PC Will not start first time

Martyboy_3

My usually reliable PC has suddenly started giving me a problem normally first thing in the morning.
When switching it on, it powers up for about 1 second, then goes off. I do not even get the bleep from the Asrock motherboard.
If I switch it off at the power supply, then try restarting it several times, it will eventually burst into life and load (XP) normally.Once started I have no problems with the PC.
I have checked inside for loose connections etc. but have found nothing amiss.
Can anyone suggest what to try next please.

Nilrem

It sounds to me like one of two probable things.
1: The PSU isn't giving enough juice at first to start the machine up (i've been told they lose some of their capacity over time).
If you've got a spare/second PC you could try swapping the PSU's over (if you're comfortable working on the PC), you could also try disconnecting the optical drives/secondary hard drives if you've got more than one to reduce the load at power up and see if that helps.

2: You've possiby got some dodgy capacitors on the motherboard - I had very similar symptoms on one of our old machines and it turned out some of the motherboard capacitors were starting to leak.

The motherboard problem happened quite a lot a couple of years back with KA7 and KT7 series boards from Abit (a number of other models/brands were also affected), which is part of the reason a lot of the higher end motherboard manufacturers now advertise "solid capacitors" or "capacitors made in Japan" (the problem caps were standard ones made in Taiwan or China).

If you can, open the machine up and shine a good torch at the capacitors and look for any discolouration on the tops, or around the base,
If there is (it will probably be a brown crusty bit), i'm afraid it will mean either a full set of replacement capacitors (tricky to do), or a new motherboard before too long


There are probably other, less nasty (and expensive) reasons for the problem, but those are the two I would be looking at first.

Martyboy_3

Thanks Nilrem,
I have tried disconnecting items to reduce the power useage, to no effect. Will check out the capacitors next time I open the pc up.
The motherboard by the way is an Asrock K7S41.