Weird restart & booting problems

[DisinfectedDuck]

Hi.

I've been having some very annoying problems lately, and I can't figure out what's causing them.. so i've come to seek help in this sacred forum..

Whenever (always!) I start my pc (press the power button) I can hear the fans spinning, but nothing happens, the pc doesn't boot on the first time (No cd lights, no post beeps, the monitor doesn't start.. nothing) then I wait a few seconds and press restart and the pc boots normally..

My guess for that one is the PSU, and I had problems with it before.

Another problem is that after the pc finally boots, random resets occur. They usually happen in games (In some games they ALWAYS happen, in others sometimes) but it also happened when the pc was idle.. Could this also be a PSU problem??

I really need your help here guys. Thanks.

 

[egale]

The PSU sounds like a good culprit. Random restarts though can also me memory errors, heat or driver problems.

 

[Boonesmi]

Originally posted by: egale
The PSU sounds like a good culprit. Random restarts though can also me memory errors, heat or driver problems.

yup what he said the powersupply is very likely the problem


it could also be the ram, you can download a free utility to check the memory and narrow down the problem. www.memtest86.com

 

[sniperruff]

borrow another PSU and test it out.

if your current PSU is a generic... skip the borrowing part and go buy an allied/forton/antec PSU

 

[DisinfectedDuck]

I have an Enermax PSU..

Thanks for the link Boonesmi

 

[DisinfectedDuck]

The problems are still here..

I tried to see if it was the memory causing it, I have 2 sticks of 256mb micron 2100 ram. I took out one and booted, then did the same with the other one.. nothing, so I guess it's not the memory.

I've noticed that when starting certain apps or games the pc always restarts, like when I load Midnight Club II.. could this be a psu problem?? I understand the booting problem (when I have to press reset to make the pc boot) might be the psu.. even though i'm not so sure anymore..

When I start the pc and nothing happens (nothing loads), I noticed that the fans work and the lights on the mobo work so there is power... Maybe it's a mobo problem? or maybe a driver problem?

Any advice? How can I pinpoint the problem?

 

[Jiggz]

It's either the PSU or the mobo. To isolate the problem do the following. Disconnect all drives except the system hdd and one CD rom. Minimize the number of fans use to the HSF and remove the case cover. Remove all interface cards except for the video card. Now that should reduce your power requirement to minimum. Try again. If the system is still unstable the mobo is the culprit!

 

[DisinfectedDuck]

Jiggz - thanks, will do.

Do you think that, if the psu is the problem, it's caused because of power requirements? It's a 430W Enermax psu, I thought that it was more than sufficient.. So it's probably gonna be the mobo.. But i'll do what you said to be sure.

 

[Paperlantern]

you say you hit POWER and it kinda starts, but then doesnt.... then you hit RESET, and THEN it boots? If thats correct, looks to me liek your PWR and RST switches are reveresed on the mobo. if i read it wrong, i'll shut up now because thats probably not the problem

 

[Alex]

i have very similar thing and my psu is generic, came with my case... lol

so thats the first thng im gonna upgrade...

 

[Jiggz]

Even a quality and an oversized PSU cannot be perfect everytime. That's why you need to isolate by minimizing the power requirement. With minimum power requirement, the PSU is placed well under less stress which could make it perform better.

So if the problem goes away after you minimize the "load" on the PSU, you can re-install the rest of the peripherals one at a time while testing it along the way. During the re-installation and the problem shows up again, then it could be the PSU or the last peripheral that was added to the system. To find out again which one, remove the previously re-installed peripheral except for the last one and try again. If the system is stable, the peripheral that was installed the last time you were re-installing is good and the PSU malfunctions under heavy stress.

If the problem does not go away after you minimized the "load", I would suspect the mobo. And the only true way to find out which one is the culprit, test the system with another mobo or another PSU. This may sound like going back to the original problem, but by doing the preceding you can at least have a better idea and probably eliminate the PSU!

 

[Jiggz]

Dbl post, sorry.

 

[buckmasterson]

Bad processor?

 

[DisinfectedDuck]

I took some load of the psu, took out the fand, crw & floppy (didn't have the patience to take out the cards..)

Problem's still there.. my mobo, Epox 8K7A, has a 2-digit display on one of it's corners.. after pressing the power button the digits got restarted over and over again, without the pc booting.. I'm getting pretty sure it's the mobo..

I'll try to take out the cards to be sure..

I was thinking though, could the CPU be causing the problem??

 

[Eliteboy]

Whatever is in your PCI slot ... take out one by one until you can power up right ... i haved fixed a case where a PCI card caused the boot up problem like you described