Question PC sometimes is not turning on

ashtekaros

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So, my pc is sometimes not turning on . i have the impression that when i remove components such as the gpu or monitor cable the chance of it turning on increases.

the source of the pc is 650 watts and it does NOT turn off autonomously (without me turning off the computer).

motherboard is an asus prime H310M-E R2.0

PROCESSOR IS AN I5 8500

GPU is a geforce 1060 gtx

the source is new (3 months old) . and it does not give problems other than not turning on sometimes. is the problem necessarily the new source or there is another probable cause?

is there a way to check if the problem is on the source?
 

avatar_of_tenebrae_3

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Jan 27, 2021
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Definitely FIX IT. Don't just keep trying your luck. It could be something bad that is only working due to "careful industry awareness and design"

Allot of things can cause that. I would not immediately finger PS replacement. However if you have a spare I'd try the spare only after considering quickly a short list (and this is to avoid labor of replacing it only to find that wasn't the real problem)

* failed power supply (old)

* cards not fully seated

(cheap cases are not ATX by sub millimeter. this means you seat your card correctly and when you tighten the screw it tilts your card slightly. but SOME cards don't like that and slighly is enough to cause no boot - or even runtime problems (strange irq messages))

(some cards makers don't print their pci leads well so that only a slight tilt causes a cross-wire, be lucky if no damage occurs. ususally not. i have a video card that is infamous for this - i can't put in the screw in any ATX case i've owned)

* cables - cheap cables can cause (HD, board, other) to intermittenly not get power. but due to new ATX standards that also could cause a total loss of power (auto shutdown of power) until next power on - depending on which cable is intermittent

* powersupply not supplying enough watts. an OLD power supply won't supply enough watts. but when you turn on you get (inductance / starting load) and extra watts are needed. this means and old 350W that worked in a machine requiring 250W, put in a PC that does require 350W: may not always boot

* fan problems. (some) new supplies will refuse to boot if the fan doesn't spin at the right speed. (moreso on the cpu fan - but perhaps also on the ps fan)

you might need a fan that spins at the CORRECT rpm to boot. this means if you pick any generic fan "randomly" it may spin much faster or slower than spec: and the PS will refuse to supply power to the board

* power cord. cheap chinese powercord often don't have 18 AWG printed on them (cause they aren't!). but also the female male may not seat well or simply be intermittent. Using the right AWG, if your an avid gamer, will be slighly easier on your powersupply parts - it'll last longer. I suspect you won't have a "warm cable" problem if you don't. But still - use the cable UL suggested. (either cable or PS can have an issue where wiggling the power cable on back of power supply causes the power supply to turn off. infact i currently have that exactly on one linux box)

* power strip. these also can be intermittent as can be your wall connector. make sure you use power source you have something else plugged into so you can visually see whether or not power is being removed

* case problem. if you assembled this: it can be the case you didn't install the risers correctly or at all. this can cause motherboard shorting to the case (and sparks) if the risers allow any metal pin to touch the case on back of board. (or maybe your disk HD board is touching the case - as they are unprotected on one side from this. or maybe you have dangling connectors which can make contact with cards or case. or two cards which as so close they can touch each other, and so on)

you must install all risers on some MB and the risers must make electrical connection only on the solder seats: perhaps the MB isn't getting ground where it needs it or it is doing so intermittently. some boards might even come with "grommets" to provide a riser WITHOUT metal connection. to be brief I'll say ... that's a whole topic. i myself did have a build where i had to "take it all back apart" because a riser nut was too wide for the board and did cause a problem (luckily the board survived)

(arcane - when you need an electrician) Your home's breaker panel should have (inductive / hight noise / washer-dryer) equipment/loads on one bus, and non-noise/inductive (radio/pc/tv) on the other. with homebuilding being rapid yet cheap they don't always follow the rules. If you were on a really noisy bus a good PS might refuse to turn on - say if you had faulty equipment on that same bus that was turned on and running causing allow of noise on the whole bus)

(arcane - when you need an electrician) "loose ground" in some outlet causing V drop everywhere. older screw sockets when removed for (reasons) can cause wires to be loose.

(arcane - smart breaker acting funny) Is your home new an updated? do you have smart breakers? a smart breaker, if overloaded, may shut off power if it gets an immediate inrush of the wrong kind or simply your home circuit/branch is mis-wired or already near it's limit. it also means if the smart part is faulty it will just act unusually. usually you'd have to manually reset it - not always.

If it ends up that you have an outlet issue, I cannot stress enough not to follow youtube advice or to do it yourself unless you actually studied fire NFPA / NEC electrical code thoroughly.

There are many "circuit college boys" / arduino hackers who have no idea what the difference between neutral, ground to earth, and ground path to breaker means. Nor 100 important fire matters such as "brittle copper presenting a real risk".

(note you didn't say if you hear the fan running or if the motherboard beeps, so i included a few extra for those non-boot no-video cases)

* motherboard issues. the new "ATX" motherboards require the power supply "tell them everything is ok" before taking power (or vice versa). because of this - if either "sense a problem" the motherboard may never be powered on. (in this case however the PS fan should be spinning unless it has 0rpm fanspeed control ability). now for the nitty gritty: atx has a standard and both must agree and follow that standard correctly.

* cache memory or OB sdd card if these aren't seated the MB will refuse to boot. dmm too.

* dmm memory module the cpu has to connect "at speed" with your memory. if you bought the wrong memory for the board you have OR mixed memory brands in the same bank: it can cause the board to intermittenly SEE or NOT SEE the memory, causing intermittent failure to boot.

* jumpers. i hate to nit pick or make long list: but i have had a board with intermitten boot issues that came back to a simple JUMPER (small plastic block) which was flakey. put on a new jumper, board was fine.

* buggy bios. a thing of the past mostly, i hope.
 
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ashtekaros

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Jan 29, 2019
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(note you didn't say if you hear the fan running or if the motherboard beeps, so i included a few extra for those non-boot no-video cases)

* motherboard issues. the new "ATX" motherboards require the power supply "tell them everything is ok" before taking power (or vice versa). because of this - if either "sense a problem" the motherboard may never be powered on. (in this case however the PS fan should be spinning unless it has 0rpm fanspeed control ability). now for the nitty gritty: atx has a standard and both must agree and follow that standard correctly.

* cache memory or OB sdd card if these aren't seated the MB will refuse to boot. dmm too.

* dmm memory module the cpu has to connect "at speed" with your memory. if you bought the wrong memory for the board you have OR mixed memory brands in the same bank: it can cause the board to intermittenly SEE or NOT SEE the memory, causing intermittent failure to boot.

* jumpers. i hate to nit pick or make long list: but i have had a board with intermitten boot issues that came back to a simple JUMPER (small plastic block) which was flakey. put on a new jumper, board was fine.

* buggy bios. a thing of the past mostly, i hope.

guess the short answer is to briing it to a tech. but i will need to specify that the problem is not necessarily the source.

is 650 w bad or is it enough for the pc?

the source is labelled "atx rop" , dazz brand.
 

ashtekaros

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Jan 29, 2019
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there is also something i noticed, which is that when i press the button for the pc to turn on and i wait for some 30 or 40 seconds and press again ,it is sometimes turning on. is this indicative of some known problem ? perhaps on the motherboard and not on the source ?

thanks
 

avatar_of_tenebrae_3

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Jan 27, 2021
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is 650W enough

that deserves a separate question thread. add the max power consumption of each component. add a little to the result to be safe.

a power supply that isn't delivering enough watts will cause the computer to intermittently not boot - situationally - if it is on the borderline
 

avatar_of_tenebrae_3

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Jan 27, 2021
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pc to turn on and i wait for some 30 or 40 seconds and press again

again that could be not enough power.

however I trust your aware your pc has a sleep button feature? and that depending on how it's set you may have difficulties with the front button and become confused?

(pwr button questions were very common when atx/sleep motherboards first came out. today it should be easy to google about it)
 

ashtekaros

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again that could be not enough power.

however I trust your aware your pc has a sleep button feature? and that depending on how it's set you may have difficulties with the front button and become confused?

(pwr button questions were very common when atx/sleep motherboards first came out. today it should be easy to google about it)


perhaps the problem is indeed the power source because it seems i need to disconnect and reconnect the source cable for it to turn on.