Mar 2012 at 23:01

The other night I installed a new Xonar D2X sound card along with its floppy power cable and plugged in the AC '97 audio front panel to the AAFP connector on my ASUS P8P67 Pro. I booted up successfully first time, but hadn't set the AAFP connector to AC '97 mode from its default of HD Audio mode in the BIOS. I completely forgot about this BIOS setting, and instead changed the mode over to AC'97 via the Realtek HD Audio Manager control panel which seemed to work regardless. After I moved my PC back into position after installing these components, my Corsair F120 SSD drive died (could be a coincidence) and my motherboard has a random delay before the power indicator blinks on and I am able to boot up. Sometimes it switches on straight away, other times a couple of seconds or anything up to 5 minutes. Once initialized, however, everything appears to be operating normally.

I have tried putting everything back to the way it was (except the SSD, which refuses to show up in the BIOS at all) to no avail.

Anyone have any idea what could be the root cause? My initial thought would be some sort of surge or overvolt protection is kicking in on the PSU, but I can't see any discrepancies there at a glance. Please don't tell me I have to take everything apart and put it back together again, the case is too darn cramped.

beejjacobs · 27 Mar 2012 at 23:46

All the power cables definitely in okay?

Try resetting the CMOS by taking the battery out for a bit, then replacing it.
Latest BIOS? Maybe try updating it.
Don't these Asus boards [wait, I have the same one

] have the red LEDs at start up to show if something is wrong, check those to see if its a component - maybe try one stick of RAM in each of the slots or something.

Undesirable · 28 Mar 2012 at 00:25

Everything works fine once the computer switches on. I just updated the BIOS (which I believe also clears its settings) and tried a few power cycles, but it was still taking anywhere from a couple of seconds to 2 minutes for the motherboard light to switch on. The fact that this started happening just after an SSD died has me worried. Can't tell whether it's the power supply or motherboard. There are no red lights that remain on once the board has finished posting.

beejjacobs · 28 Mar 2012 at 00:27

Have you got another power supply? Sounds like the motherboard more than PSU to me. Though its weird that it works when its on. Have you tried with just 1 stick of RAM, just to rule it out?

Undesirable · 28 Mar 2012 at 00:32

I really don't believe it's the RAM. The BIOS settings I have for those have been rock stable for the best part of a year, and there is no error light that points to them (or anything). Not to mention that manipulating my CPU cooler to get to all 4 sticks of RAM is a nightmare.

No spare PSU here. A decent one of those costs far too much to just have lying around, but it's looking increasingly like I'm going to have to buy a new one.

beejjacobs · 28 Mar 2012 at 00:34

Fair enough. Is the motherboard within warranty?

Undesirable · 28 Mar 2012 at 00:41

I'm not sure how long a warranty I have on it, but if it's 1 year then I'm getting very close to the end. I think I'll have to grab a new PSU, and if that doesn't help, then one of those new Z77 boards and a new case.

beejjacobs · 28 Mar 2012 at 00:44

Undesirable said:
I'm not sure how long a warrantee I have on it, but if it's 1 year then I'm getting very close to the end. I think I'll have to grab a new PSU, and if that doesn't help, then one of those new Z77 boards and a new case.

Maybe hold out a bit and see if someones got some suggestions tomorrow? just before you go spending money!