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Hi, I have a strange problem.
When I turn off my PC, I can't turn it on right away.
The thing is that when I press the power button the HDD light flashes on for a little time and after that there's nothing.
No fans turn on, nothings seems to start.
When I wait about 5 minutes and press the power button again, it starts normally (meanwhile pressing power button has no effect).
Also since the startup problem I have been experiancing some random reboots. Few, but still.

Computer's configuration is:
Motherboard: M955G (FSB up to 800 MHz, DDRAM up to 400 MHz, SATA support, up to 8xAGP etc.).
Processor: 2.4GHz Intel Celeron (533 MHz FSB, 256KB cache).
RAM: 1x256MB 333MHz DDRAM
HDD: 1x40GB SATA HDD
Graphics: ATI Radeon 9800SE AIW VIVO 128MB 256bit
400w power supply.

I have checked the switch and all wires seem to be connected so the problem lies somewhere else. (After a delay I can turn on computer even by "hotwireing" it by using a simple cord or by switch: it works both ways)

P.S. I cannot set my AGP speed to 8x because when I do, computer crashes altogether when I run some 3D app.
Currently I'm using 4xAGP and Fastwrite is off.

Have you got any clue what to do, because I don't anymore. :confused:

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by hittingrabbit

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Generated

A short, focused diagnosis to narrow this down, building on points from and the symptoms reported by .

First, check the PSU control signals rather than guessing parts. With the PSU plugged in and its rear switch ON (system off), verify the standby rail (+5VSB) with a multimeter between the purple wire and ground. Then, briefly pull the green PS_ON wire to ground to force the PSU on and watch whether the main rails appear and the grey PWR_OK line goes high after a short delay. If +5VSB is absent or PWR_OK is momentary/absent, the PSU’s control/hold-up circuitry is likely failing. If unsure or uncomfortable probing live connectors, use a dedicated PSU tester or swap in a known-good unit.

If the PSU seems to try and then cut out (HDD LED blink then nothing), bench-test with a minimal configuration: CPU, one RAM stick, and nothing else (remove drives, extra PCI/AGP cards and front-panel headers). If the system stays up, add devices back one at a time to find the culprit. Moving the AGP card to another machine will quickly show whether the card itself causes crashes under load.

Also do a careful visual inspection for bulging or leaking capacitors on both the PSU and the motherboard. Run Memtest86 to rule out RAM errors and review any OS crash dumps or Event Viewer entries for clues. If electrical tests point to the PSU or you find bad caps, replace the PSU with a quality unit and retest before chasing a motherboard swap. Update the BIOS only after power stability is confirmed.

Member Avatar for hittingrabbit

could be several problems the first is a possible bad power supply.
secondly it could be the wiring for your buttons are backwards after unplugging your computer check the connection of your power button + and - you can switch them to test if it doesnt light up at all then unplug the machine again and switch them back.
Also in the matter of your 8x graphics mode this may simply be your bios settings make sure you know what memory buss frequency your graphics card operates at and change it appropriatly,check if the correct voltage is set.
core speed is important never over clock the voltage unless your sure that it will be stable as this can burnout your graphics card.
In certain cases ive up'd the voltage on video cards and made the system more stable but thats your call.
If the power supply isnt functioning correctly it will cause random reboots,additionally it may not be providing enough power to your graphic card to operate 8x.

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