I have a question for the computer gurus out there. Several months ago my computer became reluctant to boot up. When I turned it on the power indicator would occasionally flash on, then off. It got to the point that I had to push the power switch two or three times before it would run. On the off chance that the power supply was the problem, I replaced it. The problem became much less noticeable until this morning, when I had to push the button three or four times. The motherboard is four or five years old--is it time to replace the machine? The hard drive is only about a year old. I'm tempted to replace the mb and cpu. If I do that, will Bill Gates and company recognize it as a new computer, requiring a new copy of the OS? Or is it more economical to dump the whole machine and find or build another one?
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Startup problems
- Thread starter ghautz
- Start date
Maybe it is the switch, but sometimes it seems to run for a fraction of a second before the indicator goes out.
The reason I asked about Gates is that I understand that Microsoft recognizes something on the machine during updates to ensure only legal copies of the OS are supported. What do they look at?
The reason I asked about Gates is that I understand that Microsoft recognizes something on the machine during updates to ensure only legal copies of the OS are supported. What do they look at?
Still kind of seems like the power supply. Could you be using an under-rated power supply and burning them up?
Do you have any high-end video cards or fancy add-ons that might draw lots of power?
Do you have any high-end video cards or fancy add-ons that might draw lots of power?
So when you have to cycle power multiple times to get it started do you see a light to indicate power or nothing on the times it does not come on?
I wonder if the switch could be worn out?
4 year old mobo probably isn't bad. An upgrade might be in order but I doubt that would fix this issue. A new case on the other hand might do it.
New Egg sells cases. You just have to know the mobo form factor.
I wonder if the switch could be worn out?
4 year old mobo probably isn't bad. An upgrade might be in order but I doubt that would fix this issue. A new case on the other hand might do it.
New Egg sells cases. You just have to know the mobo form factor.
The power switch is a pushbutton with a light in it. When it acts up, the light comes on for a short period of time, probably less than a second most of the time, and goes out. When it does, the monitor reports no signal. I get the impression that the switch initiates the boot process and the software provides a signal to latch the light on or provides a signal to turn the computer off. I assume either the power supply or a malfunction on the mb initiates the failure condition.
ddrane2115
Charter Member
have you looked at the heat sink fan and the case fans. On newer computers if these are not running at the right speed they will cause the computer to shut down. Blow the dust off the heat sink, out of the case fans and make sure air can get there. One bad ps does not mean the second one is good. put it a known good working computer and see if the same thing happens.
good luck with this.
good luck with this.
That is an option. I did it that way when I waited for a new power supply. However, the electricity here occasionally goes off for unpredictable amounts of time. I use an uninterruptible power supply, but it could go dead before the power returns. I guess this goes back to my first DOS machine, but I am leery of turning the machine off without proper shutdown.
Good thoughts. I cleaned the heat sink when I changed the power supply. I was amazed at the amount of dirt it had gathered.
Swapping the supply into a known good computer makes sense, but since this is the only one in the house and my neighbor wouldn't want to let go of hers long enough to troubleshoot an intermittent problem, I'll have to wait on that one.
BTW, thanks everyone for your suggestions. I was hoping this was a relatively common problem and someone knew a surefire fix. I don't really want to dig out the oscilloscope and tear into the machine and try to isolate it. Since it is likely that software interaction is part of the process, I would rapidly get lost, anyway. I might just have to convince the CFO that it is time for a new machine if it keeps acting up.