"blinking" power light

[BLEW2]

Very intermittently,my pc's Power light blinks slowly on and off.shortly after, the pc powers off
please note:-
1)using win98se
2)mother board is Asus
3)power up test says power and fans ok
4)windows power-settings are to never power off
my own guess is the processor cooling fan but i'd sooner not proceed without evidence
any ideas ?

 

[rockerfellerz]

what are the power settings in the bios? Are they set to "never off as well?

If you're going through Hell...keep going... (Winston Churchill)
RocKeRFelLerZ

 

[BLEW2]

i'll check the bios, thanks

 

[micker377]

In control panel, display, settings, screen blanker, power, advanced - you can set the options of the power button. Right now, you are set on "stand-by". Change to "shutdown".

 

[BLEW2]

power settings already at "never power off", power button already set to power-off.
have downloaded and installed Asus Probe.at the moment all voltages and the processor fan / temp are constant.
thanks for your efforts

 

[garebo]

well, if its not in the bios or power settings, then the power supply is suspect.
And if you tested the power supply and that seems ok, and you suspect the processor cooling fan, then take the side off, put a house fan on and turn it on so it blows on the processor and the mobo and see if that stops the problem from happening. If it does then it may very well be the cooling fan.

I would also suspect the heat sink may not be seated correctly, maybe the puter was jarred at some point or something similar happened, or maybe somehow worked its may loose. So even if you go so far as to take it off and clean it up and put more thermal grease on and re-seat the hs/fan/cpu, that may do the job for you. Or if you have another hs/fan for this, you could install that one and see if it makes a difference. You didnt mention what cpu you are working with. Amd needs more cooling than most intel chips do, mhz being equal. And you didnt mention if you have any extra parts around or if you could get them, and what you experience level is.

Not a bad idea to check all connections that you can think of, power from power supply to cpu, etc, etc.

Also, if you could swap out the power supply with another power supply to test it, that would be good. Not everyone has one around or can get one easily though.

 

[garebo]

I forgot, maybe its me but i havent had a great deal of success with Asus probe, so just because it says all is well, for me that isnt enough proof, only one tool of many to use, swapping parts is better.

 

[micker377]

I'm confused - why are you searching for CPU or heat problems when the computer is already turned off? The "blinking" light is because the computer is in "stand-by" mode. The problem is why it is going into stand-by instead of off. The "never power off" setting is to set the operating mode of the system, it doesn't have any effect on hardware power switching.

 

[BadBigBen]

might wanna try clearing the CMOS, had a similiar prob a while back with a MSI board this did the trick for me...

Ben

 

[garebo]

to micker337

Read his statement again, he is saying that his computer is on then shuts off on its own.
The blinking light starts when the computer is on and then the computer shuts down by itself.

Based on his description of the problem, i would be looking for cpu or heat problems, also power supply probs as well.

 

[micker377]

garebo:
"Very intermittently,my pc's Power light blinks slowly on and off.shortly after, the pc powers off"

Nowhere does it say the computer is shutting itself off. "shortly after the pc powers off"

My computer is set-up so the on-off switch (when pushed) sends the computer into "standby". If I hold the power button down for more than 4 seconds, it will turn completely off. This is set up as described in my first message.

 

[garebo]

Very intermittently,my pc's Power light blinks slowly on and off. shortly after, the pc powers off

He says, quote: "shortly after, the pc powers off"

I take that to mean his pc powers off without his wanting it off. He says, again quote: "the pc powers off."

Maybe BLEW2 can clarify this, but he definitely says that his pc powers off.

 

[micker377]

Garebo:

It may also be going into "standby" by itself. I had a client condemn a monitor once because it was set up to "turn off" after a set time!

 

[rockerfellerz]

Just had the same problem with my computer at home. Looks to be the power supply. It boots up fine but after a while
it shuts off and the power light blinks on and off. The power supply fan is not turning, so after a short time I guess it's overheating and the comp goes into this state. I will know for sure tonight when I swap the psu for a new one ...

If you're going through Hell...keep going... (Winston Churchill)
RocKeRFelLerZ

 

[garebo]

To micker377

BLEW2 needs to clarify this matter some more so we are all on the same page and on the right track.

BLEW2 states"
Very intermittently,my pc's Power light blinks slowly on and off.shortly after, the pc powers off

I take that to mean his pc is on, the power light blinks on and off and then his pc turns off.

It could be a power setting or it could be something else.
Lets all go back to the power setting issues and get them sorted out, then, if there is still a prob, then we have to look elsewhere, like the cpu mounting and the power supply.

But, again, lets stick then to the power setting.

BLEW2, have you gone into the bios and set the pc to not power down?
Apparently you have windows set to not power down but you also have to do that in your bios if i am not mistaken.

So, BLEW2, before we can go any further, we need you to answer these 2 questions.

thanks

 

[rockerfellerz]

While we wait to hear from BLEW2, I will update my last post. I replaced the power supply and that solved the problem.
The old psu has a thermister. The hotter it gets the more resistance it has, and when it reaches a certain level it shuts down the supply and leaves the comp in that state with the slowly blinking power light. After it cools down it will power up again but only until it heats up and then back to the blinking light. Of course you can only do this so many times before the thermister fails as well, but replacing the fan now might resurrect it. I'm happy with the Enermax dual fan psu that I replaced it with, it's quieter and has a output to the mobo to monitor the fan.

If you're going through Hell...keep going... (Winston Churchill)
RocKeRFelLerZ

 

[BadBigBen]

Hi there Rocks, thanx for the info...

I got an old PSU 300w+ that has a similiar function, as it heats up the fan gets faster and faster, and if it's really underload the second fan kicks in... unfortunately this PSU is an AT unit and wont work with the newer mobos... sigh...

Ben

 

[garebo]

Actually, i have often wondered if there was a fairly easy way to convert those old at psu's. The only prob is that they seem to top out at around 200 watts, although yours is 300.
There likely is a way.

 

[BadBigBen]

Yeah, it's an old MAX POWER unit, I think it used to be placed into servers etc...

you could, if I understood electronics better, take a 5v line and convert it to a 3 v line... then get another AT-X connector and repin it... the only prob I see is that with these PSUs you wont have softpower on/off, once they are off they are definetly off...

Ben

 

[BLEW2]

sorry for the delay in responding and thanks for your interest.i downloaded the latest version of asus-probe (my disk version said all ok).when next switched on,Windows98 would not load in normal or safe mode and had a message saying,"Windows must be re-installed." was this due the new probe i wonder ?
anyway to clarify :- 1)running win98,doing nothing very much
2)power light starts to blink
3)screen blanked
4)pressed space-bar
5)pc powered down
as far as i can see,the bios and windows are set to NOT power down.the pc is still under guarantee so i cannot swap parts and having it looked at is probably pointless with a highly intermitent fault.
during the makers "fix"of my recent trouble they reformatted and reinstalled so i'll wait and see.perhaps the
psu will flake out altogether
regards