PureBasic Forums - English

Im having a little trouble of late trying to get my PC started up. Basically what is happening is that when i press the power button on the front the PC seems to get power for about 1 second then just shuts down. If i turn the switch at the plug socket off then on again the press the power button on the PC it boots fine. Sometimes i have to repeat this procedure a few times to get it to boot. Any idea what the problem could be? The other day i heard a crack from the PC and it suddenly switched off (lost power), i thought it was a knackered surge protecter, so i threw that away, but now im having these troubles... What do u reckon, PSU prob???

Two things to check and possibly eliminate...

First, I have frequently seen the "reset" button begin to stick at or nearly closed. When the system powered on, the slight vibrations would cause the reset switch to make contact causing a similar situation to that you describe.

Second, front panel on/off switches tend to have problems maintaining contact sometimes when they aren't being used to turn the system on/off (using the surge suppressor switch instead). Sometimes a few good cycles of the on/off switch eliminates the "corrosion" and the switch resumes good contact.

And, finally, make certain the CPU cooling fan is functioning properly. Your shutdown may have come from the CPU protecting itself from over heating.

Of course, there is also the possibily that the power supply is weakening.

Recently I had a system exhibiting the same symptons in for repair. Sometimes it would boot properly, sometimes it would run about 1 to 5 seconds and shut down. Finally pinned it down to a marginal NIC, replaced that and it has been fine ever since.

Finally pinned it down to a marginal NIC

Whats that?

Sorry for the abbreviation....

Network Interface Card

aha, of course! I'll take another look later, thanks!

If you want to check if the power button is faulty, open the machine and 'borrow' the reset switch as the power button (but don't connect the power switch to the reset)!

Although it might by awkward to run up the machine using the reset button, in a few days you will know if the physical switch is the problem.

it could be your power supply or
your motherboard there have been reports of a capacitor problems in alot of motherboard companies maybe that crack is a capacitor blowing it cap :O

yup it was a faulty PSU. all better now.