hi,

when i try to turn on my PC, mostly in the mornings, I have to press the power buttom several times before it will boot up, does anyone know why this is please?

when i push the buttom, the light comes on for a split second, then turns off, so its not the switch.

normaly at night or during the day when i am not using the PC, i pull the main plug out for my PC (monitor, tower, speakers etc), has this got anything to do with it?

Thanks

normaly at night or during the day when i am not using the PC, i pull the main plug out for my PC (monitor, tower, speakers etc), has this got anything to do with it
I wouldn't think so, unless the battery on mainboard is dead.

I wouldn't think so, unless the battery on mainboard is dead.


how do i check if its dead or not?

Replace it, if problem goes away, the battery was at fault.
You can get battery checkers, but a new battery would be cheaper. If your computer is not very old (less than couple of years) it's less likely the battery is a problem.

Can you borrow a PSU from a friend to check thats not the problem?

Can you borrow a PSU from a friend to check thats not the problem?

i actualy have a old power supply unit which originaly came with the tower, but i bought a branded make, for like £45 and put that in when i was building the PC (this problem wasnt there in the begining)


i also have a meter which i could use to measure the battery voltage, should be 3V right?

i actualy have a old power supply unit which originaly came with the tower, but i bought a branded make, for like £45 and put that in when i was building the PC (this problem wasnt there in the begining)


i also have a meter which i could use to measure the voltage, should be 3V right?
Off top of my head I can't be sure, but 5v comes to mind...probably not right. The specs will be out there somewhere.
edit: sorry, 5v is the PSU main rail not battery. battery I dont know

If a PSU problem, it's not getting to voltage that is likely to be a problem but maintaining it. Hence suggestion of trying another PSU.

(may be worth unplugging/replugging stuff in case tehre is a bad connection somewhere)

The batteries are usually 2.8-3.3 volt, so a reading between is fine.. the PSU is +12v on yellow, +5v on red, if you want to delve deeper into the PSU, You also have blue which I believe is -12v... you can google for the colour coding of PSU's if you really need to go that far :)

Flat battery wouldn't cause that anyway. The thing'd boot, it'd just think it was a 12am 1st Jan a couple of years ago every time you booted if it was the battery.

From the symptoms I'd say most likely the PSU, maybe the motherboard, everso slight chance of memory I suppose. If you (as you say) have a spare PSU kicking around chuck that in & see.

just to also mention (before i try the other power supply):

when the PC has been on for a while and i turn it off (without unplugging it at the plug), i can restart most times by pressing the button once

so its that intial switching it on when its been unplugged overnight or during the day, which causes the problem


thanks for the help everyone

I had this same problem on a pc tower i had a couple of years ago .. in the end i put in a new motherboard and it was fine after that ..

Col ..

when the PC has been on for a while and i turn it off (without unplugging it at the plug)

I do hope you never "turn off" the computer by just yanking the plug out of the wall...?

That might well give you some problems. :)


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