PC hangs up at start, how to resolve?

[zerogravity]

Hi all,

My PC hangs up at the start when I switch it on. When I hit the restart button the screen goes blank with no signal shown. But I can hear the CPU working. The no matter I hit the restart the result is the same. Then after switching the power off and on a couple of times the PC starts normally. Once windows load (vista) then it works quite normally with no problem.

The problem only exists when I start up the PC which I resolve through the above steps. I fear that if this continues (power switching on and off) ultimately it will lead to complete crash down. I haven't changed the softwares or installed anything new for quite some time now. Also that PC is not used for internet connection hence no chance of any virus attack.

How do I diagnose the exact reason for this problem and resolve it?

Appreciate your time

[smargh]

Check the 5v and 12v voltages. You could try Speedfan in the first instance, or if it doesn't work (or doesn't appear reliable), use any cheap multimeter to measure the voltages on a molex connector while the PC is turned on.

[zerogravity]

Check the 5v and 12v voltages. You could try Speedfan in the first instance, or if it doesn't work (or doesn't appear reliable), use any cheap multimeter to measure the voltages on a molex connector while the PC is turned on.

I have very little idea on the hardware side. Could you please detail me how and where do I check these voltages. And what should the results be reading. That is if it below then it would mean?

Thanks

[smargh]

http://www.devhardware.com/forums/po...est-75111.html

The easy way is to use Speedfan (http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php) while Windows is running, but the figures are not always reliable.

[zerogravity]

The easy way is to use Speedfan while Windows is running, but the figures are not always reliable.

Thanks , I will try it out

[DeludedGuy]

It could also be a faulty motherboard, I had the exact same thing happen to me not too long ago with an old Gigabyte motherboard.

Initially I thought it could be the power supply, so I tried it with a different PSU and the same thing kept happening.

[4444405]

I had a similar experience too and found that re-seating the RAM modules helped for me.

[vinnyT]

It could be any of those reasons listed (though, I lean towards the psu), the important thing is to make sure you have viable backups of all your data and to keep the backups upto date, just in case.