Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

Question

PC won't power up, then powers up on its own!

Oct 22, 2012 2:04AM PDT

Hi Guys,
Hope someone out there can help. I had an intermittent problem with my PC (Vista) a month or so ago. The PC started powering down on it own (power would just cut out), although the light on the mobo was always on. It did this at random points, sometimes when windows had loaded, sometimes before the BIOS had started.
I took the entire machine apart, and then went through diagnosing each part (RAM,HDD,swapped out graphic cards etc), still to no avail. So I eventually changed the PSU, and it worked! It's been running ok for a month, and now the same issue has happened again, except now if it shuts down, it will suddenly start to power up on its own at random points. CPU temps are normal.
Feels like a short or electrical fault, but cant quite work it out.wondering if the power button on the case could be faulty? Anyone have any ideas?
Thanks

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
Answer
I suspect
Oct 22, 2012 4:57AM PDT

I would still suspect the PSU as a fault even though you've already swapped it out once. the problem maybe a 2ndary one. The mtrbd. could be acting out. I suggest you google for "bad caps" examples. Use that to check and verify the mtrbd. out. Not only that but the mtrbd. could have faltered and it "eventually" taking out the PSU sooner or later. -OR- you added to the PC more items/devices and it is too much for the PSU to handle. if you've replaced the PSU with the same wattage rating as before, it got hosed.

You want help. provide details. You gave no clue to what your PC, it does matter.

tada -----Willy Happy

- Collapse -
in reply to willy
Oct 22, 2012 8:48PM PDT

Hi Willy,

Its its a P8N Sli mobo (MSI), with a nvidia chipset on it.
e6600 2.4ghz CPU,
3mb ram,
2x500gb WD running striping RAID ( I know, I'll never do that again!),
8800 GTX XFX graphics card.
Be Quite PSU 630W Modular.

The previous PSU which I swapped out was a corsair 700w.

I looked up "bad caps" on google with regards to this board, but found very little. I just can't understand how its gone from working perfectly, to this weird power cycle. Wonderinf if it could be a short to do with the case button?

Thanks

- Collapse -
Answer
power up and down problem
Oct 22, 2012 5:10AM PDT

I thinking bios . do a bios update and or change the bios chip , bios virus can run amok with your system ...... as a last resort listen to the psu carefully for a high pitched sound