Strange power up problem

[Whisper]

Ok everyone, here's the deal (and it's been going on for a while now): My computer simply doesn't like being turned off and immediately back on again. If I do power the thing down, wait a few moments, and press the power button to turn it back on, then nothing happens. The case's power light will come on, but no sign of powering up will actually occur. I've tried various things, and have found that (this is gonna sound pretty weird) if I unplug the power chord from the computer and then press the case's power button, the computer will try to power up for a second, but then of course will not be able to. If I repeatedly press the power button, sometimes the computer will actually turn on, and sometimes the power light will just come on without the computer actually powering up. I have no idea what could be causing this problem. I've thought that it might have something to do with the board's power management features, but haven't found a way to fix it. Any thoughts/ideas/suggestions?

 

[Spuffin]

I'm going to assume this is an ATX mobo and the motherboard is controlling whether or not the power gets turned on. Anyways you can try to go into the BIOS settings and reset them to default (make any changes that need to be made for overclocking and whatnot). If this doesnt work, you can try updating the BIOS by getting the updates from the mfr's website. If this fails, crack your case open and make sure the connection between the power button and the motherboard are firmly seated. If all of this fails, your motherboard could be going bad; this solution is quite possible since you state that the light comes on but nothing happens (indicating the motherboard is letting some power through to your LEDs.

 

[SuperPickle]

I had two relatively similar issues happen with two of my machines. My main machine would not like to be turned on soon after shutdown either. For me, the LEDs would light briefly and the fans would lurch, but that'd be it. I'd unplug it and wait for 15 or so, and it would work fine. My other box would startup, but I would get no video signal. I'd unplug it and wait for 15 or so, and it would work fine. Different PSUs, but both PsOS. I dumped them both for a pair that didn't suck, and both problems are gone.

 

[Whisper]

Yeah, the part you mentioned with the fans and LED's briefly coming on and then shutting off is what happens if I attempt to turn the machine on when it isn't plugged in. If I leave it off, wait about 30 minutes or so, and try again then it'll usually work. I'm thinking that it could be the power supply, but unsure (it's a sparkle I believe, so at least name-brand). I have quite a few things hooked up to it, but it never gave me issues with my other board. Then again, I did upgrade the chip from a 1ghz t-bird to an XP 1800+...though I can't recall if the problem was happening before then as well. I'll give the bios changes and flash a chance and see what happens.

Also, I'm not sure if this is related or not, but my cd-rom has been giving me issues also. It definitely has power, and it has worked before (for the past few weeks), though before that time and now again it just isn't reading cd's. The tray opens and closes fine, and BIOS and windows detect the drive, but it won't read a cd for the life of it. As I said above, it was like this for a while, but after I switched it from master to slave and messed around a bit inside the case (tried leaving it unplugged as the cd-rw, which is on the same ide cable, was giving me issues and I thought it might be related to the cd-rom drive), it started working again fine. However about a week or two ago, it crapped out again. It's a mitsumi 48x, so I'm thinking that it could be the drive, but wasn't sure if this sounds like it's PS related as well.

Thanks for the advice so far.

 

[Gretzky]

I think I have a similar problem.

My comp doesnt like to boot up in the morning when its bin shut off for acouple hours. When i press the power button my monitor is black and only the monitor light blinks.

My comp usually powers up after i turn it off again and turn it back on in acouple seconds.

I got a 300watt sparkle power supply.

 

[prudick]

I have a problem similar, except now I get nothing. When I turn on the SW on the back of the power supply I can see the fan turn once on the CPU Heat sink and back of the power supply. I want to check out the power supply and see if it's okay. there was a procedure about shorting a couple pins on the plug with it unplugged to see if the power supply fan comes on and I lost it somewhere. Can someone point me in the right direction or site for this troubleshooting.
Thanks

 

[beviet]

damm
I am not alone,
I just shutdown by turning off the switch at the back, then turn back on, I can see the LED on the Ethernet but nothing power, all I heard is a clik and that's it.... I even wait hours, but doesn't power up
motherboard dead?????? Power supply dead????
help please