[SOLVED] PC turns on for a second then turns off

[samsiun]

Hello there,

Today my PC has been turning on for a few seconds before turning itself off. When I press the power button, all fans (CPU fans, GPU fans, case fans, PSU fans) work properly, but after a few seconds everything shuts down. Sometimes it would show up the BIOS screen before turning off, but most of the time it would just turn on and off pretty much instantly.

I did have this exact problem a few weeks ago. What I did back then was unplugging the PC and cleaning it. Afterwards, it was able to boot, but it showed the "Reboot and select proper Boot Device" screen, which I fixed by using USB recovery to repair. It (somehow) works fine after that, but today the same problem came back. I'd like to pin down what to check first before doing anything.

Specs:
CPU: Intel i3-6100 3.7GHz + stock cooler
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H110M-DS2
RAM: Patriot Memory 8GB DDR4-2400
GPU: Zotac Nvidia GTX 1050Ti 4GB Mini (single fan)
PSU: FSP HEXA+ 500W
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 3.5" 1TB

Could it be the PSU is causing all this, or any other component that may be causing this? How do I check them? I've had this PC for 3 years, more or less. Any help would be much appreciated, thanks!

 

[AppleGwava]

Hello

Lets start with some escalating tests

Power Cycle ( Turn off your computer, Unplug/switch off)
Either Wait for about 15 mins or press the power button, It should attempt to turn on/light up which drains the capacitors of all residual power
Plug in and try booting again

Clearing Cmos/bios
This clears the Bios settings of the moterboard which can sometimes corrupt/have incorrect settings)

Opening up the side panel, look for a jumper that says clr cmos (at the bottom mid right)
Change the jumper to the clear position (aka bridging the pin to the clear position)
Wait for about 10 secs
Reset the position
Try booting up

Bare Minimun Rig
This uses the lease amount of components the computer needs to run to attempt to remove some problems

Remove the Gpu
Unplug the hard drive
Leave only 1 stick of ram ( Which i think you have only 1 )
Attempt to boot



I hope this helps
Happy Troubleshooting!
Alvis

 

[samsiun]

Bare Minimun Rig
This uses the lease amount of components the computer needs to run to attempt to remove some problems

Remove the Gpu
Unplug the hard drive
Leave only 1 stick of ram ( Which i think you have only 1 )
Attempt to boot

Hi Alvis, thanks for the help. Solution 1 and 2 resulted in the same error as before, I did those and it still turns itself off. However, solution 3 somehow worked, i went past POST and into the BIOS. It couldn't boot the first time I hit the power button but I suppose it's because I reset the CMOS (?). After that, I tried connecting the GPU, and after it works, the HDD as well. It boots normally now, which is weird since all I did is basically reseating the HDD SATA cables and GPU.

I'll reply again if anything happens in this week, but for now, thanks for the help!
By the way do I need to look into something more if this happens again? Maybe the HDD is dying, or any other?

UPDATE: It happened again. I ran it once and it worked, so since I thought it's fine, I unplugged everything and moved it back to its original location. I tried to boot it up, but as soon as I press the power button, it turns off in a split second. Any suggestions as what to do next?

UPDATE 2: I restarted it a few times and it has worked again now. I tried restarting it again a few times too just to make sure. It seems to be happening randomly now, any suggestions?

 

[AppleGwava]

Hi Alvis, thanks for the help. Solution 1 and 2 resulted in the same error as before, I did those and it still turns itself off. However, solution 3 somehow worked, i went past POST and into the BIOS. It couldn't boot the first time I hit the power button but I suppose it's because I reset the CMOS (?). After that, I tried connecting the GPU, and after it works, the HDD as well. It boots normally now, which is weird since all I did is basically reseating the HDD SATA cables and GPU.

I'll reply again if anything happens in this week, but for now, thanks for the help!
By the way do I need to look into something more if this happens again? Maybe the HDD is dying, or any other?

UPDATE: It happened again. I ran it once and it worked, so since I thought it's fine, I unplugged everything and moved it back to its original location. I tried to boot it up, but as soon as I press the power button, it turns off in a split second. Any suggestions as what to do next?

UPDATE 2: I restarted it a few times and it has worked again now. I tried restarting it again a few times too just to make sure. It seems to be happening randomly now, any suggestions?

we changed nothing and nothing changed. haha

The good and bad news is nothing changed, so at least we didnt cause more damage.

I highly doubt its the gpu but anything is possible.

My suspicions are

1. its down to luck or whatever butterfly that didnt flap its wings
2. The psu is dying
3. Something is off with the hdd that causes a failure to boot (But that wouldnt explain the pc shutting off)

I would suggest trying different combos of components
eg No gpu , hdd in
Gpu in, no hdd

Failing which you could also try just testing the psu with no load by bridging the connection on the 24 pin pcie

https://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-power-up-an-ATX-Power-Supply-without-a-PC/

Do note that it is safer to disconnect all components while testing it as im not sure how safe it is.

If your system does boot at some point you could also test the hdd by downloading
HDDtune or
Crystaldiskinfo or
Hdd scan
and checking the health of the drive.

I would suggest backing up important data during this time to be safe.

 

[samsiun]

we changed nothing and nothing changed. haha

The good and bad news is nothing changed, so at least we didnt cause more damage.

I highly doubt its the gpu but anything is possible.

My suspicions are

1. its down to luck or whatever butterfly that didnt flap its wings
2. The psu is dying
3. Something is off with the hdd that causes a failure to boot (But that wouldnt explain the pc shutting off)

I would suggest trying different combos of components
eg No gpu , hdd in
Gpu in, no hdd

Failing which you could also try just testing the psu with no load by bridging the connection on the 24 pin pcie

https://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-power-up-an-ATX-Power-Supply-without-a-PC/

Do note that it is safer to disconnect all components while testing it as im not sure how safe it is.

If your system does boot at some point you could also test the hdd by downloading
HDDtune or
Crystaldiskinfo or
Hdd scan
and checking the health of the drive.

I would suggest backing up important data during this time to be safe.

Good point haha, nothing changed.

I was able to get it working for a few days before it happened again just now, so I tried running with GPU and without HDD, then vice versa. Both results in the same splitsecond turn off. Should I start testing the psu, or should I start suspecting other components as well?
Edit: is it possible that the front cables (power button and usb ports) is shorting itself?

 

[AppleGwava]

Front panel io is rare but possible, might be time we tested the more unconventional things
Hmm, i would assume that a front panel short would be akin to a force shutdown (holding down the power button)

You can check this by unplugging all front panel and then shorting across the power header once.


we might be getting onto something with the psu

This is the calculated power draw for your system, which seems fine
https://outervision.com/b/xBqGtH

Now that I read the post again, a power interruption would result in a improprer boot, causing the need for boot device repair.
That could also explain why not having a gpu helps because the psu has less load (and possibly less voltage surges/instability)

Maybe you can try using the computer without a gpu for a while?

Alvis

 

[samsiun]

Maybe you can try using the computer without a gpu for a while?

Unfortunately this time it won't work even after removing gpu and hdd, or putting in just one of them. Tried to unplug RAM as well but it still dies.

Failing which you could also try just testing the psu with no load by bridging the connection on the 24 pin pcie

https://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-power-up-an-ATX-Power-Supply-without-a-PC/

I'm about to try this, possibly using paperclip. But something comes to mind: I read somewhere that shorting the green and black cable tricks the PSU to "think" that the PC has started so it'll go on. Does keeping the clip on those pins makes it unable to shut itself off, since it keeps thinking it has been turned on again all the time? Any idea on this?

 

[AppleGwava]

Unfortunately this time it won't work even after removing gpu and hdd, or putting in just one of them. Tried to unplug RAM as well but it still dies.


I'm about to try this, possibly using paperclip. But something comes to mind: I read somewhere that shorting the green and black cable tricks the PSU to "think" that the PC has started so it'll go on. Does keeping the clip on those pins makes it unable to shut itself off, since it keeps thinking it has been turned on again all the time? Any idea on this?

Im not sure about that, from what i have read its acting as a on/off switch so it has to be connected all the time during boot.

It probably will stay on, but whether it will affect the system with weird voltages is beyond my knowledge.

It might be time for a psu upgrade anyway, a good unit will have a long warranty and can easily outlast the other components, they can hardly get obselete (Im looking at you now, intel )


Alvis

 

[samsiun]

It might be time for a psu upgrade anyway, a good unit will have a long warranty and can easily outlast the other components, they can hardly get obselete (Im looking at you now, intel )

Yeah I'm starting to consider that as well, any recommendations? Should I wait for COVID-19 to end? I feel like some components' price has gone up since this pandemic started. Should I buy another 500w or should I get a bigger one? My future upgrades wouldn't be much different from what it is right now, just an entry / mid-level gaming PC

 

[AppleGwava]

Yeah I'm starting to consider that as well, any recommendations? Should I wait for COVID-19 to end? I feel like some components' price has gone up since this pandemic started. Should I buy another 500w or should I get a bigger one? My future upgrades wouldn't be much different from what it is right now, just an entry / mid-level gaming PC

Power requirement for components seem to be flatlining or going down, I would recommend getting a good and reliable model.Should last you years. Psu prices havent changed much i feel, compared to other components

Alvis

 

[samsiun]

Power requirement for components seem to be flatlining or going down, I would recommend getting a good and reliable model.Should last you years. Psu prices havent changed much i feel, compared to other components

Alvis

Okay cool, any recommended brand from your personal experience? I was looking into Corsair but I'm getting mixed reviews.

 

[AppleGwava]

Okay cool, any recommended brand from your personal experience? I was looking into Corsair but I'm getting mixed reviews.

I think psu forum has a few recommended lists. Havent bought anything for a long time

Alvis