Need some Troubleshooting help

[Tsuwamono]

Alittle while ago i had to switch out my motherboard infavor of the Asus P5N-T Deluxe board because my Asus P5N-E SLI was a piece of junk. Anyway the reasoning for chaning the board is beside the point.

Alittle while after i changed my motherboard i had this odd occurance. I turned on my PC but it didnt post. So i turned it off and turned it back on and it was fine. I assumed it was a hiccup of some kind. A couple days later my girlfriend came over and turned off my pc when she was done using it(generally i leave it on 24/7) I didnt notice until the next day so i turned it back on and the same thing happened as a couple days before. It took 3 restarts this time to get it to post. I thought maybe it was my OC so i put it back to stock once it posted and then when i was done i turned it off went to bed and turned it on again in the morning and the problem was still there. So i knew it wasnt my CPU.

A friend of mine suggested it might be my ram(Crucial ballistix PC 6400 DDR2) so i ram Memtest 86 for about 6 hours and had no errors. I dont think its my ram.

I dont have alot of extra parts for this socket type like GPU, CPU, RAM, Motherboard, etc to test the components to see which one it is so I'm hopeing someone might be able to give me some ideas before i am forced to bring it to the local Microbytes to get it inspected. I really dont want to bring it there cause i know they will start trouble shooting and fuck up my wiring.

PERSONALLY... i think it may be my powersupply.. i dunno just a hunch.. i dont really have any reasoning. I plan on changing my PSU soon anyway cause its the only loud thing on my PC and its quite annoying when I'm doing business work and i can hear the whine from the fan.

Here are my specs:

Thermaltake Armor Jr.
Asus P5N-T Deluxe (780i)
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 @ 3.2ghz stock vcore
Zalman 9500 SE
2GB Dual Channel Crucial Ballistix PC2 6400 DDR2
Leadtek 8800 GTS 320mb(G80 core)
Seagate 160 GB SATA2(Boot)
Western Digital 80 GB SATA(Games)
Western Digital 320 GB SATA2(Movies+Music)

Room temp is 21C

PC is located near a poorly insulated window which leads to -20Cish outside.

I tried to give as much info as possible just incase its the cold air, one of the HDs, dust, i dunno.

The room has no dust really. I dust regularly and my PC has beautiful airflow due to my wiring.

Any ideas would be appreciated

Moved to Computer Help
Gillbot

 

[jackschmittusa]

Multiple tries to boot is often a problem with the hds spooling up too slowly, frequently a psu problem. You might temporarily disconnect power from the 2 WD drives and see if the problem goes away.

I doubt sitting near the window is the cause. People have been freezing hds for a long time and they still boot. Solid state parts should not be adversely affected either.

 

[Tsuwamono]

Great, I'll try disconnecting a couple HDs and see if that helps

EDIT. My friend mentioned that usually PSU problems are more severe then simply not turning on. Plus he mentioned that wouldn't the PC screw up even more once i started working my GPU on COD4? It takes alot more power to play COD4 then to spool up an HD. However it may be my HD rail that has the power problem.

But what would cause it to just not post... dont PCs POST even when they dont have an HD.. they just dont load windows right.

 

[jackschmittusa]

If they're spooling up slowly, it usually means that the psu is straining, and it may not boot.

 

[Tsuwamono]

but shouldnt it strain a hell of alot more when im playing a game? I'm only questioning because i dont want to pop down 150$ for a new PSU if it doesnt fix the problem

 

[olmer]

Is it this warm in Canada now?

Anyway, as above ? try to reduce starting power draw first. Make sure no funny USB devices are plugged and no media in. Then check your drives SMART data. If persists review your wiring and make sure there are no possible shorts. If PSU is a questionable purchase then try out of the case first.

 

[Tsuwamono]

This warm? -20 is pretty cold.. generally its -10 averge

ill try removing all the USB, media and extra HDs and check

 

[olmer]

Woops, there was ?-? in there - I thought why you said ?cold? (spoiled by the good weather in Canada???) - the spring just came early. We have apples and shit blossomed here in the UK - pretty early but still it was not more than +15 during the day so far. I have my main PC heating the room just fine.

 

[Tsuwamono]

I cant see my patio set, my pool or even my fence. So ya.. spring is a while off for us lol

 

[olmer]

Last I saw snow in 2006 (and I think in 2001 before that) kid woke up early and it was still okay (it usually melts within hours). My wife took him out to the garden and woke me up to make snowman/pictures ? we all had cold for two weeks after that, but got a bunch of bloody good ?winter? pictures.

 

[Tsuwamono]

anyway back on topic. Are there any other options? i was just playing CSS about an hour ago and my PC shut off from some Graphics card error. Is it possible its the graphics card? or are we pretty much sure its the psu

 

[Tsuwamono]

Update: i have tried unplugging all my usb, extra hard drives and even turned off the fan on my Zalman 9500 but to no end. The problem persists and i was wondering if it could possibly be my graphics card. It would make sense that if the graphics card had some fault that caused it to not start displaying when pc is turned on then it could be a progressive problem such as this one. Am i wrong?

Still need advice. I cant wait 4 hours every time i start my pc. Waste of time.

 

[Tsuwamono]

bump

 

[Tsuwamono]

bump

 

[Tsuwamono]

bump

 

[Copilot]

Originally posted by: olmer
Woops, there was ?-? in there - I thought why you said ?cold? (spoiled by the good weather in Canada???) - the spring just came early. We have apples and shit blossomed here in the UK - pretty early but still it was not more than +15 during the day so far. I have my main PC heating the room just fine.

Not all of canada is cold, where I live its been ~10C for the past couple days

 

[Tsuwamono]

the only reply has been about our weather? come on guys? could it be the GPU?

 

[Tsuwamono]

UPDATE: I purchased a Corsair 620hx power supply and installed it. The problem is still there. I dont know what it could be other then ram, mobo, or CPU so even though my memtest 86 for 6 hours checked out im going to try to install some new ram and see if it does anything..

Any other ideas would be helpful...

 

[Tsuwamono]

Update: it was my ram. replaced it and RMAed the old sticks then sold em on ebay.