[4ubest]

I have for the last few months had a real problem restarting the computer after it was shut down. The computer will not get past the Booting from CD message and I was thinking the problem would be the power supply but I am not a technician so I do not know.

Once it starts and loads XP Pro it runs flawlessly for days at a time except for occassionally some sounds coming from where the PS is (or the case fans??)

What would be the most common reason for not being able to boot the computer after it shut down and powered off?

Even today it booted to the default bios and when I hit delete and went into the AWARD bios all I could do was view and shut it down as I could make no changes. I then shut off the system and restarted it and it started normally. I am really leaning towards the power supply but that is just a guess as I do not know if it takes more power to boot a hard drive or get one of my 3 optical drives to light up.

Thank you

[Doby]

Hi,

I don't think it would be the psu if XP runs flawlessly for days at a time so for now lets consider the psu as unlikely.

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What would be the most common reason for not being able to boot the computer after it shut down and powered off

This really depends on the symptoms

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Even today it booted to the default bios and when I hit delete and went into the AWARD bios all I could do was view and shut it down as I could make no changes

Please clarify, when you say boot to default bios, was there a message?
Did it fail post (power on self test)?
Are there any errors on the screen during post?

I am thinking one of the drives is hanging the post so try running chkdisk and defrag the hdd (hard drive). Also find out the manufactuer of the hdd and goto thier wedsite and look for a utility to check the drive.

Rick

[4ubest]

No there was no message but when I was on the AWARD bios main page it would not allow any keystroke input so no modifications could be made.

Both of my main drives are in Redundant Raid format so I do not think it is a hard disk issue and was leaning towards power to the HD to get them to boot. Next time I will try to disconnect the power cable from one or two of my optical drives and see what happens. That would sort of give me a clue that the power is an issue.

[Doby]

That is alot of drives, maybe the 12v rail is taxed to the point it won't boot.
What psu do you have?
How many amps on the +12v this is usually listed on a decal on the psu