Please help troubleshoot my power issue!!

[Marcusben]

In order to turn my PC on, I must unplug it, push the front power button on and off, plug it back in, and push the front power button again. Rinse and repeat if necessary (it works first try 90% of the time and second try 100% of the time). Is this most likely a faulty power supply? Do I need a new surge protector (got a 3-4 year old Belkin back there)? The original 450Watt SmartPower 2.0 Power Supply that came with the Antec case died after 5 months. What should I do first?

January 2006:
eVGA 256-P2-N516 Geforce 7800GT 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16
OCZ Platinum 4GB (4 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200)Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Manchester 2.0GHz Socket 939 Processor
Antec LifeStyle SONATA II Piano Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
450Watt SmartPower 2.0 Power Supply
EPoX EP-9NPA+Ultra Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard
NEC 16X DVD±R DVD Burner Black IDE/ATAPI Model ND-3550A

May 2006:
Antec SmartPower 2.0 SP-500 ATX12V 500W Power Supply

 

[Zepper]

You might just have a gimpy power switch - put your reset switch connector on the power pins instead and see if that works any better (they are both the same type of switch). Also it's possible that you have the power switch connected to the wrong pins - make sure they are on the power switch pins and not something like the sleep switch ping. You shouldn't have much problem getting a replacement power switch from Antec if that turns out to be what the problem is.

.bh.

 

[mpilchfamily]

There could be a couple of things that cause this. As mentioned it could eb the power button but i think that is unlikely. Chances are its either the PSu or the motherboard. My money is on the PSU. The Smartpoer series from Antec are known for having many problems. They say these issues have been adressed yet i keep see people having problems even with the newer versions. So i recomend replaceing the PSU and not getting another Smartpower. Go with just about any other maodel if Antec is your PSU of choice.

 

[DaddyOfThree]

I have the exact same power supply and the exact same issue. I purchased mine in Feb 2006 and last month it started acting up.

I have an Antec P180 case and originally thought I was hitting the wrong button to power it on (thought I was hitting the reset button) but after a few times I realized that I was hitting the correct button but that it was failing to power on with the first push. Then eventually it would fail to power on no matter how many times you push it. I then found that if I unplugged the system for 20 seconds and then plugged it back in it would generally fire on the first push of the button

I can see the keyboard lights come on really quick and then nothing. If I open the case I can see three LEDs on the Epox nForce4 Ultra+ motherboard... one of those LEDS comes on but not the other two. When I can successfully get the PC to fire all three LEDs come on.

I'm suspecting the power supply as well.

 

[magreen]

Originally posted by: DaddyOfThree
...I then found that if I unplugged the system for 20 seconds and then plugged it back in it would generally fire on the first push of the button...

I'd replace the PSU before your words come true literally.

 

[Zepper]

If the switch change doesn't do anything and you decide you need a new PSU, click the link in my sig for a decent and inexpensive PSU. These are made by Seasonic instead of ChannelWell as the SmartPower units were. Tomorrow I should have one of the short cable units in.

.bh.

 

[DaddyOfThree]

I don't mean to hijack your thread Marcusben but I've solved my problem.

I replaced the power supply and the problems are gone.

I would suggest you do the same.

By the way, the SP500 has a three year warranty - I purchased a new NeoHE 550 but plan on RMA'ing the SP500 to Antec).

Thanks for all the suggestions and input!

 

[Marcusben]

Thank you all for your help!!