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Old December 21st 16, 09:34 PM posted to comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage
Rod Speed
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Posts: 8,559
Default Video: Skybuck's DreamPC from 2006 boots up strangely

Shadow wrote
wrote


This video on youtube shows the strange procedure
I have to follow to boot up my computer lately:


https://youtu.be/oglScNl_jjw

This strange problem started occuring after I accidently
put the computer into sleep mode, and re-powered the
system after the power was cut but the fans had not
completely stopped spinning.


Did perhaps the spinning of the fans cause some kind of purge surge ?


Nope, that doesn't happen.

Perhaps the copper coils inside the fans caused
some kind of feedback power into the system ?


Nope, that doesn't happen.

My first hypothesis/hunch was that it
might be a bios bug/race condition.


Unlikely given that it only showed up after that accidental reboot.

I pulled out all cables, cut the power, even removed the battery, but
this
did not help. So perhaps it's hardware damage instead of software bug ?


Doesn't appear to be damaged given that it mostly boots fine.

One last thing I have not tried yet is to reset the CMOS ?
Perhaps the CMOS of my DreamPC can remember settings
without batery power ?


That's certainly possible if you didn't have the battery out for long.

To me that seems somewhat unlikely but what do I know ?!


Anyway I share this video with you to show this very
strange and bizar boot sequence/problem/procedure.


I would love to hear any theories/hypothesis what might be causing this.


So far, before I showed this video and told this story people
have written back with following feedback/advice/theories:


1. Power supply might be giving a bad "good power" signal.


It wouldn't boot at all if that was the case.

DreamPC2006 currently has OCZ Stream X power supply it has.
(I could look into it further for more details though googling
Skybuck's DreamPC might also uncover more info about it
from my previous postings). Personally I cannot imagine this
brand which was somewhat expensive to have this problem ?


All power supplys can die.

Though I can imagine that wear and tear over the years
might have caused this... or perhaps lightning. Then
again it seems very minor and such... so very strange...
It didn't fail completely... it's just behaving strangely ???


Yeah, doesn't look much like a power supply problem,
but you can get unusual faults at times.

2. Wrong settings for CPU ? The system boots with defaults...
no overclocking is used or ever was used. Surely the system should
boot with defaults ? I cannot imagine it not booting with defaults...


Unless its developed a fault.

Very strange. Perhaps try and set it to 2.0 ghz instead of standard ?!


Not a good idea to be thrashing around like that.

Haven't tried this yet cause it's such a strange theory and
I am not sure if setting different settings than default is save.


Presumably you meant safe. Yes, its not
a good idea to thrash around like that.

3. Batteries inside keyboard/mouse remembering weird settings. My
mouse/keyboard don't have any batteries, they just USB. I don't know
if they have any memory though that stays resident after power cut ?!?


No they don't and you can always eliminate those by trying booting without
them.

4. All cables were removed and power shutdown and CMOS
battery removed, and everything reconnected, this did not help.


Was further strange about this system which it has done for years now.
When I touch a key or mouse or even the case it would power on ?!


That's normal, most systems can be configured like that.

Those settings were disabled in the bios but it still does it ?!
Could this indicate some strange wiring problem ?


More likely just a quirk of the bios, the disabling doesn't work.

5. My latest theory, some plug/cable is misplaced inside of it,


It wouldn't boot if that was the problem.

or the flash/card reader drive is causing some strange
electrical effect, or perhaps even wrongly connected,


Easy to check by seeing what happens with it disconnected
but its very unlikely to be the problem.

I even once fried a system with such a plug connecting it wrongly...
I believe I did connect it correctly... but perhaps these are just shady
devices.


It isnt hard to connect things wrongly if you don't know what you are doing.

I don't feel like experimenting with replugging cables unless
there is hardcore proof that something was connected wrongly !


Fault finding isnt viable that way.

I'd right not fry my system or mess with it... unless some solution
sounds credible and doesn't sound like it could endager my
system. This system has to survive until at least 2017 february.
By that time I should have a new AMD Zen based system ! =D


That isnt long to put up with a booting quirk.

But it would be very cool if my old computer woulds survive
like all my other computers... there is a lot of info on it


It wouldn't be hard to back that data up to an external drive.

and it's still usefull and it would make a nice backup computer.


Yep.

This current boot procedure is making me nervous... I am
slightly worried that someday this will cause it to fry to death.


No reason why it should.

Since these components are old and especially the socket 939
motherboard, I will probably not find an replacement easily....


No need to given you are replacing it in months.

though I just remembered I do have a backup motherboard
lying around somewhere, so perhaps that could save me in
the feature in case it's the motherboard and/or it's chips that
go bad in the near future.


Its more often electros on the motherboard that die with stuff that age.

Let me know what you think is causing
this weird power on/boot problem ?!?!?!?


Not possible to say unless you are prepared to test it systematically
by selectively disconnecting stuff and see if that stops the boot
quirk and you say you don't want to risk doing that.

Particularly the very early quirk where it starts up and then
shuts down immediately could be either the motherboard
or the power supply. The power supply is easier to test by
substitution with another, but you don't have a spare.

You've already cleared the CMOS, if you took out the batteries and
switched it off from the mains for a reasonable amount of time.


Hard to see that the cmos is what is producing that result.

The PS is very old, see if you can borrow one to test.
They tend to lose their capacity over the years.


Very unlikely to be the power supply, it boots up fine eventually.

Check the electrolytic capacitors on the MB or even
the PS, make sure none are bloated or leaking.


Ditto.

Win 7, seriously ? Are you a masochist ?


It is currently the best to use.

Win XP would fly on a machine like that.


BULL****.