Cannot restart PC from 'cold' start after shuttin down

[davo1977]

Hi, I was hoping someone can point me in the right direction as this little problem is driving me mad. I have recently found that my system is locking up during windows and also in the BIOS and will reboot okay when I hit the reset button. But if I hold the power button in to switch it off,everything will go off except the hdd light, when I press the power button again the hdd light will go off but the power light come on and then flash and the case fans will start spinning and I can't get the pc to boot again until I remove the power cable from the psu for about 5 seconds. To rule some of the components out I have recently rebuilt the pc and I have a new cpu,mobo , gfx card and memory yet I had the same problem on the pc with my older components. The only things not changed are the 580w Hiper psu and the tower itself. I am running the pc with minimum resources but still having the same trouble. My only thoughts are that there is a short somewhere or the psu is at fault but how would I know?? I have 2 raptors in RAID 0 which are new also but can't help but thinking psu or case as they are the only 2 things not replaced. I don'tsuppose a BIOS update would help?? Please help!!

Thanks
Mark

 

[bcastner]

Check the switch itself. It may be broken.
Otherwise:
Replace the PSU.


____________________________
Users Helping Users

 

[firewolfrl]

I have to agree with bcastner
Now lets go out of the box...
check the power outlet that you are usng and see if there is a reverse wiring or no ground. that also includes powerstrips and such....on that note... replace the powerstrip to rule it out. check the voltage


A simple plug-in wiring tester from the local hardware store will tell you if the wiring is correct.

Now as for the switch the reset should be a right away reboot... the power switch should delay for about 4 seconds. then depending on what your Bios defaults to... you should have a hardware suspend or shut down. everything you described is a correct action for a faulted system.

the harddrive light that comes on when you go into this suspend mode is a correct action for some motherboards. your board sounds like you have a ground somewhere it shouldn't or a floating ground. the unplug and replug of the PSU is correct also for a shorted system

I do not think a Bios update will fix your issues at all

Now as for the lock ups....heat may be you main issue. check the CPU heat in the BIOS and (ground yourself to the case first) check the harddrives and see if they are hot to the touch.

Are your harddrives close to each other and do they have cooling?


you might want to remove the motherboard from the case. here is an Idea put a piece of electrical tape on each stand for the MB (poke the hole for the screw) and see if that helps.


Is the CD/DVD new or old? They can cause this issue too

 

[davo1977]

Thanks for the reply. A couple of bits of info I left out were that I have run a system stress test for 20 minutes and the system is stable and my FX-62 idles @ 28C-32C and under load runs at around 45C. I had a cpu overheat problem before and I got a BSOD so I'm pretty sure it's not that this time. I have a Titan Amanda CPU cooler which runs okay too. Both the DVD writers are pretty new as well (a few months old each) and the hdd's in RAID 0 are in CD-ROM bay coolers and the 2 slave hdd's sit in front of a 12cm front system fan. To rule out the switch is it worth disconnecting the power switch and connecting the reset switch in it's place to act as the power switch and if so will the system boot with no attached reset switch?? The strange things are though that even though you suggest the board has a ground somewhere it shouldn't this problem was evident on my old board too that's why I ruled out the board and looked towards the case or psu!! Could there be anything under the board which occasionally grounds the case to the board which could cause this??

Thanks again
Mark

 

[firewolfrl]

hmmm!
If you want a true test of your CPU and Ram run Prime 95
and do the torture test... The is a program I run to test cooling....it will get your cpu to it's max heat ....lol

http://www.mersenne.org/freesoft.htm

yes the the system will boot with no problem with the reset switch removed and in place of the power switch. both switches are momemtary switches.

Now as for the ground. If you had this issue before and you have it now. you switching MB's did not help you need to find what component is causing the problem...your case is one...one of the DVD drives.... a fan...a harddrive....and for sure the PSU.

you have a component that is triggering the PSU to fault
and as I suggested case to MB can cause this...

look at all the voltages from the PSU with a meter.

did you check your power outlet?

 

[davo1977]

Thanks for responding again firewolfrl. I'm going to try the power outlet direct into a wall socket instead of using the surge protector powerstrip I currently have so I can rule that one out but I'm going to try that after I have tried unplugging various components to try and rule those (out if it's not one of those). I have a suspect in mind which is the side case fan but as I can only wait and see if the system locks up or has the reboot problem whenever that happens as the pc has been on since 2am this morning without a glitch after unplugging this 'suspect' fan but that at the moment doesn't mean anything as the system was running for over a day without a problem on Monday while it was plugged in. A strange thing I would like to mention is though a friend of mine has the same case (Thermaltake Tsunami) and when he tries to go into stand by mode his pc reboots and then when he tries to then shut it down through Windows he has practically the same symptoms as mine. The other strange thing is and to make things weird is that he has the same NEC 4571 dvd writer as me and he replaced the front and side fans to the same make as mine too!! He doesn't have Windows lock up on him as mine does but his rear fan light and cpu fan light both come on and the front fan comes on whilst the rest of the system is switched off and he has to remove the psu cable from the psu to be able to reboot!! So that is 3 components all the same. The only thing I know is I think I had the problem before the NEC writer was installed. I'll let you know what the outcome of the component and power strip testing are when they develop as it seems to be process of elimination.

Thanks
Mark

 

[stduc]

On three systems that came my way with a similar fault the solution, after checking the mains and wiring and the PSU and in one case replacing the PSU, failed to fix them, turned out to be the CPU. But the PSU is the most likely culprit.

I removed the heatsink, then the CPU and for good measure carefully vacuumed the socket. I then reseated the CPU. After cleaning off the old gunge and after getting the CPU and the heatsink spotless, I used a new heatpad and re-assembled the heatsink/fan assembly.

While the heatsink/fan were off they were subjected to a thorough clean with isopropyl and much vacuuming.

All three are rock solid now.

One ran 10C cooler on idle.

Just my 2cents worth.


(Just wait - my PC will die tomorrow - LOL)

 

[smah]

My thoughts - I've had 2 cases like this in the past. Both turned out to be bad capacitors. Take a look at the capacitors on the motherboard, they look like small soda cans. Are any of the tops bulged and/or leaking? Especially the ones in a row (or 2 or 3) near the processor.

 

[davo1977]

Finally solved the power problem turns it was my wireless dual net card causing the problem. I've just got to solve the locking up problem as this is still happening. First it starts where I can't access anything in the taskbar and then the windows won't close and then the cursor stops. While all this is happening the hdd light is on all the time. Any suggestions? Could it be the installation of Windows??

Cheers
Mark

 

[stduc]

I am glad to hear you are making progress.

What happens next? Does the system recover? Or do you power it down?

You need to find out if you still have hardware problems or if this is software related.

Things to try are:-

Will the machine boot and run OK in safe mode?
Scan for malware. Use more than one scanner. Move the HDD to another machine and scan it there if necessary.

Test the HDD. Use the manufacturers utilities and or something like SpinRite. You could have a bad block.

Is the PC looking for network drives that aren't available anymore? If so, just be patient it can take XP a while to figure that out and after it does, remove them (disconnect network drive).

Remove all the add on cards it is possible to remove. If that solves the problem, add them back one at a time.

Check the mobo for any signs of a fault, such as bad capacitors as smah suggests.