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More info on intermittent boot PC failure
I left a message month or so back about a problem I was/am having with
one of my computers. After being on for a while (I normally leave my computers on, this particular one started this behavior couple months ago), the computer will basically stop working. As in, the light will still be on and the screen blank, but nothing will bring it back. Rebooting doesn't work; not beeps; no nothing, except the PSU fan being on. I received some advice from some of you, one of which was from Kony saying to test the PSU with multi-meter. Haven't gotten my hands on one of those yet and I've been leaving the computer off most of the time now until I can devote some time to figuring out the problem. However, recently it was on and we had a "power-flick" which lasted long enough to reboot the computers. Well, this 'finicky' one didn't boot back up, exhibiting the same behavior as before. So I unplugged it, opened it up, looked around again, didn't see anything (CPU not loose, capacitor caps look OK, everything plugged in tight, etc), so I plugged everything back up and it worked. Then it happened again a couple days later, and it wouldn't boot back up, same thing. So I decided to try just unplugging the AC power cord to the PSU for a minute, then plugging it back in and seeing what would happen. It worked. So it seems that cutting it off from any power for a bit of time seems to reset it enough to make it work. So. Does this sound like a CMOS thing or a PSU thing or something else anyone can think of off the top of their head? I'm only asking to see if anyone has noticed this before. Not assuming (or looking for) that someone will diagnose the problem over the net. Only checking for similar behavior and any guidance in the right direction. Thanks, jab3 |
#2
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On Thu, 22 Sep 2005 10:38:39 -0500, jab3
wrote: I left a message month or so back about a problem I was/am having with one of my computers. After being on for a while (I normally leave my computers on, this particular one started this behavior couple months ago), the computer will basically stop working. As in, the light will still be on and the screen blank, but nothing will bring it back. Rebooting doesn't work; not beeps; no nothing, except the PSU fan being on. I received some advice from some of you, one of which was from Kony saying to test the PSU with multi-meter. Haven't gotten my hands on one of those yet and I've been leaving the computer off most of the time now until I can devote some time to figuring out the problem. However, recently it was on and we had a "power-flick" which lasted long enough to reboot the computers. Well, this 'finicky' one didn't boot back up, exhibiting the same behavior as before. So I unplugged it, opened it up, looked around again, didn't see anything (CPU not loose, capacitor caps look OK, everything plugged in tight, etc), so I plugged everything back up and it worked. Then it happened again a couple days later, and it wouldn't boot back up, same thing. So I decided to try just unplugging the AC power cord to the PSU for a minute, then plugging it back in and seeing what would happen. It worked. So it seems that cutting it off from any power for a bit of time seems to reset it enough to make it work. So. Does this sound like a CMOS thing or a PSU thing or something else anyone can think of off the top of their head? I'm only asking to see if anyone has noticed this before. Not assuming (or looking for) that someone will diagnose the problem over the net. Only checking for similar behavior and any guidance in the right direction. Most likely the power supply. Can't think of anything else it would be offhand, but there might be a lesser chance it's something else instead. You might strip the system down to bare essentials, underclock it if possible, and disconnect anything that might use 5VSB, for example a network card, PS2 or USB devices, and then try to recreate these failure scenarios. If it then still does this, odds start swaying towards the motherboard. Sometimes motherboards do have flaws in waking up from power management modes and you might see if your board manufacturer has any bios notes that would seem to address a related issue. I'd still scutinize the power supply first and last, though. |
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