PC Intermittent start up problem?

Question

I am experiencing intermittent start up problems on my PC after I changed the PSU. My PC was having heat issues and I found that the previous PSU fan and back panel fan were not running. I had also taken the CPU fan/heatsink out for cleaning. After installing a brand new Cooler Master Extreme Power Plus 550W PSU, I was unable to start the PC most of the time even though there was power - all the fans and lights were running but there were no beeps and occasionally no video where the monitor's power LED was blinking. When there was video, the screen will show the POST running for a short while and will either hang there or just go blank.

I was able to start the PC once in a blue moon, everything runs normally when it does. I am actually typing this on the same PC while it is running now. At this state, I am able to restart the PC from Windows using the restart function without shutting down. It will have difficulty starting up again if I power down the PC or press the reset button. I had tried taking everything apart and reassembled them to ensure that the cables are connected properly and the cards/CPU are properly reseated but the intermittent problem is still there.

I am having difficulty identifying the cause of the problem since I am able to start up and run the PC normally after multiple start up attempts. The new PSU is a likely suspect since the problem only happened after the swap, but I had swapped it with the previous one with faulty fan and the problem was still there and I don't have a good PSU to test it out. I am afraid that I might have damaged something while swapping the PSU. I had even tested the system on basic configuration with just mobo, ram, hdd and psu...the same problem was still there, including a successful boot to Windows.

Summary of the things I did when troubleshooting:
- reseated all the cards, RAMs, cables and CPU
- removed all the RAMs and 3 beeps could be heard
- visually checked the capacitors on the mobo, flat tops with no bulgings found
- looked into the new PSU through the grill, saw some grey mass on some of the components like copper coil in the PSU but this could be a normal thing...I don't know...


Since the problem only started after I had changed to the new PSU, I really want to point the finger at the PSU but since the problem is intermittent and the fans are running all the time, I am afraid that the shop might not think that there is anything wrong with the PSU and refuses to change it.

Are PSUs known to cause intermittent start up problems like this?

My greatest fear is that I might have accidently damaged some other parts during the swapping process.

I cannot shut down my PC now as I might have problem starting it later. Could anyone advise on how to solve this intermittent startup problem? Thanks in advance.


Motherboard: MSI P45 Neo3
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3Ghz
VGA: EVGA GTX260
RAM: Kingston 4GB
PSU: Cooler Master Extreme Power Plus 550W

Answer 1

Reset the BIOS.

Use the CMOS jumper, or Battery removal method.



If this doesn't get you going I would definitely return the PSU for replacement.



Good Luck

Answer 2

CCleaner is basically a dedicated cleaner which cleans the unwanted files in your computer...for eg. when you download or open any file or site, at many places it is registered in your computer that is not needed by the computer to work.....its a wonderful software that frees unwanted space...

Norton is basically a dedicated anti-virus.....

I sugess to still install CCleaner



You can find a free download of ccleaner here http://bit.ly/1sJimp9

Answer 3

are you able to open your pc and make powerful fan is spinning at the same time as severe temp seem? also you want to make powerful fan is able to diminish temp of CPU. became it used for same CPU earlier? in fact when you're saying it starts at present with severe temp, feels like defective sensor. you are able to attempt to the contact aluminum less than fan to make powerful its no longer boiling (beware, it may be warm for powerful.)