Random hardware failure on reboot only...

I have an interesting problem... when I turn my computer on for the first time it starts perfectly and stays alive and happy for as long as I wish to leave it on for. However, if I reboot the machine (either through a windows restart or if I turn it off and on again using the power switch) then it hangs on the windows load screen after about 20seconds ish. If I unplug it and wait a minute then it will happily start up again and work perfectly. I have tried removing all peripherals and this doesn't make any difference.

It's definitely not any kind of software fault (it does the same on linux live CDs) so I'm thinking it could be a problem with the motherboard as turning it off at the plug and waiting a couple of minutes seems to do the trick. So, has anyone experienced a similar problem before? My first thought was that it could be the motherboard on the way out but any other ideas would be gratefully received.

Thanks :)

The issue you're encountering is called a 'warm boot' issue. Sometimes it's a problem with the PSU standby line voltage. Check for bios updates incase they help. Try altering the load on your PSU - check for USB devices etc. I had this once and the weirdest solution was to actually overclock - it pulled down more from the PSU and the problem went away!

Hmm interesting idea regarding the PSU Kalniel, I'm currently running an overclocked E4300 @3.2GHz, I might turn down the OC a bit and see if I get the problem at stock as I can't push it much further with my motherboard. I'm also on the latest non-beta motherboard revision for my board (P5B-E), there are a number of bios revisions marked as beta which have been released since but given how old this board is now I doubt very much they'll bother to move any of the newer releases out of beta, I suppose it gives them an excuse any problems the board has with newer chips (I've seen quite a few people who have had serious issues getting it to work with any of the 45nm core 2 chips).

Anyway, I'll fiddle with the OC tonight and see how things go - many thanks for your suggestion - I may update the BIOS if this doesn't help.