Question Trouble Turning on PC

[Ilana Y.]

I've been having this problem for a while now. Every time I would turn on my PC the screen would go black and it would fail to load or it would turn on properly for about half a second and then go black again. Yesterday a blue background popped up and informed me my computer isn't booting correctly. I've had this problem before so I decided to switch to a new motherboard, GPU and RAM brand. It worked fine for the first three days and slowly started to break down again. Now it takes me a couple tries to turn on the PC. Is this perhaps a power supply issue? Any feed back would be appreciated.

My parts:
MB: Z390 A Pro
GPU: NVIDIA GEForce GTX 1060
RAM: 8GB DDR4
CPU: i5-9400F
SSD: 240
PS: 500W EVGA
Hard Drive: 1TB

 

[Darkbreeze]

What model of 500w EVGA PSU do you have, and how long has it been in service?

Have you tried disconnecting the front panel connections from the case to the motherboard and jumping the two power pins on the motherboard front panel I/O pin cluster with a flat screwdriver to see if it is a switch problem on the case or maybe a short in the wiring coming from the front panel?

Disconnecting the storage drives to see if there is a problem with one of those that is causing the problem? System should still start and be able to enter the BIOS even with all drives disconnected. I'd try that as well. Be sure to disconnect both the SATA data AND power cables from the drives.

Likely though this is a power supply or motherboard issue, but try those first.

 

[Ilana Y.]

I don't know what model the PSU is but I've been using it for about two years now and I have a second one that's EVGA 500B. What you said about it being the case is completely mind blowing! Ive changed almost everything in the PC but never considered it would be the case that's the problem. Do I just pop open the
on/off button to check if it's the wiring problem?

 

[Darkbreeze]

Actually, I'd just remove the side panel, trace the wiring coming from the power, sleep, sound, usb on the front panel to the motherboard, note where EACH of them connects to, and unplug them. Then using a flat screwdriver, very carefully touch only the two pins that went to the power on - off button together using the screwdriver. Be certain that you are shorting out the correct two pins. Only touch the two that go to the wiring that connects to the power on/off button. If the system exhibits the same issues as it did with the front I/O and power connections plugged in, then that isn't the problem. It's an unlikely possibility, but I've seen it a handful of times over the last few years so worth checking. Those wires can fail or become shorted, or break. The front I/O mini boards (On models that HAVE a mini board up there for I/O) can fail. Power button can fail. Sleep button can fail, and I've seen a faulty sleep button switch try to constantly put the system to sleep over and over again.

Again, it's not a high probability solution, but it's possible.

If that's not the problem, then disconnect the drives to see if one of them is shorting out or faulty. Triple check that the CPU EPS and ATX power connections to the motherboard are FULLY seated, and even unplug and reseat them. Same with the memory and graphics card. Sometimes all it takes is removing something and putting it back to fix the problem. Often in fact.

Power supply IS the most likely suspect though, especially since you've swapped out the majority of core parts and still have the same issue. Only things that are common to both builds are PSU, graphics card, storage devices and case, so eliminate them until you find the problem.

 

[Ilana Y.]

Thank you and I will most definitely try that when I get the chance! Thanks for the quick reply.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Of course. Let me know what you find or if you need to look further.