Can Someone Explain This?

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by jaygee61, Nov 24, 2009.

  1. jaygee61

    jaygee61 Private E-2

    Hello all!

    Ok, I've been having this issue with my system off and on for a while now. I hope someone can explain what's causing it and/or how to correct it.

    First of all, I shut down my PC every night to both conserve energy and avoid unneeded wear on my system. On occasion, when I try to start up in the morning, it powers up, but then "freezes". The HD indicator light goes solid red and I don't get a system beep or boot screen. Usually, if I manually shut down the PSU and turn it back on the system will start and run fine. Once I get it started it will run with no problems until I shut down. Every so often when this occurs it will take several tries to shut the PSU on and off and then get it to start up.

    However, this morning I tried to start it up and I got the "freeze". So I turned off and on the PSU but got nothing. This was the case for about several hours. So I finally opened it up, disconnected all the power leads, reconnected them and it started just fine and has been running with no problems.

    Anyone have a clue what's going on here? I'd really appreciate some input on this! Thanks in advance!
     
  2. Caliban

    Caliban I don't need no steenkin' title!

    Greetings, jaygee61...

    This could be caused by a myriad of things: hardware, malware, software...my first thoughts would be to run full malware scans, start the machine in Safe Mode to see if the problem goes away, and, as you seem to have changed the symptoms by re-seating the power connectors, I'd check all of your connections, make sure your fans are up to snuff, etc...
     
  3. thesmokingun

    thesmokingun MajorGeek

  4. jaygee61

    jaygee61 Private E-2

    thanks for the tips guys! I ran my AV as well as Malwarebytes and they found nothing. the hard drive and RAM passed too. now I run two hard drives; one with my OS and assorted basic applications and the second contains nothing but MP3 music files. right after the problem occured earlier and I reconnected all the power leads in my system, I noticed that when it booted the MP3 drive didn't load. I just restarted my system and now the second drive is showing as available. I'm going to find out the manufacturer and get the diagnostic application for it. in the meantime, can anyone give me an idea why this drive will sometimes load and other times not? and could this have caused my earlier problem? thanks!
     
  5. Toke

    Toke MajorGeek

    The 4 pin power leads can be notorious for shaking lose if you are using that type so a general check of all leads to make sure that they are well 100% seated.
     
  6. ~Q~

    ~Q~ Command Sergeant Major

    I agree, dodgy connections on the PSU or even a bad PSU itself.

    Q
     
  7. Bold Eagle

    Bold Eagle MajorGeek

    Agree you may have "self resolved" the issue I would also be swapping over the HDD connector if you can (SATA I assume) and possibly plug it into another connector on the mobo.
     
  8. dlb

    dlb MajorGeek

    It could be that the 2nd HD (the MP3 drive) is starting to fail. Flakey drives can cause all sort of problems with a PC, especially right when the PC is powered and the system BIOS starts the POST (Power On Self Test); a faulty drive can cause the POST to stop responding.
     

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