When the Power button is Pressed Pc turns on then Off again.

[Virus-j]

Hi all,

Need some help, Recently for past month id say iv been having this weird problem on with my main rig, Iv been searching the net trying to find answers or different things to try but nothing is working.

Pretty much as the title said, When i press the Power button the pc starts to turn on, But then it instantly just switches off... But the weird thing is when i press the power button again it boots up normally and i have no problems at all with the pc everything is running fine. Nothing major just be nice if i pressed the button first time it would boot up normally. As i said it was fine till a month ago and this problem just started.

I took the Pc apart about 3 days, Rebuilt it cleaned everything. Replace the Cmos, reset the bios settings. Not sure what else to try ?

Thanks

 

[thebluebumblebee]

(educated guess) It's either the PSU sensing something wrong and protecting its self, or it's the PSU its self.

 

[CAPSLOCKSTUCK]

My initial thought would be dust or damp within the switch itself.
It used to be a common problem with analogue equipment especoally volume and switch controls
Unplug from wall press switch repeatedly and try again before stripping down pc.
It could simply be weather change related.

 

[Disparia]

(educated guess) It's either the PSU sensing something wrong and protecting its self, or it's the PSU its self.

Yeah, I agree. Visually inspect the power supply as best as you can for capacitors that look like they may be about to rupture.

Of course, checking the power switch is an easy enough process too. Compressed air in the switch as well as a visual inspection along with trying to boot the board using another switch or if you're comfortable with it, an electrically conductive object (most of the time I use the tip of my screwdriver).

 

[Virus-j]

I forgot to say i cleaned everything with compressed Air when i took apart the pc, I use the compressed air all around the PSU too. The dust has pretty much all gone now.
I will take a look at the power supply and check it properly for any problems,

What you said here made me think "It could simply be weather change related" As iv noticed that it only does this when it's been switched off for a long period of time. I know if i turn it off now and on again it will be fine. But when i go to sleep and turn it on in the morn it just turns off first time you pres the button.

Edit : Just had a look inside PSU was dusty inside but now cleaned, Componenets seem fine cant see anything wrong. Checked all the cables again too. Went to boot up pc but done it's usual wont boot on first press of the button.

I just changed the 3Pin Plug over too now, also put in a different plug socket. Have to see if that helps....

 

[Bill_Bright]

I will take a look at the power supply and check it properly for any problems,

What you said here made me think "It could simply be weather change related"

Understand that "normal" users cannot conclusively verify a PSU is good. That takes specialized test equipment to put the supply under a variety of realistic loads and then measure not just for voltages within allowed tolerances, but proper regulation and ripple suppression too. This cannot be done with a multimeter alone. So for normal users, this means swapping in a known good PSU and see if the problem persists.

As for weather, that will not affect properly working electronics - assuming you don't live in a tropical rain forest with no air conditioning. Even if you allow the temperature of your house to get cold at night during the winter, that will not affect properly working electronics - assuming we are not talking sub-zero temps.

Cold can, however, adversely affect batteries. But this is not a notebook and you replaced the CMOS battery (though a bad CMOS battery would not cause this symptom). Cold can also affect loose connections. As the matter cools and contracts, the contacts in the connection move further apart. As the matter warms and expands, solid contact is made again. So make sure all power and data connections are tight and secure and your RAM is fully seated as well. This is also a symptom of a poor or damaged solder joint - but not much you can do about that unless you have a good soldering pencil and know what you are doing. But even then, you cannot reach all the solder joints.

Motors can be affected by cold too. This is typically apparent with older motors as the lubricants break down and bearings wear unevenly. If this were a drive motor problem, you would be seeing drive or no OS errors. If the CPU fan motor is failing, the BIOS will sense (or rather not sense) the fan and immediately shut down!

All motors get weaker as they age. And when lubricants begin to break down, they become less viscus. And when lubricants get cold, they tend to harden a little bit. Depending on how the bearings "settle" when the motor is turned off, the lubricant can get a little tacky - enough that an aging, weaken motor cannot immediately break loose, or cannot get up to speed fast enough until the lubricant warms a little.

Often with motors (and fans especially where you have access to the blades) you can give them a little flick with your finger to give them a kick start and they will spin up. Applying power the first time may just give the motor a "nudge" so the next power up is enough to let it spin.

While these are typically symptoms of older motors, brand new motors can have flawed bearings or other manufacturing defects too that prematurely age the motor. So you might want to look at your CPU fan too.

 

[trog100]

my (very old since retired ) daily use machine did that a while back.. i turned it on it bleeped and switched off.. i was daft enough to repeat the process about ten times before taking the case side off.. it turned out my cpu heat sink was falling off...

the crappy intel style plastic push pins had failed.. mind you it did take around eight years.. to happen.. and believe it or not when i popped the original unused intel stock heatsink back on the chip still worked..

but reluctant cold boots i always take as a general sign that motherboard things are ageing and near the end of their useful life.. more so when it happens every time..

with the machine i just mentioned it happened on regular basis i used to use sleep mode because of it.. the reluctant first start up became annoying.. but the machine was pretty old i cant really complain..

trog

 

[95Viper]

Just some personal experiences...
I had a Gigabyte board that did the same thing when the PSU was on it way out.
Usually, with memory, it would shutdown, then, reboot and change the timings to default; and when I went to the bios setup, it would tell me the OC was reset due to a problem.

 

[Virus-j]

Thanks everyone for the help. Sadly it's still playing up. It seemed ok when i replaced the power chord and stuck it in a different socket. But turned it on Just now and it's still doing it.

Understand that "normal" users cannot conclusively verify a PSU is good. That takes specialized test equipment to put the supply under a variety of realistic loads and then measure not just for voltages within allowed tolerances, but proper regulation and ripple suppression too. This cannot be done with a multimeter alone. So for normal users, this means swapping in a known good PSU and see if the problem persists.

As for weather, that will not affect properly working electronics - assuming you don't live in a tropical rain forest with no air conditioning. Even if you allow the temperature of your house to get cold at night during the winter, that will not affect properly working electronics - assuming we are not talking sub-zero temps.

Cold can, however, adversely affect batteries. But this is not a notebook and you replaced the CMOS battery (though a bad CMOS battery would not cause this symptom). Cold can also affect loose connections. As the matter cools and contracts, the contacts in the connection move further apart. As the matter warms and expands, solid contact is made again. So make sure all power and data connections are tight and secure and your RAM is fully seated as well. This is also a symptom of a poor or damaged solder joint - but not much you can do about that unless you have a good soldering pencil and know what you are doing. But even then, you cannot reach all the solder joints.

Motors can be affected by cold too. This is typically apparent with older motors as the lubricants break down and bearings wear unevenly. If this were a drive motor problem, you would be seeing drive or no OS errors. If the CPU fan motor is failing, the BIOS will sense (or rather not sense) the fan and immediately shut down!

All motors get weaker as they age. And when lubricants begin to break down, they become less viscus. And when lubricants get cold, they tend to harden a little bit. Depending on how the bearings "settle" when the motor is turned off, the lubricant can get a little tacky - enough that an aging, weaken motor cannot immediately break loose, or cannot get up to speed fast enough until the lubricant warms a little.

Often with motors (and fans especially where you have access to the blades) you can give them a little flick with your finger to give them a kick start and they will spin up. Applying power the first time may just give the motor a "nudge" so the next power up is enough to let it spin.

While these are typically symptoms of older motors, brand new motors can have flawed bearings or other manufacturing defects too that prematurely age the motor. So you might want to look at your CPU fan too.

Lol, Wish i did live in a troopical Rain forest, Freezing in this house. : ) I Replaced the CMOS about a year ago for some reason it wasnt saving the Bios Settings so replaced it and it was fine so i assumed it went bad again. Wish it was that though quick fix. Also what you said about the fans ,would this apply to all the fans or Just the CPU Fan ?

Im going to Try a different PSU tomorrow, problem i have is i only have a cheapy 550w Psu in my 2nd rig that is currently Running a X3 445 and 4870 Think it would be able to run my Main Rig ok just to test it ? If it is the PSU i will buy a new one anyway so wouldn't be permanent.

Thanks

 

[thebluebumblebee]

Freezing in this house

When the system is cold, watch the fans when you try to power it up, especially the CPU fan. If it fails to spin up initially, but then spins up when you try again, that may very well be your culprit.

Im going to Try a different PSU tomorrow, problem i have is i only have a cheapy 550w Psu in my 2nd rig that is currently Running a X3 445 and 4870 Think it would be able to run my Main Rig ok just to test it ?

The 4870 is a power hog in comparison to the 660. You shouldn't have any problems.

 

[Flow]

Just some personal experiences...
I had a Gigabyte board that did the same thing when the PSU was on it way out.
Usually, with memory, it would shutdown, then, reboot and change the timings to default; and when I went to the bios setup, it would tell me the OC was reset due to a problem.

Yes, check in windows all your settings from memory and graphic card. Stress your cpu and check the values, also run some mem tester and see what the timings and frequency of your ram does.
The symptoms op describe make me think of an overclock that just cuts it, or not. Nowadays motherboards can deal with that, but older boards can do just what you are experiencing, an unsuspected reboot straight after a cold boot.

Anyway, your psu is most likely the culprit since when you power on your pc it will draw the most power. The needed reboot could just be the psu already getting warmed up and be ok the second try.
I see in your specs it's a CX psu, which aren't the best ones.

 

[Virus-j]

I got rid of my overclock on my ram and cpu when this started, So my 1055t is back to 2.8Ghz and my Ram is back at 1600Mhz. Im thinking about running a stress test with prime just to see what it does. Ill do a memory test also to make sure that is ok. My sabertooth motherboard now must be 4-5 years old id say, My Powersupply must be about the same age i think... Not sure.

Yes, check in windows all your settings from memory and graphic card. Stress your cpu and check the values, also run some mem tester and see what the timings and frequency of your ram does.
The symptoms op describe make me think of an overclock that just cuts it, or not. Nowadays motherboards can deal with that, but older boards can do just what you are experiencing, an unsuspected reboot straight after a cold boot.

Anyway, your psu is most likely the culprit since when you power on your pc it will draw the most power. The needed reboot could just be the psu already getting warmed up and be ok the second try.
I see in your specs it's a CX psu, which aren't the best ones.

Funny enough about a hour ago i was reading up on the CX Psu as i was taking a look to see what i could replace it with... I was going to go for a CX again seeing as it's lasted so long, But from what i have been reading about it... ill give it a miss.
If it is the PSU and i do replace it im looking at getting a XFX TS 550W Gold, So long as that is enough for my Rig. Either that or something else not sure what though...

 

[Athlon2K15]

My MSI X99 does this at times too, not a big deal i doubt anything major is wrong with your PC.

 

[newconroer]

I experienced this due to a faulty or loose connection with the wiring at the point where it's soldered onto the back side of the button. The wires were touching themselves (in an appropriate way) and were causing intermittent shorts.

Probably not the situation here - I just had to share my story though.

 

[Virus-j]

My MSI X99 does this at times too, not a big deal i doubt anything major is wrong with your PC.

Tbh, it still starts which is good...lol. Just annoying mostly, Especially when you walk out the room after pressing it expecting it to be on when you go in the room....lol. Cant see why it started doing it....
I put the power supply in from my 2nd rig in anyway, It's still doing it... First time too.... (On a plus note this Cheap power supply is alot more quiet than my CX)
Iv checked the Fans too, cant see anything abnormal they seem to start up straight away, seem to spin up fine. I Suppose the only thing left is the motherboard or Ram. I will test the ram tomorrow.

 

[xvi]

Well, with a new PSU, I'd say the next most likely is a heat issue. Did we confirm the CPU cooler is on solid?

 

[Virus-j]

Just update, Turned Pc on this morning with the New PSU, Same problem.. Just wont start first time i press the button it seems to get to the windows logo then just completely cuts off.
Checked the CPU Cooler earlier, Tightened up the screw on the CPU cooler. I checked the temperatures CPU too seem to be 20-30c Idle. Case Temp roughly 35c.

 

[Jetster]

Short in case, memory, bad sector on the drive. Test them

You test a PSU by running it in another system. Test the hard drive by running crystal disk or manufactures test program. test the short theory by running the system outside of the case. And test the memory by using memtest or swamping it with another set

 

[Iceni]

Power on switch sounds to have a fault. Sometimes when they start to go the contact plates can stick when you press the button.

Unplug the power switch header, And plug the reset switch into the power on header. Then start again using the reset switch as the on button. If it clears the fault then it's time to buy a new switch (or just keep using the reset switch).

Don't be tempted to plug the power switch into the reset header as it may cause constant resets if it is the fault.

The later in boot restarts could still be the switch, It depends on the switch and what's wrong with it. If there is a loose contact plate then movement on that plate could cause soft restarts in windows, or hard restarts before windows has got up. Rule out the basic before you spend money.

 

[trog100]

sometimes the odd (failing) electrical component needs a little heat to work.. i think this is your problem.. the first attempt at booting provides that heat.. the second or third attempt keeps going.. once running the needed heat is always there.. until the next cold boot after being off for while..

such things aint that uncommon.. the component is likely to be on your motherboard.. purely because that is where most of them are..

i said earlier on in the thread i see such things as a component on the way out.. i think that component is your motherboard.. about the only part you cant actually test..

trog

 

[Iceni]

sometimes the odd (failing) electrical component needs a little heat to work.

This should never be the case. If you need heat to make it work you have dry joints or another mechanical failure. And both of these faults in the wrong place on a circuit can be dangerous to the circuit and any other hardware on it.

 

[CAPSLOCKSTUCK]

one of these is 0.99 p, you can eliminate the switch being the problem, and not remove a single component.

the UK weather has been damp and cold recently......save youself a big hassle, spend 99 pence, it will come in handy for future builds anyway.

start simple and cheap.

 

[Mussels]

leave it alone for about 10 seconds, see if it powers back on itself. If so, its just a BIOS thing to boot at 'stable' settings before trying your "oc" settings. common annoying feature for a very long time on giga and asus boards (possibly others)

 

[95Viper]

Same problem.. Just wont start first time i press the button it seems to get to the windows logo then just completely cuts off.

Uhm, this is two different things.
In your title and opening post you state that it starts and shuts down... now in this post quoted you state it is doing the same thing again and it gets to the windows logo and completely cuts off.

If it is getting to the windows logo then cuts off... I would guess software, driver, or windows is running into an error it can't fix.

Try getting into the BIOS and doing a reset with defaults.

Try booting into safe mode... using the recovery usb you should have made; or, the Windows 10 install disc/usb stick

If that does not help, then, try disconnecting everything; but, the hard drives (or SSDs) needed to boot and try testing it.
Try disconnecting the mouse and keyboard; and, using another keyboard to test. If it a usb keyboard, then, try disabling the "USB legacy" in the bios to test.

If all else fails try your install disk/usb drive and do a reinstall or refresh.

Try disabling fastboot, if you have enabled.

Just a guess, if all else fails, I would lean toward a heat problem. I would check those temps under load... not just idle.

 

[PCGamerDR]

My initial thought would be dust or damp within the switch itself.

Power on switch sounds to have a fault. Sometimes when they start to go the contact plates can stick when you press the button.

one of these is 0.99 p, you can eliminate the switch being the problem, and not remove a single component.

the UK weather has been damp and cold recently......save youself a big hassle, spend 99 pence, it will come in handy for future builds anyway.

start simple and cheap.

+1, OP needs to try his power switch before he does anything else.