Computer takes a few tries to start up

[fsmirne]

Hi all,

My computer has been acting really weird lately.
Whenever it stays off for more than a few hours it won?t start in the first try.
Let me try to explain in more detail.
Suppose I shut it down at night and try to turn it on in the morning. As soon as I press the power button, the lights turn on, fans start, everything starts, except that the computer doesn?t boot. I just get a black screen.
If I keep trying, it will eventually start normally. I just have to turn it off and on a few times (5-10 times).
I thought I had fixed it when I refreshed my bios by moving a jumper to the reset position for about 5 seconds, but even though that fixed it for a few weeks, the problems started again a few days ago.
I haven?t changed any hardware or anything. I thought it could be the power supply that?s getting bad, but it never gave me any problem.
Also, it was weird that when I reset the bios it fixed it (for a while).
I?ve checked my memory and it seems to be working fine. I believe the memory is good.
I?ve checked for lose cables or pci cards but everything seems normal.
If you guys have any ideas, please let me know. I?ve run out of ideas and anything you guys have to say helps.
Thanks a lot.


My Computer:

AMD Athlon 1GHz
Abit KT7-Raid v1.0
384Mb of RAM (1 256Mb chip and 1 128Mb chip) both from Corsair
2 Maxtor 20Gig HDs in RAID and 1 40Gig HD also from Maxtor
Soundblaster Live
NIC (Generic)
300W Power Supply (Generic)
TDK Burner 48x

 

[BDShort25]

I was having the exact same problem. The fans and lights on the case would come on, but nothing else would happen. The HDD light would stay lit for a few seconds (maybe 15) and go out. I had to turn the computer off, then on right away to get it to boot.

Unfortunately, it's gotten worse. Yesterday my computer was really unstable... it would freeze within a few minutes in Windows XP, total lockup, and would reset itself. Now I can't get it to boot, at all. I picked up a new power supply, but even with the new one, it's the same deal. Everything is tightly connected... the best idea I can come up with is the motherboard is dead... I'd like to be sure before I spend money on a new one though.

Brian

 

[NokiaDude]

I have that ALMOST EXACT board and I know what my solution was. Chack to see in the BIOS that you CPU is operation at the original clock speed, my 1.2Ghz Duron was running at 500(100), bothered the bejezus out of me when I shutdown or reset. Changed it back to 1200(100) and all if fine.

 

[placebo139]

My first motherboard was an Abit slot A. I remember seeing the exact same symptoms with my older computer (lights come on, fans start up, but a blank screen and occasional freezes).

It frustrated the heck out of me until I found out the problem. There were leaking transistors (or whatever they're called) on the motherboard that were signs that sooner or later it was going to die. I continued to use the thing for about another month until it finally died on me.

Sorry to say this... but it might be time to get a new motherboard.

 

[Ark]

I have the same problem on 3 computers, cant- start if idle a few housr - all fans are funning, but black screen.
1st - P4 1.6 OCd - if I remove overclock - it starts OK
2-nd P3-733 - on OC - but if I change memory from CL2 to CL3 - it is OK
3-rd- C466 - on OC just takes few attampts to start.

Looks like a common problem

 

[KingofFah]

Occasionally I have the same sort of problem, but not as severe. Sometimes when I turn on the computer the video will not boot or the optical drives enter an endless cycle of spinning up. No beep code for the video, rock steady once it is on. Happens maybe one out of 10 boots, but I just cut the power and start up again and it is fine, no big deal for me.

 

[fsmirne]

Thanks a lot for the ideas!

NokiaDude: I've had that problem before. Unfortunately, this time the CPU is at the right clock speed. I wish the problem was that

placebo139: I hadn't thought about that. my motherboard is kinda old and that could actually be the problem. I'm gonna do some tests to see if I find out if it's really getting bad. Thanks.

Ark: Now that you've said that, I remembered something. sometime ago I was playing with my bios settings and I edited my bios so i could get better speeds out of my machine. I remebered I unlocked some features, changed the image that shows up at the start up, and other stuff like that.
I'm gonna try to flash my bios again with an original bios and I'll see what happens. I'm not overclocking, but I do have CL2 set for my memory and other tweaks on the cpu.

I'll let you guys know if I find anything out. I hope you guys who are also having problems, find out what's wrong with your machines
Thanks for the help guys.

 

[NokiaDude]

Try reseting the BIOS by clearing th CMOS and then try flashing to BIOS A9.