PC won't start

This has been happening for the last week. If I turn my desktop PC off or hibernate it (which I usually don't do, but have to now otherwise my new mics pick up the fan noise... need to buy a heatsink...), when I try to turn it back on again, the lights come on for about 2 seconds then it boots down again. Pressing the power switch again won't work unless I pull the plug out of the back and then try again. Even then the machine won't boot most of the time. If I leave the power out for several minutes, it sometimes works. Right now though it's sitting there doing nothing, like an Australian Federal Minister with memos about the Iraq Oil-For-Food program.

Any ideas? Is my power supply borked or is it something else?

UPDATE: Got a new PSU, new chip fan and new rear fan and now I can't believe I put up with this box sounding like a Boeing engine for the last 2 years! Holy crap it's quiet. Now... if I can get the wifi on this box to stop dropping out every couple of minutes, I could use this as my primary podcasting box instead of recording on the laptop and then having to MOVE the file over every time....

Comments

[Bruce Moyle]

Check your bios fireware to see if there is a newer version out. Windows XP tends to be hit or miss on hibernation, especially on desktops.

[Cameron Reilly]

bit hard to check it when i cant boot it mate

[william dutton]

grab a spare hard drive and try and install windows on that, if you can't get that far, might be the powersupply unit.

as i was saying to you on skype, dansdata has a really good article to make a pc with no moving parts. Closer to quietness. its a really good read.

dansdata is a website run by a guy named dan who writes articles for atomic magazine.

[Aaron Brazell]

It's not a Windows issuer if you can't boot at all. Sounds like it might be a power supply or mainboard issue.

[Phillip Molly Malone]

Have you changed or added anything lately? Moved it maybe?
Molly

[Daniel]

With all the hardware issues you have, I reckon you're cursed.

[william dutton]

or you have a habit of buying the cheapest parts, if you buy the cheapest psu, you run the risk of killing the whole pc, not just the psu. aopen or other namebrand brands have a tendancy to not kill the pc if they die + they last longer under strain.

[Cameron Reilly]

thanks guys. just got back from taking it into the local repais joint. they attached it to a new PSU, worked fine, BUT... wouldn't boot. Started giving up hard drive issues. I reckon they've just frakked up the order of the drives, but the nerdy repair guy wouldn't hear of it. Leave it with them for a few hours, see what they come up with.... now I have to see if I can post up the latest gdayworld using the tools I have on the laptop... good thing I didn't drop this into the acer repair shop like I planned this morning.. the swivel on the screen broke a couple of days ago and i was planning to leave it with them for a couple of days to get it fixed... if i'd done that today I'd be totally screwed!

[william dutton]

nah you would not be, you would go to ya neighbours and borrow his pc for a couple of days ;)

[Dave the Lifekludger]

Cam, do you own a cordless 2.4ghz phone by any chance?

[Amano]

my pc cant get passed the boot up screen it justs gives me the options of safe mode start normally ect, which ever i pick it just restarts and then gives me the same options again. what the heck do a do?

[Alfred]

Hey Cameroon, guess you have already arranged for another motherboard by now. I had a similar problem albeit slightly different. My power supply was working fine and only powered the moment the power cord was connected. The PC would give the normal one beep sound, which meant the boot process was all kawa, but again it would shut down shut down rather unceremoniously. Attempts to start it now that the power cord was already attached, were fruitless. Like you said, just like an Australian Federal Minister with memos about the Iraq Oil-For-Food program.

I simply tosted the board.

If I was wrong (You never know)somebody else let me know through my blog.