Power supply boot problem: fixedthankgodfinally
Knock on wood.
I’m asking you to do that. Reach out to the nearest piece of oak, maple, or pine and kindly knock on it for my sanity’s benefit.
Some time ago, I mentioned that many of the quirkiest, trickiest problems of computers are rooted in faulty power supplies. If only I followed my own sage advice. For months—months!—I tinkered with my home machine, wringing my hands over its strange boot problem. It wouldn’t POST. Or it would. Or it would after it “rested” for a few hours. (I guess it was out of shape.)
Thank the Good Lord Above that I got a clue and swapped in a new power supply. Why did I not do this before? I… have no idea. But it solved everything, and suddenly my moment of weakness for a Mac Mini seems to be fading. (Wow, I was pretty weak there, wasn’t I? Wandering through the desert, desperate to be saved by Steve Jobs.)
- Morals of the story, in general
- Follow your own advice.
- Try easy solutions first. (Swapping in a new power supply is not difficult. Tracking down a grounding problem is a pain.)
- Morals of the story, in specific
- The vocal error messages of the Asus P4P800 motherboard (”system failed due to CPU overclocking,” “system failed CPU test”) are meaningless and make me want to physically stomp on the mobo.
- Faulty power supplies with the Asus P4P800 cause strange symptoms, such as weird USB issues (automatic reboot when you plug in a peripheral?) and the computer needing to “rest.” It behaves like a crotchety old man.
- Asus tech support sucks. Seriously. Message boards are your best bet.
August 31st, 2005 at 2:44 pm
PC LOADLETTER, WHAT THE FUCK DOES THAT MEAN?!
April 23rd, 2006 at 12:20 am
I had similar problems with a workstation here, It was from playing battlefield with all the bots turned on (yes all of them) that the power supply finally exploded with the sound of a rifle blast and a strong smell of burning electronic componants. I replaced it with the best one I could find and now the workstation has been rock stable ever since. I never turn it off and it goes for weeks without a reboot and its fine. Never would of thought of it but after I replaced it I realized I should of known all along. So don’t feel bad, if our foresight was as good as our hindsight then life wouldn’t be worth living. :D
June 30th, 2006 at 1:06 pm
OMG thx dude i will get a new power supply tommorow.Supprising me too was at the brink of insanity stomping litterary on my side panels of the pc wishing for a mac :D.
September 5th, 2006 at 11:58 pm
PC failure following power outage, replaced pws, booted, appeared ok. Shutdown, won’t boot. Unplugging 20 pin cable on motherboard, leaving sit, only way machine will boot, sometimes. Replaced memory, same. Replaced with larger 350W pws, same. Suspect motherboard (P4A845S) or CPU (P4).
December 18th, 2006 at 9:11 pm
I am having the same issue. I bought a P5GD2 Premium motherboard 2 years ago and lately it’s been shutting off completely when I make my system exert itself heavily. (such as watching movies, burning CD’s and doing multiple things at once) After it “rests” as you said, it boots up again fine and I keep my fingers crossed that it will not happen again. Here is my big question. IS 485 WATTS ENOUGH? I guess by the sound of it, the power supply may not have a smooth constant voltage supply which could make the system shut off. I have also heard a couple people say flashing the BIOS has on occasion fixed this. I know one thing…my CPU and its surrounding components are not getting hot.