PC wont boot, seems related to the PSU or GFX card

[jbubrisk]

Hi everyone,
For a while, I've been having an issue where my PC sometimes wont boot. I hit the power button, all the fans spin for 1/2 a second, then nothing happens. I thought it was a PSU issue, because I turned off the PSU, turned it on for a minute, THEN hit the power button, and it worked fine...

But then..

The other day, I bumped into my computer, and it shut off. Also, I rebooted it, then was looking inside the case for things that could be wrong, when I jiggled the GFX card a little, and it shut off...

So I don't know what the problem is! Here are my system specs:

AMD X2 5600+ (stock speed)
ATI Radeon x1950 XT
Biostar TForce 4 AM2 Mobo
160 Gb HD
250 Gb HD
DVD Burner
PCI Wireless card
3 Case fans
Thermaltake 450W PSU

Is my PSU under powered????
Thanks in advance!

 

[robisbell]

turn off the machine, disconnect the monitor and reseat the video card and ram.

recheck any and all connections on the board.

see if that helps.

make sure the card is secured to the case, some use screws and some have a locking mechanism for anything in the slots.

 

[jbubrisk]

Yeah I just tried that, with no luck. I even unplugged two of the case fans, so there is only one left, not sure how many watts they use. Any other conclusions you can draw from this?

 

[jbubrisk]

Actually, it looks like that worked, but I'm wondering if it was a fluke... any other thoughts?

 

[robisbell]

did you try it again and it worked?

 

[jbubrisk]

Yeah, I had originally reseated the video card, and checked its connections, but no luck. But then, per your suggestion, I just pressed on all the connections in the case, and it booted right away. I'm wondering if it may come back though. Do you think it was just a connection issue? I remember I had a bad PSU a few years ago, and it would do the same thing when I tried to power it on. I replaced that and I didn't have anymore issues. FYI, thanks!

 

[robisbell]

how is the video card attached to the case?

 

[jbubrisk]

it is a double slot, so I have screws in both "pci" slots.

 

[robisbell]

good. glad it was a simple fix.