[SOLVED] PC takes multiple attempts to boot to windows

[Jim_The_Great]

Greetings all. I've had this problem for about a month now where my desktop PC will get stuck on the bios screen and won't load windows. At first it happened occasionally but by this point it happens every time I boot (but not on restarts). I press the power key, hear the beep, fans turn on, LEDs on peripherals turn on too but it won't make it past the bios screen. In fact it freezes there and doesn't let me access boot options or bios menu, so all I can do is hold down the power key and try again. After 2-3 attempts it usually manages to load windows and after that everything works fine. A related issue that has happened a couple of times so far is displaying static on the monitor after booting and everything freezing completely. Only thing that works in this case is plugging the whole thing off. I should also mention I've had a problem with static electricity when touching metal parts on my peripherals, especially in the winter. Caused my keyboard to become unresponsive and headphones to make white noise. It doesn't happen very often anymore and I wonder if the problem has somehow moved to the computer itself, although that's a wild guess and idk much about this stuff. It's quite an old system except for the SSD, GPU and PSU which I had to upgrade 3 years ago. So hardware failure is likely.

i5 4570
Asus B85M-E
Kingston 2x4GB DDR3 RAM
Radeon RX 580
Corsair 750W PSU
Samsung EVO 860 500GB
WD 465GB HDD

Any help or even guesses very much appreciated.

 

[Lutfij]

Corsair is the brand of the PSU, while 750W is the advertised wattage of the unit, can you include the model of the PSU used in your build listed above? As for your motherboard, what BIOS version are you working with? Using Samsung's Magician app, see if your SSD is pending any firmware updates.

Only thing that works in this case is plugging the whole thing off. I should also mention I've had a problem with static electricity when touching metal parts on my peripherals, especially in the winter.
See if you can call in a certified electrician and scope out the wiring in your crib since a lack of grounding in your wiring can and will lead to static charge build up and eventually prevent a system from powering up.

 

[Jim_The_Great]

Corsair is the brand of the PSU, while 750W is the advertised wattage of the unit, can you include the model of the PSU used in your build listed above? As for your motherboard, what BIOS version are you working with? Using Samsung's Magician app, see if your SSD is pending any firmware updates.

Only thing that works in this case is plugging the whole thing off. I should also mention I've had a problem with static electricity when touching metal parts on my peripherals, especially in the winter.
See if you can call in a certified electrician and scope out the wiring in your crib since a lack of grounding in your wiring can and will lead to static charge build up and eventually prevent a system from powering up.

Thanks for the quick reply. I couldn't find the PSU model when I posted, it's the CX750. Motherboard bios version is 0303. I actually didn't have Samsung's software installed, I downloaded it and it showed me an available update. Installed it but same story, thought it only took two attempts this time. As for wiring I had a cousin of mine who's an electrician install a new outlet and ground it where I have my PC plugged in for this exact reason. I'm also using a surge protector power strip in case that's relevant.

 

[Satan-IR]

Have you tried turning it on without the surge protector. Sometimes they don't play nicely with PSUs.

 

[Jim_The_Great]

Have you tried turning it on without the surge protector. Sometimes they don't play nicely with PSUs.

Gave this a try but no luck. What I found out is that in both cases (plugged in surge protector and plugged straight in outlet) the first boot right after plugging works flawlessly. However when I shut down and boot again for the second time the problem persists.

 

[Satan-IR]

Gave this a try but no luck. What I found out is that in both cases (plugged in surge protector and plugged straight in outlet) the first boot right after plugging works flawlessly. However when I shut down and boot again for the second time the problem persists.

Considering everything you said so far in the thread this seems likely to be a PSU issue. Especially as it happens in restarts (warm boots) not cold boots as it were.

Is another PSU available to check with the rest of the system? Also it might help pinpoint whether the PSU is the culprit if you can take the motherboard ouf of the case/chasis and put on a noncondictive material/surface and try booting it with minimum essentials using iGPU (MOBO + CPU + RAM + PSU without the VGA and without any drives).

 

[Jim_The_Great]

Considering everything you said so far in the thread this seems likely to be a PSU issue. Especially as it happens in restarts (warm boots) not cold boots as it were.

Is another PSU available to check with the rest of the system? Also it might help pinpoint whether the PSU is the culprit if you can take the motherboard ouf of the case/chasis and put on a noncondictive material/surface and try booting it with minimum essentials using iGPU (MOBO + CPU + RAM + PSU without the VGA and without any drives).

I'll try with a different PSU when I can find some time. If it's indeed PSU related do you think it's something that can be fixed or do I need to get a new one? And is it likely for any other components to be damaged if continue using my PC like this?

 

[Satan-IR]

I'll try with a different PSU when I can find some time. If it's indeed PSU related do you think it's something that can be fixed or do I need to get a new one? And is it likely for any other components to be damaged if continue using my PC like this?

1- If it's indeed PSU-related it's not possible to say whether it can be mended or not unless closely inspected and tested by a trained and equipped technician.
Although most of the time it's a result of component ageing, (just wear and tear) and not fixable and at other times it's not worth the hassle and/or the cost. I'd recommend replacing it with a good-quality unit.

The PSU is often times considered to be the heart of the system. A decent good-quality one is capable of providing the nominal power on all rails within the ATX specifications without much fluctuation and when it fails it goes quietly without any collateral.

2- A PSU which is faulty (be it because of age or any other reason) and is not performing like it should can fail at any time and yes it can/does damage other components.

 

[Jim_The_Great]

1- If it's indeed PSU-related it's not possible to say whether it can be mended or not unless closely inspected and tested by a trained and equipped technician.
Although most of the time it's a result of component ageing, (just wear and tear) and not fixable and at other times it's not worth the hassle and/or the cost. I'd recommend replacing it with a good-quality unit.

The PSU is often times considered to be the heart of the system. A decent good-quality one is capable of providing the nominal power on all rails within the ATX specifications without much fluctuation and when it fails it goes quietly without any collateral.

2- A PSU which is faulty (be it because of age or any other reason) and is not performing like it should can fail at any time and yes it can/does damage other components.

Appreciate all the info so far. It turns out the surge protector has a grounded light and the outlet I thought was grounded is not. I'm going to have an electrician check it and then look into the PSU side of things if that doesn't solve it. In the meantime I'll make sure to avoid rebooting my PC as much as I can.

 

[Jim_The_Great]

Alright, updating the BIOS seems to have fixed this so far. Connecting the computer to a grounded outlet made no difference and so I gave the BIOS a shot before replacing the PSU. I'll wait a few more days to see if it recurs before marking the thread solved.