15 min to boot? 4

[BuckeyeComputers]

OK guys here is a good one i think, have a client with a system that restarts are no problems shutdown then restart no problem as long as the machine is warm... no here is the kicker when the shut the system down over the weekend then come back in monday morning ..hit the power button lights come on but monitor light goes greed for a 2 sec then goes orange... no matter how many times you do this system will not post or anything... but if you turn it on and leave it for about 10-15 min then come back in and do a ctr+alt+del the system fires right up? suggestions?

 

[cdogg]

Seems like you might have a bad power supply or hard drive. For the life of me, I can't think what else it might be!

Do you have another similarly configured PC you could use for testing? I'd swap the hard drive into that one and see if it has the same problem. If it's not the hard drive, then it's got to be the PSU in my opinion.


~cdogg

"The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources."
- A. Einstein

 

[edfair]

What diagnostic tools are available?
I would hook up a logic probe Friday and look at address lines early Monday.
This has all the symptoms of a oscillator problem, but power good signal also can do it. And who knows what address line or data line could be failing to drive the bus. Ed Fair
Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply. Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.

 

[BlueAlloy]

I had a similar problem in the past. After much troubleshooting, replacing the CMOS battery was what worked. Evidently the battery was losing its charge after being unpowered for an exteded time, like over the weekend. You can get one of these at radioshack. They're not very expensive and alot cheaper to swap out for troubleshooting purposes than say a power supply. Just a suggestion.

 

[BuckeyeComputers]

Thanks guys for the suggestions. i also was thinking power supply but am sure not against replacing cmos battery first. not much in the way of diagnostic tools there edfair but must admit never used or even heard of a logic probe... how about a little more info on that? i was thinking that something did not like the cold boot and leaving it on kind of let it warm up enough to boot. but i do remember the post of "my little buddy" which i see is still around being the cmos battery afer reading it again the symptoms seem to be the same even though that was a laptop versus this a pc...thanks to all for suggestion

 

[Jontmke]

Also, could be a heat issue. When it is cold a connection is open, when it warms up the "crack" expands enough to make a good connection.

JON

 

[cdogg]

After reading this, I'm even more convinced that it's the power supply:

http://www.pcguide.com/ref/power/sup/funcPowerGood-c.html

As you can see, it's supposed to take a power supply just half a second or less to complete its internal tests. In your situation, one of those tests might be causing problems for the power supply resulting in a long delay. The rest of the system won't activate until the power supply sends the Power Good signal after completing its test.

This would also explain why you can turn it off then back on right away with no problems. The power supply requires a period of inactivity (turned off) before it resets internal sensors.


~cdogg

"The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources."
- A. Einstein

 

[udayan]

-cdogg has said it. Swap the power supply and let us see

 

[BuckeyeComputers]

Some very interesting reading ~cdogg. have another question along this same line i know how to test the power good signal using as they say a paper clip but have never figure out the way to use a multimeter to test each voltage. what is the proper way of doing this?

 

[cdogg]

Well, that's not my area of specialty! I believe Edfair would have your answer on that one.

I always have a spare power supply on hand, so I can avoid the hassle of such a test!


~cdogg

"The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources."
- A. Einstein

 

[iSeriesCodePoet]

I would say replace the CMOS battery first, that does make sense, if that doesn't work, try the power supply. iSeriesCodePoet
IBM iSeries (AS/400) Programmer

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