[SOLVED] PC won't boot straight away in cold temperatures, same applies to waking up from sleep

Nov 19, 2019
11
5
15
My PC started acting weirdly a few days ago, it takes a few restarts to boot when left off for a long time ( a few hours), same happens during sleep mode, if I leave it asleep for any more than a few minutes it immediately crashes when I wake it.
I noticed this behavior only started occuring now that temperatures are low (10-11c), and my deduction was that I needed to warm up before it could boot, because once it makes it to windows it stays on and works perfectly fine until I shut it down, this includes running demanding games and applications without any issues.
I also noticed that the behavior happened the same day I installed an NVMe SSD (Gigabyte Aorus RGB 512GB PCIe 3.0 x4), but I doubt it has anything to do with it since it's not the primary boot drive.
Any idea what's going on?
All of the components are barely a year old, and were all purchased brand new, Specs:

CPU: R7 1700
GPU :GTX 1080
RAM: 32 GB Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 2400Mhz CL16 (8x4)
MOBO: Gigabyte AX370M-DS3H
PSU:Corsair CX550
Storage: -WD Green 240GB SATA SSD (Boot drive)
-WD Blue 1TB SATA HDD 7200RPM
-Aorus PCIe NVMe x4 512 GB SSD
 
Last edited:
Solution
Where is the PC sitting now: Desk, floor, near some air duct.... etc.? Try a warmer location if at all possible.

May be tricky to determine a specific cause - effect but no harm in temporarily relocating the PC just as a matter of testing.

No error codes or warnings in the Reliability History and Event Viewer logs? ( I do understand that the computer fails to boot or at least appears not to do so. However, the computer may actually have done so to some extent but not enough for keyboard and monitor/video to become immediately functional. The logs may be capturing something.

Also check the boot options with respect to POST. Look for "verbose" and, if available, enable. You may be able to observe what the computer is doing...

Ralston18

Titan
Moderator
Not at all uncommon to have "cold electronics" not start correctly.

E.g. a laptop that has been left overnight in a frozen automobile: especially if batteries and 2.5 inch HDD drives are involved.

Cold temperatures cause contraction and components can loss connectivity or moving parts become bound by the contractions.

With respect to your PC additional issues may be involved:

Even being just over a year old does not rule out some component failure. (Many warranties are for one year and there are all too many antedotes of failures just after warranty expiration.)

Has the case every been opened for cleaning and maintenance.? Dust blown out, all cards, cables, RAM, jumpers check to ensure that all are fully and firmly in place.

Nothing blocking airflows, no cables hanging about and dangling into the components or motherboard.

Overall, based on the overall symptoms, in my mind the PSU would be a prime suspect.

Windows 10?

Look in Reliability History for error codes and warnings that may be being captured.

The Windows 10 troubleshooters may find and fix something.

If you discover error codes etc. that vary in both number and scope, the PSU would be further implcated.
 
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Reactions: helper800
Nov 19, 2019
11
5
15
Not at all uncommon to have "cold electronics" not start correctly.

E.g. a laptop that has been left overnight in a frozen automobile: especially if batteries and 2.5 inch HDD drives are involved.

Cold temperatures cause contraction and components can loss connectivity or moving parts become bound by the contractions.

With respect to your PC additional issues may be involved:

Even being just over a year old does not rule out some component failure. (Many warranties are for one year and there are all too many antedotes of failures just after warranty expiration.)

Has the case every been opened for cleaning and maintenance.? Dust blown out, all cards, cables, RAM, jumpers check to ensure that all are fully and firmly in place.

Nothing blocking airflows, no cables hanging about and dangling into the components or motherboard.

Overall, based on the overall symptoms, in my mind the PSU would be a prime suspect.

Windows 10?

Look in Reliability History for error codes and warnings that may be being captured.

The Windows 10 troubleshooters may find and fix something.

If you discover error codes etc. that vary in both number and scope, the PSU would be further implcated.
PC is clean, next to no dust build-up inside the system.
The reason I ruled out the PSU is that the system never ever fails while stressed, I can play AAA games maxed out with the CPU OCed and not have a single issue.
It only happens when I wake it from sleep after say 30 minutes or so or when I try to boot it after I shut it down during the night.
As for error codes, like I said the problem happens when I boot, so I get no signal from my monitor and the KB lights stay off, so it doesn't make it to the BIOS. However it tends to boot when I restart it once or twice.
Thanks for the reply!
 

Ralston18

Titan
Moderator
Where is the PC sitting now: Desk, floor, near some air duct.... etc.? Try a warmer location if at all possible.

May be tricky to determine a specific cause - effect but no harm in temporarily relocating the PC just as a matter of testing.

No error codes or warnings in the Reliability History and Event Viewer logs? ( I do understand that the computer fails to boot or at least appears not to do so. However, the computer may actually have done so to some extent but not enough for keyboard and monitor/video to become immediately functional. The logs may be capturing something.

Also check the boot options with respect to POST. Look for "verbose" and, if available, enable. You may be able to observe what the computer is doing or trying to do during boot.
 
Solution