[SOLVED] PC Turning off and on after powering.

[Dusky Crow]

I've had a weird problem recently. My PC will turn off and on constantly after powering it on via the power button on the front of the case. I haven't counted how many times it will cycle through an off and on state, but it will do it about maybe 5 or more times before it finally boots up as normal and gets to the Windows login screen. I thought maybe it was a dust issue after looking into it, and dusted it with essentially a powerful handheld leafblower. Very clean in there now, although I didn't take out any components for thorough cleaning. Plugged it back in, and the issue still persists. I thought maybe it's the PSU, so I went to PCpartpicker and put in all my components or similar to see if maybe my PSU just hasn't been the right wattage this whole time and is just now showing signs. Website says it is fine and compatible with all the given parts. So that's not the issue. I'm not experienced enough to give a proper opinion, but it could be possible the PSU is showing signs of age as i've had it since 2013 and have done some heavy gaming on it.

One person has said it could also be the OS being corrupted or even the CPU temps getting to high. I don't know about the OS, as I haven't noticed any issues with aside from the actual system turning off and on, but for the CPU I can game for hours on it no problem and the issue only seems to be on startup. I'll drop a list of my components here and if you need anything else, i'll be more than happy to.

Component list via Speccy:
Operating System
Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
CPU
Intel Core i5 3570K @ 3.40GHz 27 °C
Ivy Bridge 22nm Technology
RAM
16.0GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 800MHz (9-11-11-29)
Motherboard
Gigabyte Technology Co. Ltd. Z77-HD3 (Intel Core i5-3570K CPU @ 3.40GHz) 27 °C
Graphics
2367 (1920x1080@60Hz)
X191W (1440x900@75Hz)
4095MB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (Gigabyte) 35 °C
Storage
931GB Western Digital WDC WDS100T2B0A-00SM50 (SATA (SSD)) 23 °C
931GB Western Digital WDC WD10EZEX-60WN4A0 (SATA ) 26 °C
Optical Drives
No optical disk drives detected
Audio
Realtek High Definition Audio

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

Hey there,

So out of all the things you've listed, the one thing you haven't is the PSU. Given it's a power on/off issue, it's likely the problem is the PSU.

You can't simply rule out a PSU as the problem, because on some site, it says the PSU is sufficient. Not all PSU's are made equal, and some are downright dangerous. Depending on which one you have, it's very possible it's PSU related.

The fact it's already 5 years old, is very symptomatic. Unless you bought a high end gold rated unit in 2013, is already an indicator. An average budget type PSU, will only have a warranty of 3-5 years max. Gold units and reputable brands will have a 7-10 year warranty. It's likely the PSU is failing. PSU's degrade over time, and the power output, and efficiency too.

The PSU is also the heart of your PC, and will need to be replaced from time to time, unless you go with a quality unit.

 

[Dusky Crow]

Sorry, I thought the PSU was listed in there. I believe the PSU is a CX500 80 plus Bronze Certified PSU.
I was thinking the PSU is the problem as well. Is there any possible way to test if the PSU is the problem before I drop some money on a new one? I'll probably wait a while anyway to see if it manages to fix itself.

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

Is there any possible way to test if the PSU is the problem before I drop some money on a new one?

Sadly no. Well, that's not entirely true. You can use a multimeter to to test, but it's an expense to buy one, and may be easier to just replace the PSU.

I'd suggest swapping it out. Maybe a friend could lend you theirs for the purpose of testing. Or perhaps bring to local repair shop and get them to swap it out.

The CX (2013) bronze isn't a great PSU. Not the worst either, but if it's that old, chances are it's failing now.

IMO opinion, replacing it with a good quality unit, will solve your problem. Something like an EVGA 550w G3, or Seasonic Focus Plus/ Corsair RMx/Rmi/TXM These PSU's are reputable top quality Gold units that will last 7-10 years, and will be good for future builds too.

 

[Dusky Crow]

Alright, i'll probably invest in a PSU then and see if that will fix the issue. If not i'm sure i'll be back on here with more narrowed results.

 

[Dusky Crow]

So here's an update to what is occurring now. I turned off my PC once again to sleep, and now it just didn't want to boot at all. It cycled through off and on 13 times before it finally had a consistent power. But it didn't display anything. Turn it off again, same thing, just cycled through and eventually stagnated. Now booting doesn't seem to be an issue. I was never able to see if it went to BIOS on my main monitor due to it only displaying if Windows displayed for whatever reason, but now I see BIOS on my other monitor. According to BIOS, it said I believe something along the lines of my hardware configuration was wrong. I clicked the option that said "Correct hardware configuration and then boot." rather than reboot, and now it just went straight to Windows like nothing happened.

So now this is completely out of my territory and I have no inkling of what is wrong. Since BIOS said something is wrong with the hardware to make it immediately go to that screen, i'm inclined to believe it's a hardware issue. But honestly, I have no clue. I will see if I can mimic the results again and come back. If not, welp, guess i'm screwed.

Edit/Update: Alright, so after some more testing, I was able to mimic the results. The computer still had powering issues and went through weird states of power again even after BIOS fixing whatever it fixed. After it cycled through power a few times, it went to the Windows blue screen that displays " 🙁 " with the error message "inaccessible boot device." It then went to Windows diagnostic/auto repair. I decided that this was definitely a case of corrupted data because I haven't noticed any hardware issues and the power was never a problem even under heavy load. So I decided to let Windows reinstall/repair itself at the cost of all of my programs being deleted. I booted it up and voila, it works now. No constantly cycling boot problems. Although, I have only tested it once because i'm exhausted and still worried it will goof again. If it does, well i'll be back.

Conclusion: The issue of the computer turning off/on after powering on was possibly caused by a corrupted boot device/Windows operating system. After eventually being able to go into Windows repair, the computer reinstalled Windows effectively solving the problem.

For anyone else with the same issue, make sure your monitor displays information if the computer is on. If it does not, check it on a different monitor or make sure it's plugged in correctly. I was unable to see BIOS initially until I unplugged my main monitor, misleading me to believe it was a different issue entirely.

 

[Dusky Crow]

The end to the madness. So turns out, it was the PSU. Still got the boot issue even after windows correcting itself. Bought a 550W gold PSU and threw it in. The issue is now finally resolved.