View Full Version : Oh nooo.... PC not wanting to boot from cold
The last 2 days, when I turn my PC on (after coming home from work)
The power light comes on.
One my DVD Burner light comes on and the HDD led stays on permanently.
No HDD activity
Oh dear :(
I turned the mains off, back on again and turned the pc on again and it booted up (this was yesterday)
I thought, ahh, just having a screwey day as worked fine all evening.
Tonight same thing, only this time I have to power off at the mains about 5 times (same thing happening with the PC) before she would finally kick into life.
Any thoughts what is might be ?
I'm worried it may be my HDD going.....
Dunno why DVD led would be on as well though ?
Makes me worried about will it boot at all tomorrow!!!!
It's not the HDD. If it was the HDD, it would POST at least. If it doesn't POST it'll be one of PSU, CPU, board, memory or video.
Funnily enough I have one that does the same thing (same fault as you when first powered on, hold the switch in for a few and try again to make it work) constantly for the past 4-5 months, just not got round to sorting it, have changed a few things over the past few months (memory and video) which didn't sort it and I've a spare PSU that I should try out. Knowing my luck it'll be the board though :(
edit - meant to say, reseat things first off to see if it cures it.
It's not the HDD. If it was the HDD, it would POST at least. If it doesn't POST it'll be one of PSU, CPU, board, memory or video.
Funnily enough I have one that does the same thing (same fault as you when first powered on, hold the switch in for a few and try again to make it work) constantly for the past 4-5 months, just not got round to sorting it, have changed a few things over the past few months (memory and video) which didn't sort it and I've a spare PSU that I should try out. Knowing my luck it'll be the board though :(
edit - meant to say, reseat things first off to see if it cures it.
Cheers for that.
No, it does not POST.
By the way, the holding the power button in for 4 seconds does not turn it off like it normally does. The only way to power it down is the wall switch!
perchance do you know what your motherboard is? The DFI nf2 infinity one that was on the bargain forums recently is a particular culprit when it comes to failing to post from cold...
It's actually an old (off ebay) 2nd hand Abit SE6 Mboard.
Just wondering why it's started to do this the past 2 days.
Oh dear again.............
Tonight, PC needed 5 power off/on restarts before it would fire up.
Nothing on screen, no POST, just some LED's on, and nothing else happening.
Once it DOES eventually decide to fire up it's fine, and if you power it down after being on a while it will power back up again fine.....
Very odd......
Anyone dare point at the culprit ?
I guess I could just re-seat some things inside....
Finally got round to changing the PSU in the PC that was giving me bother and it's sorted, you could try starting there. Other than that it's a process of elimination with the other parts.
Anthony.S
27-07-2004, 21:35
Anyone dare point at the culprit ?
Yeah, I bet you're overclocking. Abit boards are well known for this. Does it have an LED indicator on the board showing the post stage. As I recall it will fail at 0A or 0E. You could try the latest BIOS.
Yeah, I bet you're overclocking. Abit boards are well known for this. Does it have an LED indicator on the board showing the post stage. As I recall it will fail at 0A or 0E. You could try the latest BIOS.
Noooo Not overclocking at all.
It's a Abit SE6 and does have 1 red LED but it just is alight all the time and does not do anything exciting (dunno why it's there)
The reason I'm thinking it's the Mboard is I bought it 2nd Hand from Ebay and when I got it I was not happy as it had those leaking capaciters that have been talked about here. A few of them had bloated tops and looked like something had leaked a bit out the bottom on quite a few of them too.
But I was desperate, and it seemed to work so crossed my fingers and ok.
But I'm assuming this is what's knackered.
Not even worth turning it on right now, as it will take about 10 goes (wild guess) before it will start.
Funny how once it's started it's fine for the evening.
perhaps someone who knows about how the capaciters work could explain that one.
I was a new Mboard/CPU and RAM now. (with a quiet heatsink/fan combo)
Yep. I'd say the caps are your problem :(
"In more technical terms, this is is what actually happens to the capacitor... Think of an electrolytic capacitors as a battery. They are designed to store a charge and release that charge depending on the specific requirements of the circuit. Inside the capacitor there are two metal plates with dielectric material between them, wrapped in paper, filled with acid (electrolyte), and sealed in its housing or 'canister'. What happens is the flawed electrolyte prematurely deteriorates and dries up. When this happens the capacitance value changes, becomes erratic, and can even short completely, which obviously causes the circuit to malfunction. On your motherboard, this results in system instabilities or complete failure of your board."
From http://www.badcaps.com/causes/
Yep. I'd say the caps are your problem :(
"In more technical terms, this is is what actually happens to the capacitor... Think of an electrolytic capacitors as a battery. They are designed to store a charge and release that charge depending on the specific requirements of the circuit. Inside the capacitor there are two metal plates with dielectric material between them, wrapped in paper, filled with acid (electrolyte), and sealed in its housing or 'canister'. What happens is the flawed electrolyte prematurely deteriorates and dries up. When this happens the capacitance value changes, becomes erratic, and can even short completely, which obviously causes the circuit to malfunction. On your motherboard, this results in system instabilities or complete failure of your board."
From http://www.badcaps.com/causes/
So if/when they DO fire up (if we assume this is the problem) and they get warm, then they will be ok ? and turning off and on again they will still work as they are warm ???
Or don't they work like this ?
Anthony.S
28-07-2004, 11:13
it had those leaking capaciters that have been talked about here. A few of them had bloated tops and looked like something had leaked a bit out the bottom on quite a few of them too.
Aaah, we're getting somewhere now. Yeah I would say that would be your problem as well. Luckily it should be cheap to fix. How are your soldering skills :lol:
Aaah, we're getting somewhere now. Yeah I would say that would be your problem as well. Luckily it should be cheap to fix. How are your soldering skills :lol:
Well, I can solder ok. Got a nice fine tip on my iron and have a steady hand.
If it were easy and I I could get the parts I may have a go. But is it really possible to do ?
I'm hoping someone may have a 2nd hand Abit SE6 Mboard I can buy from them.
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