Computer requires reset to boot?!

[funke_munke]

Hi guys,

I've had a problem with my PC for a while now where it simply will not boot to desktop the first time I turn it on. When I press the power button for the first time it simply hangs, all fans spinning at 100%. When I press reset, sometimes it continues to hang; other times it will reset, the fans will drop to their proper speeds and the computer will boot to desktop just fine.

However, every now and then it will attempt to boot up first time. It generally gets past the motherboard splash screen (although sometimes hangs there), to the Windows 7 loading screen and will hang just as power usually goes to various devices. Just before my keyboard lights up (USB) and I hear the click of my soundcards amp turning on for example. This requires a power down - power up - reset all over again.

Now I'm not sure whats causing this, it just started happening a short while back. To be honest I'm only posting here as I don't have any components to try in it for the old trial-and-error method. I'm guessing it's likely to be motherboard or power supply related, although maybe you guys have a better idea of this. I've googled to no avail. Spec is to the left!

I'd like to avoid RMA'ing a whole bunch of components as I use my pc for work every day.

Help me fix this! It can't be good for my otherwise smooth-runner of a pc

Pre-emptive thanks guys and gals!


Edit: I've tried removing my soundcard (xonar essence stx) and it's not that, at least!

[big_hairy_rob]

Make sure everything is seated properly, and all fans are spinning. though as this does boot later, i doubt this would be the issue

This could be a problem with the graphics card, though i would have expected bios bleeps in this case. Do you have speakers plugged into the speaker port? If you do, and there are no beeps, then the issue could be resolved by flashing the bios. More likely however is that its a psu issue. I would suggest trying a different PSU in there first to ensure that it can cope. Is your PSU up to your job?

[Agent]

This is known as 'cold booting'. It's normally caused by a component that's failing, such a capacitor, and as a result needs to be 'warmed' before it works to a level sufficient to boot.

Commonly it's the PSU or motherboard.

Another possibility is a BIOS issue - is it running the latest version.

Is it overclocked? If so, do you still get the issue when the clocks are at stock settings?

[scaryjim]

Have you added any USB devices recently? I built a computer for a mate that suddenly started doing this; it turned out to be down to a Belkin wireless N USB card that she'd added. During cold boot the mobo did a full USB device detection/enumeration thing, which was hanging on the Belkin; after the reset it did a quick boot instead of a full one, which skipped USB device detection so it booted normally. Swapping the Belkin card for a different wifi adapter solved the problem!

[funke_munke]

No overclock is being run. I took everything apart and rebuilt completely earlier, tried booting without usb devices as suggested but no luck. Did a 'minimal system' boot, i.e cpu, mobo, one stick of ram, graphics card, hdd and psu but still nothing.

I'm having trouble updating my bios - it didn't recognise the usb stick my housemate gave me, but I'm due to pick my Corsair Flash Voyager up later so I'll try that when I get back.

PSU is more than adequate power-wise, its a 750w Corsair HX.

I'm going to give my housemates graphics card a try tomorrow too, but I have no way of getting a PSU to test in case none of these work. Is there any way to tell if it's my PSU or motherboard without just RMA'ing them both? Maybe I could plug the PSU in to someone elses pc?

Cheers for the help so far!

[Agent]

Not really I'm afraid. You're at the point now where you just need to swap out the parts to find the faulty one.

You can try the PSU in another system, but it might work if it pulls less power (or one of many other factors)