[SOLVED] Fairly New PC with two problems, what is happening?

[alsin]

My system was built around January/February 2019, all the components were brand new.
2 Problems, not sure if they are related:

1. Starting from March, my system won't boot when I press the power switch. I tried many things and eventually I found out that the following procedure works:

switching off the PSU ->
unplugging the power cable for 10 minutes+ ->
plugging it back in ->
switching the PSU on ->
pressing the power switch.

Since I found this pseudo solution I haven't been seeking help, but I have to do the above procedure every time I boot the system.

2. Several weeks ago, my system started crashing and shutting down a lot when I was playing A Plague Tale: Innocence. It crashed into "no signal" state (with MB lights on), and I have to do the unplug and plug thing mentioned above in order to boot the system back up. I realized that the crashes happened when there was a change in interface, for example when a Steam achievement pops up or when I died and reload a checkpoint. This is important because just a few days ago my system started crashing during other games as well, namely Battlefield 1, Battlefield V and Overwatch, and most of the crashes happened at a change of interface (although not all of them are). For example, when I died in Overwatch, the instance it switches to death recap my system crashes.

About two weeks before the crashes happen, I upgraded my monitor to a 240hz one and I added a second SSD (Intel 660p), but I am not sure if that's relevant. Old monitor was Acer GN246HL (I was running it at 60 Hz), new monitor is Acer XF250Q Cbmiiprx (running at 240 Hz).

I have googled for solution and people have suggested that it might either be MB or PSU capacitor problem, but I am still not sure. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Specs:
OS: Windows 10 OEM Pro 64 bit
MB: Gigabyte Z390 AORUS Pro WiFi (BIOS Version F8)
CPU: Intel i7-9700k (stock)
RAM: 2x 16GB Corsair Vengeance LPX 3200MHz
GPU: Gigabyte RTX 2070 Windforce (stock)
SSD1: Intel 660p 2TB (in M2A slot)
SSD2: Adata XPG SX6000 Pro 512GB (in M2M slot)
Air Cooling: Noctua NH-D15
PSU: Cooler Master MWE 650W 80Plus Gold
Case: Corsair Crystal Series 570X
Monitor: Acer XF250Q Cbmiiprx

 

[rocktalkrock]

The first solutin you are using, switching off the PSU, is clearing the CMOS on your motherboard, so you are resetting the BIOS to default each time.

 

[Karadjgne]

No. Switching off the psu does just that, removes residual power usage by timers, USB, wake on lan/USB etc. Cmos power is held by the cmos battery, only removal of that (for a while) or shorting the jumper pins will reset the cmos.

I'd suspect a system file/driver is one issue, you could try (Win+X, run CMD, cd\, SFC /scannow) to fix any bunk system files, also do a thorough cleaning of pc + registry using ccleaner (default settings) then reset cmos by temporarily shorting the jumper (refer to your manual for specific procedure)

What complicates things is you are only experiencing a psudo shutdown, your pc isn't fully shutting down, there's still some sort of load applied to the psu, which keeps the psu in an active but minimal power state. This makes the power button useless, you literally need to unplug the psu, allow the residual charge to drain, which releases the relays and the psu physically now changes from an open/active state to a closed/shutdown state.

 

[alsin]

First of all, thanks for the detailed reply! It feels like I am finally getting somewhere.

I will try your suggestion and get back to you later today. But, to your expertise, does this mean that it is more of a software problem than hardware problem? Is faulty capacitor still a possibility? Thanks again!

 

[alsin]

No. Switching off the psu does just that, removes residual power usage by timers, USB, wake on lan/USB etc. Cmos power is held by the cmos battery, only removal of that (for a while) or shorting the jumper pins will reset the cmos.

I'd suspect a system file/driver is one issue, you could try (Win+X, run CMD, cd\, SFC /scannow) to fix any bunk system files, also do a thorough cleaning of pc + registry using ccleaner (default settings) then reset cmos by temporarily shorting the jumper (refer to your manual for specific procedure)

What complicates things is you are only experiencing a psudo shutdown, your pc isn't fully shutting down, there's still some sort of load applied to the psu, which keeps the psu in an active but minimal power state. This makes the power button useless, you literally need to unplug the psu, allow the residual charge to drain, which releases the relays and the psu physically now changes from an open/active state to a closed/shutdown state.

I have gone through the things you suggested and the crashes seem to have stopped. Thanks a lot!

But the boot problem still persist. One detail I did not mention is that when I shut down the PC normally, all the lights on my MB turn off, with the only exception being an orange light at the LAN cable connector that indicates a LAN cable is connected. Is this normal or relevant in any way?