Strange behavior booting up

Discussion in 'General Hardware' started by Remington, Jan 28, 2009.

  1. Remington

    Remington Geek Trainee

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    Since a last week I'm experiencing a strange behavior on my Computer.

    Some Times when it turn it, it doesn't boot up. No POST, No Beep, No signal to the monitor. A Red light on the Motherboard is on Telling me The CPU Temp ist to high. The fans work really fast.

    Then I turn it of wait a couple of seconds, I turn it on again and all works nice.

    Does any of you know what this could be?

    I'm suspecting the PSU is the cause, but i'm not sure.

    My specs are:
    Motherboard: XFX nforce 790i ultra
    CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300
    CPU coole: ASUS Silen Square EVO
    PSU: bequiet dark power pro 550w
    Geforce 8800GT (512 Mb)
    RAM: 4x Team Xtreem 1GB DDR3
    1x DVD-RW/DVD+RW Drive
    1x SATA HDD
    1x 140mm Turbo Fan
    1x 140mm LED Fan
    1x 120mm LED Fan

    There are also at least 4 USB devices always connected
     
  2. Sniper

    Sniper Administrator Staff Member

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    Strange behawior booting up

    hmm, could be the PSU, does it make any difference if you remove certain devices from the system e.g. USB devices, DVD drive and then trying to boot-up?

    Is there any chance of the power button malfunctioning, maybe? Did you make any changes to the system last wee e.g. add additional devices?
     
  3. Remington

    Remington Geek Trainee

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    Strange behawior booting up

    I didn't install anything new last week. That is what it makes so strange.

    I read somewhere that PSU's loose some power with the time. However my
    PSU is not that old. Maybe 10 Months.

    I don't think the power button is malfunctioning, because when I press
    it some LED on the motherboard go on (memory power, main power, CPU temp)
    , the fans begin to operate and the HDD light goes on.

    I also noticed there is some dust on the CPU cooler.

    I'll clean the dust, remove some devices and post the result here.
     
  4. Remington

    Remington Geek Trainee

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    Yesterday I cleaned up the dust and removed all USB devices but the keyboard and the WLAN stick. It didn't boot the whole time, with the behavior I described before. I was beginning to thing the motherboard was fried.

    Today I decided to try once more. This time I removed 3 RAM sticks, all the Front panel connectors (HD audio, Firewire, USB) and the optical drive. It booted without Problems.

    What do you think the problem is? Is the PSU not generating enough power?
     
  5. Sniper

    Sniper Administrator Staff Member

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    That's one possibility, one or more of the ram sticks could be damaged, run [google]memtest[/google] to check if you get any errors.

    Now that your at a working state, put the components back in one at a time.
     
  6. Remington

    Remington Geek Trainee

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    I don't think it's a memory related problem. It works fine a couple of days with only one memory stick. It also works with two (I didn't try with more than two). But sometimes (with one or two memory sticks) it made the same thing again.

    Since Friday I wasn't able to boot it anymore. With only one memory stick it didn't boot. I removed all memory sticks, but it still behaves the same way (instead of saying, hey where is my memory).
     
  7. Support1

    Support1 Geek Trainee

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    It seems that the power supply needs changing.
     
  8. Net Jockey

    Net Jockey Geek Trainee

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    Things to think about...in relation to the negative effects of heat on the computer...That can be caused by the power supply.

    Manufacturers test their PSU's at a set temperature...from this their rating is determined... for most this No. is 25 degrees Celsius...which falls short of the temperature that most computers are capable of achieving.

    Given that a PSU will actually lose 2-5 watts per one degree of heat above the 25 Degree Celsius testing temperature...coupled with the fact that computers tend to run at 10 degrees higher than room temperature... In the summer time when the room temperature can easily reach 80 degrees F... your computer will be running at 33 Degrees C. or 90 Degrees F.

    So the...math can make...your 500 watt power supply into a 460 watt unit.

    In addition to this...what needs to be taken into account is that each degree that your computer components are operating at...under powered...adds more heat to the equation.

    Consider also...the possibility...that ratings given by the manufacturer of single components...such as graphics cards...need to be treated with skepticism...Manufacturers may minimize support issues and under rate the power required...in order to make a larger profit.

    The above has not taken into account...the issue of high quality vs poor quality units...Power supplies convert voltages from wall outlets to lower levels used by the PC. During this conversion, some power is lost as heat. The efficiency level of the PSU determines how much extra power must be put into the power supply to run the PC. A high quality PSU can help reduce the noise and heat generated within a computer system. The higher the efficiency rating the less heat the PSU has to deal with.

    Therefore heat is the computers enemy...The hotter the temperature your PSU is forced to run at...the poorer the supply of power the rest of the components will receive...which has been known to lead to such things as crashes, freezing, rebooting, BSOD’s, and video distortion, as well as partial and complete failure of other components.

    The fact is very few PSU’s are capable of producing the wattage that the companies advertise.

    I suggest...a quality 550w PSU...as the minimum one should purchase...to provide power to a PCIE card. But for a very good comprehension of recommended brand names, wattage, and models in listed categories...Plus much more...check out this link. Power Supply Information and Selection - Tech Support Forum
     
  9. BoBBYI986

    BoBBYI986 Geek

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    yea sounds like psu. if you got another computer, try connectin your atx 24 pin power connector to the other computer and see if behaves the same. then you will know for sure its psu.
     
  10. gazaway

    gazaway Geek Trainee

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    OK dude, why do you copy paste the same thing into every post? Redundancy isn't a good thing. Post it once and put a link to it or something.
     

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