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Problem description: Since around 1 week ago, my PC has been experiencing abnormal power-related issues. The first problem was that I tried to turn my PC on one day, but nothing seemed to happen. Closer inspection revealed that while the power LED would come on for about 1 second, it would quickly fade and stop powering on. This cycle of "attempt-to-power-on, fail, sit there for about 3-5 seconds, then repeat" continued for a good while. I tried holding down the power button to force it to turn off completely, but while this stopped the cycle, it didn't fix the issue. Eventually, the PC did power on after around 15 or 20 tries of pushing the power button - I did nothing differently. The closest analogy would literally be a car failing to start. Then, while using my PC normally (watching Netflix, I believe), my PC simply lost all power and turned off. No blue screen, no warnings of any sort, just off. Not restarted, completely off, like the plug had been pulled. This happened again a couple of days ago, then while I was watching Netflix last night, it froze and was unresponsive. This time, holding the power button down for 5 seconds and then powering back on seemed to resolve it. Now this evening when I came in to turn on my PC, the first "power cycle" problem happened again, even worse this time. I look inside the PC and I can see that a green LED on the board is always on during this cycle. A red LED flickers on briefly inside while it's trying to power on, but fades when the power stops. Unless I pull the plug, the green LED is the only constant thing. There are no other symptoms of my PC having trouble, other than a strange tendency of the colours on my monitor to go completely negative after closing some Silverlight video streams (Netflix, Prime Instant Video). The only way to resolve this is a restart of the PC, but I don't think this is related. But then again, all of my issues seem to revolve around Netflix - I can't see how it would cause this, but I suppose I shouldn't rule anything out. Attempted fixes: My first thought was it was my power supply. I removed my old one, replaced it with one that was 100W stronger and gave the rest of my PC a good dusting while I was in there (compressed air only). I didn't see any visible damage to any of the cables or the motherboard, the graphics card and RAM looked fine. But even after the replacement PSU, the same issues persist. This makes me think it might be a problem with either the switches on my case shorting in some fashion (since the reset button has zero effect during these cycle events) or my board being buggered in some way. I can't think of any tests for these, however. Recent changes: Nothing that might have caused this, no. Unless this is somehow graphics driver related, which I can't see happening before the PC can even POST. -- Operating system: Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-Bit System specs: Case: Coolermaster CM 690 II Lite Dominator Chassis CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K 3.3GHz (not overlocked) Mobo: ASUS P8P67 Intel P67 (REV B3) GPU: Asus nVidia GeForce GTX 760 RAM: 8GB Corsair XMS3 (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-10666 C9 1333MHz Old PSU: 520W Antec High Current Gamer HCG-520 New PSU: 620W Antec High Current Gamer HCG-620 SSD: Samsung 840 Series PRO 128GB HDD: 1TB Samsung HD103SJ SpinPoint F3 Location: UK I have Googled and read the FAQ: Yes - most people seem to be saying it's related to the PSU, which I have ruled out.
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Jul 6, 2015 17:31
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| # ? Apr 24, 2024 08:49 |
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Try booting with one stick of RAM at a time, and also check your CPU temps.
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Jul 6, 2015 19:58
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I'll give that a shot the next time I'm powering on the PC and it has this issue, or if it shuts down unexpectedly again. I didn't suspect RAM would be the issue, since it's failing to even POST during the power cycling and doesn't BSOD (not even a flicker) when it shuts off. As for my temps, I'm watching a Twitch stream at the moment and HWMonitor (I hope that's an OK tool?) shows my max CPU temp at around 50 degrees celsius and my GPU maxing at 30 or so. Nothing that would give me cause for alarm.
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Jul 6, 2015 20:14
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Checking the RAM is a very good idea, as well as the slots themselves - a bad memory slot can cause similar malfunctions even with good RAM. I'd also check all the USB ports and pins on the motherboard to make sure they are clear and the contacts look good - an intermittent short in a USB port could also cause similar behavior.
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Jul 7, 2015 04:24
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Putting all of these issues down in writing has helped me think about the bigger picture, so to speak. CaptainSarcastic's comment regarding a short with a USB port got me wondering if some other occurences might be related to this new one. I'd put it down to the buttons simply wearing out, but my speakers and my monitor (both of which are powered on the same strip as my PC) are both occasionally failing to power on. The speakers have been playing up for a few months, but the monitor only started a couple of weeks before the PC did. Am I overthinking this, or could this all be related? I'm still going to check everything you guys have suggested as soon as these issues re-occur, but I was lucky enough to have no problems when I was turning it on this evening. I'll also try to catch a video of it the next time it happens. Thanks for the responses so far.
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Jul 7, 2015 21:21
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Uh, yeah, get a new surge protector. Like do that immediately. It's possible that your PSU is shutting down to prevent damage to your computer.
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Jul 8, 2015 00:25
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grack posted:Uh, yeah, get a new surge protector. Like do that immediately. It's possible that your PSU is shutting down to prevent damage to your computer. Ordered. The trouble is that, due to the uniquely terrible socket placement in my computer room, the PC runs on an extension which is plugged into another extension. I'm very careful not to overload them, but I'm aware that it's still not the best of ideas. Normally all that's ever on simultaneously (even on standby) are my PC, monitor, speakers and PS3. On the first extension (the one closest to the wall socket) I keep my PS4, TV and Wii U. Also, new symptom (or possibly just a toned-down old one). Turned my PC on after work today, fans spun up but no POST or BIOS beep. Didn't power cycle like it usually did, so it took a little while for my brain to register that there was no beep to confirm everything was starting up. Held down the power button for 5 seconds, fully expecting this to be the time where I was opening up to check that RAM, but on the off chance I decided to see if it would power on normally after a second try. Sure enough, here I am, posting on that very PC, ordering a couple of new power strips from Amazon. Lastly, I checked online for a picture of my motherboard to see if I could determine what those LEDs were that I could see faintly through my case grill. The green one in the vicinity of my graphics card is probably just my graphics card, but the red one that only flickers briefly I think is the "RAM_OK" LED as seen here and here. God drat it I fix computers for a living, I thought I'd be better at handling this poo poo. Does anyone else get disproportionately nervous when it's their own stuff playing up, or is it just me? Anyway, I'll wait for these new power strips and check the RAM as soon as the symptoms repeat themselves properly. Again, thanks for the advice and let me know if I'm being dumb with regards to power strips or anything.
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Jul 8, 2015 19:08
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I gotta say that I would not be running a power setup like that. You are daisy-chaining 7 devices off a single socket and over two extension cords - that can't be clean power. If the power sockets are that badly located then I'd least get a high-rated extension cord and have it dedicated to just the PC devices, and use another for the TV and other consoles.
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Jul 8, 2015 23:33
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Agreed, the setup described is a little bit nuts. If it's getting to the point where devices are having fits over the power delivery something needs to be changed or you risk permanently damaging components. On the plus side it definitely seems that your PSU is doing it's job and shutting down the computer to prevent any damage due to sketchy power delivery.
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Jul 9, 2015 00:41
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Alright, by pure coincidence, the same day that the new power strips arrived, my PC started power cycling again. As promised, I've opened it up and checked the RAM and RAM slots, all the contacts on the motherboard for USB - everything looked fine, bar a little dust. More compressed air made sure it's now dust-free, then I tried putting the two sticks in the other two slots. I replaced the power strips, making sure to have as few devices on them as possible - the only things connected at the beginning were the PC and monitor. Powered it on, but the situation remained the same - perhaps even a little worse? I'm not sure. Instead of the constant power cycling, now all it would do is try to power up twice, then stop completely. Just to make sure it wasn't still the power, I tried plugging the PC directly into the wall socket, bypassing all the power strips - same result. I think that it's safe to assume it's not the power strips that are causing the issue and that maybe the buttons on my monitor and speakers really are just buggered. I'm not sure if the change in RAM slots has any relevance, but I did move the sticks closer. Whereas before it was "Processor -> Empty -> Stick -> Empty -> Stick", it's now "Processor -> Stick -> Empty -> Stick -> Empty". I am a damned idiot and didn't think to try booting with one stick at a time, like you mentioned. That is definitely the next thing I will try when this inevitably happens again. Luckily, persistence allowed me to get the PC started up again. No pattern, I just keep pressing the power button and eventually it starts, no errors or warnings. Another possibly new symptom - when I plugged my external HDD back in after my PC managed to start, it's not coming on at all. It is powered on the same strip as the PC, but if I remember right, it has a feature where it won't come on unless it detects power on the USB port. It's definitely plugged in, but completely unresponsive and not showing up on my PC at all. This might lend more credence to the USB short theory? Fake edit: Here's a video I took of the issue happening, not sure if it'll be any help, but it shows the power setup I have. Ignore the loud cheeps once or twice, that's just parrots. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFZZgYct6Ok
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Jul 10, 2015 14:41
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Alright, last night I was watching another Twitch stream and the PC just lost power again. No warning, no BSOD, just off dead. This time, I changed the RAM entirely - old sticks out, new sticks in. Tried to power up again. Same issue as in the video above, except this time the PC powered on after four cycles. The only other event worth speaking of is that when I turned on my PC the other day, the BIOS actually gave a series of error beeps. Except the sequence doesn't match any of the beep codes for my motherboard. I swear it was three short beeps I heard; only those, nothing else. It's possible that the PC lost power before it could complete its beeps, but there's nothing for my motherboard that matches three beeps alone. So I've ruled out: - Mains power (issue persists even when plugged directly into mains, have replaced power strips even so) - RAM slots (changed them over around a week ago using the same sticks) - RAM itself (just changed existing sticks for new ones, still power cycles) I suppose it could still be a USB short. Next time this happens, I'll remove all attached USB devices before trying to power up again. Can anyone think of anything else I might want to try before I finally just give in and buy a replacement motherboard and CPU? Thanks again for any advice and sorry for taking so long with this. Anxiety is a terrible thing.
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Jul 16, 2015 17:11
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Posting this from my spare netbook which I managed to get Windows 10 running on. Think my PC finally gave up the ghost, it's just power cycling endlessly now. Was watching SGDQ on Twitch last night, fell asleep, woke up to my PC having turned off. I'd been putting it to sleep over the past couple of days to try and avoid the cycling issue, but yesterday it shut down when trying to resume. After work this evening, nothing I did would get it out of the cycle. This time, I tried systematically unplugging all USB devices to see if any of them were causing the issue. Sadly, there was no change. At this point, unless it could somehow be my graphics card (which is pretty new) or my monitor (which is an ancient 26" Acer AL2623W that I love to bits despite its occasional bleeding pixels) I think it's safe to assume that it's some sort of board failure. I suppose I was due an upgrade at some point soon anyway. I've not tried booting into Windows after changing motherboards and processors since the Windows XP days, where the general advice was "don't". Has that changed with Windows 7? I'd rather not have to slave my SSD to back up things and re-install, but if that's what needs to be done, I'll bite the bullet.
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Jul 31, 2015 22:18
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Dragoon Knight posted:I've not tried booting into Windows after changing motherboards and processors since the Windows XP days, where the general advice was "don't". Has that changed with Windows 7? I'd rather not have to slave my SSD to back up things and re-install, but if that's what needs to be done, I'll bite the bullet. Still not recommended. You could try it if the new motherboard is very similar to the one being replaced. If it's not the same exact motherboard there will be issues because the drivers won't match up. If the two motherboards are different enough the OS won't even load. If they're similar enough the OS might load with errors and be acting strangely with instability etc.
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Aug 1, 2015 23:55
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Cheers, I'll stick with backing up a few essentials from my SSD and re-installing. Most of my content was stored on separate drive, so it won't be as much of a headache as it was the last time. I only hope that after all this, it doesn't end up being the case that's causing it.
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Aug 2, 2015 19:15
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| # ? Apr 24, 2024 08:49 |
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Whew, OK, posting from my PC once again, albeit from a completely different motherboard and CPU. Managed to salvage all of my data, bar a few programs that were installed to the SSD. For some reason, the Windows 7 DVD didn't let me just install over the previous installation; apparently, the partition tables were incompatible? Maybe a relic of my older, 2nd-Gen Core-i5 motherboard, but whatever. The only weird thing that's happened so far was when my PC did its first batch of Windows Updates (around 217 or so). After restarting and getting to 32% of Stage 5 of 5, the PC BSOD'd and hung. I forced it to power off and it wouldn't go back into Windows. A few checks later and for some reason, my SSD was no longer being detected. Not even by the BIOS. I powered everything off completely, opened up the case and double-checked the connections, but I couldn't see anything wrong. Powered everything back on again and it booted up, asked me if I wanted to start Windows normally (yes) and it continued right from where it left off, as if nothing had happened. I believe that the only conclusion we can draw here is that my PC is haunted. Thank you for your help, goons - I tend to lose my mind a bit when my own stuff goes haywire. I know it'll be another good month or two of stable performance before I can relax again, but your suggestions helped me get through the worst of it.
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Aug 6, 2015 02:17
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