Startup failure

[Vagrant0]

Hoping someone can point me in the right direction for diagnosing and fixing an issue.

 

The computer is a HP Pavilion, 2007 ish, Windows Vista, store bought. Has run for a few years with minimal to light usage, so is not standard hardware wear and tear issues.

 

When I power it on, it starts checking drives and normal, but the BIOS doesn't show the boot screen. After several attempts if goes through and boots up without issue.

 

I've already thoroughly scanned the computer for malware, found nothing.

 

I've run a SMART scan on the harddrive using Speedfan, everything comes out as healthy.

 

I've run Windows update, everything upates fine.

 

When it does boot up, I've run some of the Motherboard diagnostic tools for processor, memory, and hard drive. All tests passed.

 

As a precaution I've restored windows startup files from the factory partition. This didn't solve it.

 

Posting screen doesn't show any errors when it runs on successful startup. It doesn't even post.

 

Monitored voltages for a solid hour, they remained steady.

 

 

Once or twice Windows started and got a flash of blue, but that was likely from turning it off and on to start up the computer.

 

A harddrive failure or loose connection wouldn't prevent the computer from posting. A processor or video failure would be easy to spot. A virus or other malware would still post since botnets, worms, and the like are far more preferable to things that outright stop a computer from working (unless you go out of your way to piss off someone). A failure in Windows would fail when Windows was loading, not when the computer was just turned on. If it were the power supply, the fans wouldn't work, the drives wouldn't try reading, and voltages would show wrong. If it was a motherboard hardware issue, the computer wouldn't work, or Speedfan would likely detect the error while starting. I'm thinking that it might be some corruption of BIOS, but if that were the case, it wouldn't start up at all or would have errors showing somewhere when it did.

 

To put it simply, this has me a bit stumped.

Anyone have any ideas?

[blove]

Sounds like a power issue. I would open it up and unplug all of the fans and drives except for the CPU fan to see if I could a consistent post.

[Illiad86]

Has it been cleaned lately? Loose connections and dust clogging the connections can actually cause the computer not to POST. My friend's computer is doing the same exact thing. But after cleaning it, re-seating the CPU, RAM, cleaning the connections with alcohol, even trying a new motherboard (he believed something might have fried on his), it still would not POST. We tried turning it on one more time and there was sizzle sound. His PSU died :( So, it could be a power issue like the above poster said.

 

I'd invest in one of these

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16899705003

 

We want to ourselves. My boyfriend and I are my family's tech support and this would come in handy.

Edited October 6, 2011 by Illiad86

[Paxan_1]

Hi,

 

the first idea that came into my mind was memory, if you are using more than one module i would take one out to have a look what will happen. Changing the psu (if you have easy access to another one) would be my suggestion too. When my old psu died it hasn't "really" changed its values, but i'm using AIDA for measurement ;).

 

hope it helps a little,

Sarah

[Vecna6667]

I'm thinking the Power Supply might not have enough power and might not be long for this world because it is working too hard. A lot of retail computers use 300 watt PSUs when they may need 350 watts. Other than that, I would run Memtest86+ to see if the RAM is bad.

[lostone1993]

id go something wrong with the power as well

[Vagrant0]

Is there any test I can run on the power supply? both Speedfan and the BIOS setup screen are showing fairly consistent and normal voltages once I get it running right.

[samadchaz]

I dont know any software that test your PSU but you can test it by your own by shorting every single pin with "Green" wire(PS_ON) and turning the PSU on. If the fan stopped/not working on any pin then the PSU is culprit(this will never test ripple!)

[lostone1993]

Is there any test I can run on the power supply? both Speedfan and the BIOS setup screen are showing fairly consistent and normal voltages once I get it running right.

 

 

If i Remember there is a test tool, I have one...somewhere il have a look see if I can find it and tell you what it specificly

 

What i do remember though is you plug it in to the psu and it tests how the unit operates and reports back

[Paxan_1]

Hi Vagrant,

 

a friend of me had destroyed his psu yesterday too. The symptom is the computer tries to start, but the Asus Maximus has a feature that it tries to power up all things, shut itself down and tries again. If there isnt enought power it prevents damages on other equipment installed. We checked it by putting it into mine, we are both using the Maximus and be quiet, so it was a good test. With his psu mine wouldn't start up too, so we were secure it is the psu. It died from one moment to another, no signs like strange voltage values. The psu was a be quiet dark power, so it isnt a cheap one.

 

Sarah