[rmiller1959]

I have an unusual problem with my home-built system. When I turn off my system, the next time I turn it on, it powers up but doesn't boot up. All the fans (CPU fan & two case fans) are spinning, as is the hard drive, but there are no beeps, no images on the screen -- nothing. I then turn it off using the power button and turn it back on, and it boots normally. If I leave it on for a day or more, as I usually do, it runs just fine - no indications of problems at all.

I've replicated this sequence -- turn off, turn on, power up but no boot, turn off, turn on, boot up -- several times. My hardware configuration is:

- AMD Athlon 64 3000+
- Gigabyte GA-K8N51GMF-9 GeForce 6100 Micro ATX Motherboard
- 4 GB Kingston ValueRAM PC3200 RAM
- Hitachi HDS722525VLAT80 250 GB Hard Drive(7200 RPM, Ultra-ATA/100)
- Integrated Nvidia GeForce 6100 (256 MB)Video
- Syba USB/FireWire Combo Card
- SoundBlaster X-Fi Xtreme Music Sound Card
- Lite-on IDE DVD/CD-RW
- Iomega Internal 250MB Zip Drive
- Sony Diskette Drive
- Antec Case w/ two 120mm case fans (front and rear)
- Antec NeoPower 480w power supply
- Windows XP Pro w/SP2

I don't think it's a power issue. My Antec NeoPower 480 worked fine with my old motherboard, and I had a lot more separate peripherals, including a FireWire card and ATI X700 Pro video card, each of which required separate power connections.

I downloaded the latest BIOS update and drivers for my motherboard, so I'm not certain that's the issue, either. As I indicated previously, it runs just fine once it boots up.

If anyone can unravel this mystery, you'd be helping me immensely. Thanks!

 

[Stu_computer]

Power supplies do degrade over time.
High demand on an inefficient psu, and heat, will shorten a psu lifespan considerably.

The startup power demand is likely the problem, after the drives start the power demand drops somewhat but you may still be over the efficiency threshold (that will wear out a psu much faster).

I suggest you disconnect the Lite-on IDE DVD/CD-RW and Iomega Internal 250MB Zip Drive power and data cables to see if the problem still occurs. If it's okay with these drives removed then it's a good bet the psu couldn't handle the load and needs to be replaced.

Another way of testing it: If you have a Reset button on the pc case you can try powering up then pressing reset, if it starts up on reset the load is to high for the psu to handle.