Tech gurus assemble, I need your opinion. [PC]

[Christo]

So, after my PC survived and got home, things were all fun and games, until..

My PC isn't powering on normally anymore. Now, I've been reading some articles and threads about this, but the weird thing is, it's completely random.

Last time it happened about a week ago, I used the PC the night before, woke up in the morning, fired it up.. nothing. Green led up, but no response. Came back home later in the evening, it turned on for the first try.

Today is the same thing, I did everything usual, played for some hours etc, no problems, then shut it off and went to sleep.
Turning PC on early morning to read some news, nothing. Nothing ever since.

The weird thing is that I know it can give power, I used it for weeks with this setup and gamed heavily for hours. So the hell is it's problem? This is what I could use some insight for, I only had the exact opposite with a dying PC years ago, it didn't want to turn OFF, and always turned on in the middle of the night, waking me from sleep. That was a bit creepy back then though lol.

[Tennenoth]

I had a similar issue recently where I knew I had power going through the computer (Motherboard LEDs were lighting up to signify power flow) but it wouldn't want to boot up. That was something to do with the power supply failing to have a continued charge as I never switched the plug off, it was still getting a current which may have buggered it up.

Anyway, the next time I shut the power off from the mains, it wouldn't turn on at all, I had to buy a new power supply and since then it's worked fine.

In short, I honestly am quite lax on the whole hardware past how it all fits together & the maths on the back end of it, but I would hazard a guess that the power supply is giving up the ghost...

[CrazyCracka420]

Does sound like a power supply failing to me...

I have had two power supplies fail in the past, and in both instances they had problems leading up to the ultimate failure (they never actually "failed" completely, one was arching and sparking towards the end so it was obvious it was shot, the other would power off randomly, which was probably just due to not enough power for my PC...so maybe just one failure I've had).

But in the one that failed, it would turn off intermittently, and it would also work just fine at other times.

Only way to really know if that's your prob is to replace with another power supply. 

[Christo]

Balls, this power supply supposed to be the "replacement" I scrapped from my ancient PC after mine gave up on life recently.

Fuck. My. Life.

[CrazyCracka420]

Well if that's the case, I'd be less likely to think it was failing or somehow not working properly, as I would tend to think it's just not powerful enough for your system.

[Christo]

Both were the same wattage though, at least on paper.

[CrazyCracka420]

Both were the same wattage though, at least on paper.

How did your first one "fail"?  Like what symptoms were you experiencing?

The fact it won't turn on sometimes is not a good sign IMO (I think if it was just not powerful enough it would turn off at certain times, but not expect it to fail to turn on the system). 

[Gnjus]

Wait.....you took a PSU from an ancient PC which belongs to a technological museum as a relic of the past and put it into a PC of a newer date ?   

[Christo]

Wait.....you took a PSU from an ancient PC which belongs to a technological museum as a relic of the past and put it into a PC of a newer date ?   

gib moni :/

both configs are outdated crap from like 2007-9, so why not?

How did your first one "fail"?  Like what symptoms were you experiencing?

The fact it won't turn on sometimes is not a good sign IMO (I think if it was just not powerful enough it would turn off at certain times, but not expect it to fail to turn on the system). 

http://forum.melee.org/general-off-topic/i-think-my-pc-died-suggest-some-older-games-to-pass-time/msg848355/#msg848355

[zagibu]

PSU is a pretty safe bet. Could also be the power switch, though, but if you say you can see the leds of the mainboard going on and fans spinning, probably not. Some mainboards have failure beeps/led flashing combinations, do you have anything of the sort?

[Vibe]

Is there any beeping? If it's RAM it does this beep, otherwise I'd say PSU. Worst case it's your mobo

[Christo]

PSU is a pretty safe bet. Could also be the power switch, though, but if you say you can see the leds of the mainboard going on and fans spinning, probably not. Some mainboards have failure beeps/led flashing combinations, do you have anything of the sort?

Nope, nothing spins up. Dead silence. No POST-apocalyptic beeps either. hue

Also I've tried swapping power switch with reset, nothing, the screwdriver trick doesn't do anything either.
Only way is if it randomly happens, lol #RNG_PC_yolo

[Grumpy_Nic]

How did your first one "fail"?  Like what symptoms were you experiencing?

The fact it won't turn on sometimes is not a good sign IMO (I think if it was just not powerful enough it would turn off at certain times, but not expect it to fail to turn on the system).

Sometimes, when power supplies fail, although they used to deliver enough current, they just break down at a certain threshhold. That means the power supply can deliver a little bit of current but when the computer (or anything else) connected to it starts to get thirsty the power supply "crashes".
I've mostly experienced this with low-quality power supplies though.

[zagibu]

I suggest you don't touch the system anymore until you have a new PSU. Wouldn't want to damage any other components in the process.

[Grumpy_Nic]

I suggest you don't touch the system anymore until you have a new PSU. Wouldn't want to damage any other components in the process.

Amen.