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Computer only sometimes turns on


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#1
mitch.o

mitch.o

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Hi everyone, I just found this forum and I just wanted to begin by thanking you for this resource.

So, to my problem - here are the details of my computer that I put together myself:

ECS N-FORCE3-A mobo
AMD Sempron 3000+ (I believe, though I'm not positive right now)
Ultra X-Finity 500W PSU
2 x 1GB Kingston RAM
2 x ATA hard drives
2 x optical drives
Running Windows XP

I built the computer just about two years ago now. Over the past year or so I've been having a pretty big problem with it - essentially it will only turn on sometimes. Other times, maybe 3 times a week or so, I will hit the power button and the front LED's will flash and the fans will spin for a second and then nothing will happen. Even if I disconnect all of the optical drives and hard drives, it still won't power on.

At this point I usually disconnect the power cord from the back of it and just wait it out - which sometimes takes a few hours and other times it takes a few days. Once it does turn back on however, everything works perfectly fine.

I'm assuming this is an issue with either the mobo, psu or ram, does that sound right? And if so, how would I go about testing this problem? I don't have ready access to another PSU, I would have to go purchase one, and because the problem is so intermittent, it's hard to tell if a hardware swap fixes the problem, or if it just decided to turn on at that point.

Do you have any suggestions as to how to address this?

Thank you so much for your help!

Mitch
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#2
SRX660

SRX660

    motto - Just get-er-done

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This still sounds like a power supply problem. My logic from working on computers for many years thinks that if the computer boots up every time it is not the motherboard. If the voltage is too low on the 12 volt line you will get random turn-offs, shutdowns and lockups. Sometimes it will not boot when the voltage drops below 11 volts. It also sound like the 5 volt line( runs HD's and cdrom drives)is also dropping too low to power them up. Running 4 5volt drives may be too much for the PS.

To me the first action is to replace the Power Supply and see what happens. The second course of action would to replace the Motherboard. I have never likes the ECS MB's and one's i have delt with have seemed to have problems. I use only Intel, MSI, and Gigabyte MB's on my computer buildsas i have the laest amount of problems with them.

You might see if speedfan will work on your computer and when you get it running check the voltages speed fan shows. Below 11.7 on the 12 volt line and below 4.8 on the 5 volt line can cause big problem's with the computer. Just for your info the 3.3 volt line is usually for Memory and could also cause problems if its below 3 volts. Most newer cpu's run in the 1.8 volt range and speedfan does not show that.

A good website for Power supply information.

http://www.jonnyguru.com/

SRX660
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#3
mitch.o

mitch.o

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Thank you so much for the fast reply. One quick follow-up, do you think this would be a suitable PSU to replace my current one with:

http://www.newegg.co.....=sigma+sp-535

I'm going to remove one of the optical drives, and I forgot to mention that my video card is a GeForce 5500 256mb (agp).

Thanks again!

Mitch
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#4
SRX660

SRX660

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Although you may be able to use that power supply i think you are taking a chance when you buy the cheaper PS's. I would prefer to use one of these , even tho they cost more money. The reason is because the quality is there in these so you are usually not buying a flaky unit that may still NOT be up to the job.

Seasonic 550 W
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817151027

Siverstone 560 W
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817163112

I look for the PS's that have 120 Mm fans because they are quieter than ones with 80 mm fans.
I stress the quality here for the reason that most PS's are of questional quality. Please read up on the johnny guru website, it is very enlightening.

SRX660
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