[Jblade]

Last week my PC failed to move past the Boot screen (whatever you call the first screen you see when you turn the thing on with the maker and stuff on) and wouldn't respond to any kind of input. Unplugging all the USB cables and even the headphone/microphone allowed it to start up again, and then I could plug them back in and use it as normal. It did it again today, so I know now it's not just a fluke thing. The PC seems to be working fine apart from that, I haven't had any problems with it apart from the bootup troubles I just mentioned.

Is it likely to be a PSU issue? All signs point to that considering unplugging the USB cables 'fixes' it but I want to be sure before buying a new power supply.

[Paul B]

Jblade, on 26 October 2014 - 10:46 AM, said:

Last week my PC failed to move past the Boot screen (whatever you call the first screen you see when you turn the thing on with the maker and stuff on) and wouldn't respond to any kind of input. Unplugging all the USB cables and even the headphone/microphone allowed it to start up again, and then I could plug them back in and use it as normal. It did it again today, so I know now it's not just a fluke thing. The PC seems to be working fine apart from that, I haven't had any problems with it apart from the bootup troubles I just mentioned.

Is it likely to be a PSU issue? All signs point to that considering unplugging the USB cables 'fixes' it but I want to be sure before buying a new power supply.

The problem has to do with what you are plugging into your computer. One of those USB cables are attached to a Printer with a Mass storage (Card Reader, External Hard-drive or USB Thumb Drive). Your Computer thinks that one of these devices are actually a bootable Operating system partition and hangs the boot process. To circumvent this problem you need to change the BIOS boot order for your devices to make sure your hard-drive boots before your USB removable media or disable USB emulation and USB Legacy support in the BIOS.

[Hendricks266]

I had a similar issue with my Pentium 4 computer, where I had to unplug any USB flash drives and a certain USB hub for it to get past the BIOS, which would stall once the Gateway logo came up.

[Person of Color]

Yeah it sounds like a boot from USB issue.

Disable that in the BIOS and you should be fine. Even if your hard drive is the first option some boards will still try to do it, so shut it off completely.

[Jblade]

Alright cool cheers guys, just wondering though why would it do this now? I've had this USB mouse and keyboard for about a year now, so maybe one of them is damaged? They're budget gaming stuff so I never expected them to have a long shelf life.

[Paul B]

Jblade, on 26 October 2014 - 10:59 AM, said:

Alright cool cheers guys, just wondering though why would it do this now? I've had this USB mouse and keyboard for about a year now, so maybe one of them is damaged? They're budget gaming stuff so I never expected them to have a long shelf life.

No a USB mouse or keyboard should not cause this problem. If you've narrowed it down to one of those then the problem is something different.

[Jblade]

Well, the harddrive is new and I don't seem to be having any problems with it - apart from these bootup issues I'm not having any trouble with my PC at all (no graphics card errors, no BsoDs, .etc .etc) I'm a bit confused why it would suddenly start trying to boot from USB if it is doing that - but I do have a dual-boot with Linux going, is it possible something there got corrupted? (I only did it for 64bit Minecraft and I don't even play that anymore so I haven't tried to remove it yet)

Actually - now I think about it, when the PC started up (but failed to boot) the lights on my mouse didn't light up, but the keyboard DID - If it happens again I'll double check but I'm starting to think it is my mouse that's doing it.

[The Commander]

Jblade, on 26 October 2014 - 11:29 AM, said:

but I do have a dual-boot with Linux going, is it possible something there got corrupted? (I only did it for 64bit Minecraft and I don't even play that anymore so I haven't tried to remove it yet)

Slightly off topic, but can you explain this one a bit more... Is your Windows OS only 32bit?

[Jblade]

Yeah it's 32bit, I don't like pirating shit (especially Windows versions) and I just didn't see the point in upgrading my main OS anyway because this PC is fairly old - I only did it so I could play with more than 1GB of ram, but it wasn't worth the effort in the end.

Anyways as for my problem, I checked around a bit more and device manager was telling me one of the USB devices had a malfunction - I uninstalled and then reinstalled the drivers, so I'm guessing the problem must actually be with one of the USB ports on the back.

[Gambini]

Great you found the problem, I would have suggested what Paul B if i came 30 hours early, when you were still worried about it.

[Person of Color]

You don't need to run 32-bit Windows, the key will work fine with 64-bit discs.

Google "Windows 7 Digital River ISO" and use the download links, those are links provided by Microsoft to Digital River, which handles their college student license distribution in the US.

Also, if you need to pirate Windows, PM me, I have DAZ Loader 2.2.2 direct from the source. It works fine and is virus free. God knows how many systems I've used it on. MSE will flag it though...but how on Earth is that surprising?

[Paul B]

Protected by Viper, on 26 October 2014 - 06:44 PM, said:

Google "Windows 7 Digital River ISO" and use the download links, those are links provided by Microsoft to Digital River, which handles their college student license distribution in the US.

As far as I know Digital River has been absorbed by Microsoft. There are no longer free available downloads of Microsoft ISO's through digital river. You are now required to be a Microsoft Partner paying through the nose for a technet subscription of some sort, unless you are subject to volume licensing through the volume licensing channels or charity licensing programs.

- Microsoft is also trying to abolish their Technet subscription making it difficult for people to get by on just technet, but pay more for Gold / MSDN subscriptions. I guess there's always the ActionPak subcriber model which would be the cheapest option of them all at $495.00 USD.

$495.00 is a bit steep just for download access to a Windows 7 ISO for an operating system you've already paid for. I would say someone on the torrent network has probably already shared a vanila OEM Windows Install ISO. Check down by the Bay.. ARrrrggg Matey!

[Person of Color]

I just used them last week. They still work.

[Paul B]

Protected by Viper, on 26 October 2014 - 08:55 PM, said:

I just used them last week. They still work.

Well ill be. Looks like they are back up again. Better to stay safe and legal by downloading them from here

http://www.techverse...icial-servers/.

[Person of Color]

Staying legal is of no importance when you're trying to save CA$H. My desktop has a legal copy of 7 but my laptop doesn't. The Asus did, but fuck that POS. Eventually I'll make my laptop legal after I upgrade the board to the later i7/Radeon 5730 model.

Besides, DAZ only gets flagged by MSE for the installer itself. It uses the same SLIC method all the big boy OEM's use.

inb4 "OMG DISCUSSION OF PIRACY" Microsoft can suck a dick, DAZ is a godsend to any poor soul stuck buying a new computer. Windows 8 is fucking dogshit. You can't even order it on a Dell Precision mobile workstation, and most of their Latitudes come with 7 installed as well as an 8 license. They know what corporations want - software that isn't shit. Putting 8 on something as polished and exotic as a $1500+ Dell workhorse is heresy. Why not just crack open the magnesium chassis and plop a shit log on the motherboard?

[DustFalcon85]

Same thing applies to 8.1? Don't have any expectations on the upcoming Windows 10? I'm not currently happy w/ Microsoft b/c all of the gaming laptops have 8.1 on them. It's like they shoved it up MSIs, ASUS', Alienware's and Lenovo's asses. It's a bitch to find a laptop w/ Windows 7. Fortunately some of the gaming desktops at Newegg has Windows 7.

[Person of Color]

Just download Windows 7 Pro x64 from Digital River and go for it. Or if you don't want to reformat, install Start Menu 8, just opt out of the adware at the last step of the install. It gives you back the old start menu.

[Jblade]

Ok, I had it happen again today after I thought I fixed it and I think I've finally figured out the cause of the problem. Unplugging the USBs didn't help this time (and in retrospect I suspect they didn't actually help the last couple of times either since I pulled out the powerplug those times as well) so I pulled out the powerplug to the PC (After turning the PSU's switch off) and hitting the power button, than re-plugging the powerplug back in and turning the PSU's switch back on again. Some googling lead me to some stuff about capacitors but also that it might be the motherboard's internal battery dying off as well. Any thoughts? The PSU is only 1 year old and I don't have a high demand system (plus as I said I have zero problems with crashes or shit)

Forgot to mention, the computer DOES beep every time even when it doesn't startup properly. The light on my keyboard lights up but the lights on my mouse don't. By beeping I don't mean the error code, I mean the beep the PC normally makes every time when it starts up properly.

I'm guessing from now on I should turn off the PSU's switch after I've finished using the PC.

[Gambini]

I believe that´s your mobo dying and not a psu, battery thing.

You know, since the ATX era, when you hit the power button it creates a connection between two motherboard circuits which send the order to the PSU to start. If the motherboard detects a problem (missing or loose memories, no battery, HD failure, etc) it may not send the order to the PSU. I´ve seen that issue a few times and suffered it in person too (which forced me to replace the motherboard). It would work for hours and hours but sometimes it wouldnt start, just as yours, or all of a sudden it would shut down. I say, make sure every connection is in place, look for loose SATA wires, lose video card or memories, rusted or dirt battery, etc. If nothing of that helps, start removing no vital devices, as secondary HDs, memories if you have more than one, DVD, anything not strictly necessary. I know it´s difficult to track a problem when it happens randomly, but sometimes you nail the conflcting device quickly and it´s such a relief!

[Jblade]

Yeah, I'm starting to think that way...I'll see about replacing the CSMOS battery first and go on from there. Apart from this issue though I have zero problems with the PC itself. I can run games fine and have the thing on all day and experience no crashes or freezes, which is why it's hard to diagnose this properly.

[Gambini]

If there was a problem with the battery you´d notice your BIOS settings and clock are reset, as that´s what´s the battery for. I highly recomend you to start with opening the case and gently yanking all cables and boards, one by one and making sure they end up properly settled in their place. That is usually a common cause of problems like yours. If that doesn´t help: How many ram memories do you have? If you have two, swap positions or try running the pc with only one of them (preferabily in the slot of the other, to rule out two problems at once) the same goes for HDs. It´s something you can spend 15 minutes on and can save you a few bucks.

[Jblade]

True, but I've seen posts over the net saying it can manifest in weird ways. I'll take a look inside it, but I think it IS either a capacitor problem or a battery problem now out of process of elimination - it only does this when I get back home at night after I've had it on in the daytime (and not all the time, only rarely) It starts up absolutely fine in the mornings, which suggests to me that it is power related - but I'm just not sure about it being the PSU or capacitors because once it starts up it functions 100% effectively with no weird turn offs or reboots, so it has to be related to something after the post boot.

I'm gonna think about getting a new PC soon in anycase though, I can afford it and even a cheap one I can pickup will run much much more than this PC can.

[Gambini]

Then go for a budget gaming pc, invest a little extra of money in the GPU (but beware of not lowering "ranks" in GPUs) With my last upgrade I jumped from a gForce 9600GT to a GTX 650 ti and was kinda dissapointed because the old one performed excepcionally great for its age.

[Kyanos]

I just wanted to chime in here, I agree with Gambini about it probably being the mobo. I recommend you get a can of compressed air (the good dry stuff) blow the bitch out good, and disconnect/reconnect almost everything (one a time) except the cpu & cpu fan, its probably best to not mess with that at this moment, but I'd even look at it last. About capacitors, look for a domed out top, they are meant to be perfect cylinders if it has a bubbled top it means its failing or blown.

[Forge]

Jblade, on 13 November 2014 - 01:33 AM, said:

it only does this when I get back home at night after I've had it on in the daytime (and not all the time, only rarely) It starts up absolutely fine in the mornings, which suggests to me that it is power related

if this is the case:
it's connection related. the heat from being on expands metal contacts and loosens connections. after it's been off and cooled down, everything contracts and makes better connections - until it heats up again
i would say gambini is probably right and something isn't plugged in all the way.

[Person of Color]

What Forge said, but it could also be a component failing. Capacitors don't like heat, especially when they are dying.

[Forge]

even if you plan on getting a new computer, it's still worth the thirty minutes to pop open the case, inspect the capacitor heads, insure everything is tight, and give it a good cleaning - especially if you can install windows 98 on it and use it for a retro- gaming box.

[Person of Color]

Whenever a very old system comes into the shop, I inspect it for bad caps. I had a ten year old Dell Dimension 2400 come in with a single swollen cap. I told the customer it wasn't worth fixing.

[DustFalcon85]

What causes the caps to go bloated and how do you prevent it? Tone down on the PC usage?

[Forge]

heat and age

reducing heat build-up in the case helps