Tech / Special Interest → Computer Hardware Help > Computer wont boot from time to time, Help pls

Computer wont boot from time to time, Help pls

My computer wont boot from time to time. In the beginning, I remember the first time it happened, it was only for a brief moment, like 1 min. Then it booted and worked perfectly fine. The next time it happened it wont boot for an hour, I just kept turning eletrcitity on and off, attaching and making sure everything is connected properly in the computer, somehow after about an hour of trying, it booted. Third time happened, same thing, for only 5 mins and it booted. Earlier today was the longest, it wont boot for 2 hours and so I brought my computer to repair shop, when they tried turning on, it worked. They say they cant find out the problem why and so I brought it home and again, it wont boot for the next 1 1/2 hour . I Usually just leave the power on, it suddenly just automatically booted up.

This is whats going on. When I turn on my main electricity switch, I could see the motherboard's light, the graphic card's light inside the CPU, I presume this might not be the PSU problem, It just wont boot up. Oh and one more point is that , whenever it started booting up from the "down time" my computer time will be off, like off synced. For however long its down, it'll be about that duration of time off the original time. So what could be the problem? Please help out

How old is the machine? Home built or store bought? Can you supply us with some specs or a make and model number?

The machine is 1 year old. I chose the parts, store guy fix it up for me. Its i7 3930k , Motherboard Asus Rampage IV extreme, 16 GB ram ( 4 x 4gb) Crosair Ram . H100 cooler, thats prettty much it and ohh, I have both SSD and HDD. No idea why this is happening. Please help

See my post here > »Re: PC will not post -- when it does... blinking cursor. for the proper steps to troubleshoot a wonky booting computer.

Try using the switch on the back of the power supply (most power supplies have an on/off switch on the back) to turn the unit off for a few seconds and then back on. Then try to power on the PC using the main power switch. If this procedure consistently resolves the problem, the power supply is likely faulty.

The system time should not change. It is kept current by the BIOS battery. So the battery is likely dead as well. The batteries are cheap and easily replaced.
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I did the power supply thing ( on and off) it wouldnt boot still. BIOS battery wasnt dead, it was just a "aftereffect" from not booting up with the time off sync. I bought a new BIOS battery anyhow. Not booting up still happen, for however long it wouldnt boot up, the time will be behind by however long. Its as though that the computer is dead during that duration... Could this be the mother board? Oh earlier today, I tried turning on my computer, same thing happened except for , when I tried turning it on, It booted, for less than 2 secs, then power went off. Thing is, the Lights INSIDE the computer case, on the motherboard and graphic cards are still on, so Im really not sure if its motherboard or PSU's problem. Could it be RAM? If its just PSU , i dont think the time will be off sync... Anyone can help?

The fact that lights are on inside the computer doesn't necessarily rule out the psu as it could be that it works fine under light load but can't handle any significant demand.

On the other hand the fact that the time is off in the way you describe, even after changing the battery(thought the battery wasn't very old to begin with) does suggest something is going on with the motherboard. Even if all power is removed from the machine the clock should still keep time. Maintaining settings, even with power removed, is what the battery is for in the first place.

However, given the price of your motherboard, I wouldn't want you to run out and replace it and find out that isn't the issue.

It doesn't sound like a ram issue but it still wouldn't hurt to pull all but one stick of ram, test, then swap for another single stick and test. This isn't likely to be the problem but it is a cheap and easy test that should be done anyway. Same with disconnecting unnecessary parts, add in cards, extra drives, etc. The more you take out of the equation the better.
You don't mention the graphics card. If you are running a higher end power guzzler and you have a low end card that doesn't draw much power it wouldn't hurt to test with the other card to see if lowering the power demand has a significant effect on the problem.

What brand and model of power supply does the machine have?

edit:

Also, are you plugging the machine into a power strip or a ups? If so get all of that out of the equation and plug it directly into the wall. Also try a different wall socket, preferably on a different electrical circuit in the house. The fact that it sounds like it is a very regular problem now, but the shop didn't have any issue, means that there is some possibility that there is a power problem with the location the machine is in.

If you disconnect the power cord and remove all power but the cmos battery is it still losing time? Did it lose time during the trip to the shop?

Im using Corsair AX-850W Gold PSU, and Asus GTX 680 Graphic card. Right now, right at this moment, my computer wont boot again. Yesterday was fine. (This only happens if i shut my computer off totally, it has a chance not to boot up and its happening ALOT more frequently lately. Wouldnt boot for hours). I've tried taking 1 ram out, 3 ram in, and swap every single ram 1 by 1. Nothing happened . I've also tried plugging my computer on other power socket in the house, still wont turn on.

The time off sync thing happens EVERYTIME it wont boot up. During my trip to the shop, when they turned it on, yes, the time was off sync as well too. For like afew hours, right after they could turn it on right away.(Thus they say they cant find out the problem if they could turn it on). So what would be the problem likely?

To me, the whole time thing points to the motherboard. It has a 3 year warranty, I'd advise getting in touch with Asus.
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Did you write down your cmos settings when you got the machine so you can compare to see if any settings have changed as a result of the battery not seeming to be able to maintain the time? It is likely that it has not maintained other settings as well. Something could have been set back to default which could be causing your boot problems, although the system really should boot with any defaults.

Having said that your original cmos battery shouldn't be bad already and you have replaced it and the problem remains so something more than simply a bad battery seems to be at work.

I think n_w95482 is correct that you should contact asus and give them all the details(ram swapping etc), especially about the time loss, the fact that the motherboard is only a year or so old, and that you have tried replacing the cmos battery. Carefully follow any troubleshooting they ask you to perform and, if they aren't able to resolve the problem, I would request an rma from them.

Did not take down any settings or changed anything when I first bought the machine. Everything was on default.

Yea i did replace the battery, issue still persist.

Its under warrenty so I could actually replace it without any cost and what does "rma" means?

Return Merchandise Authorization. It's when you contact the maker of the motherboard, tell them you want to return it, and they will give you a number to put on the shipment so they can track it.

You said you checked that everything was connected in the computer. Did you double check the power switch connectors both at the button and the connection at the motherboard?

Might worth trying setting the BIOS to a default profile. Have you looked through the BIOS settings? Even possibly something is corrupt in BIOS and flashing BIOS might be worth a try. »event.asus.com/2012/mb/USB_BIOS_···k_GUIDE/

Everything OK with the clear CMOS jumper? I see this board has the diagnostic LEDs and, if they are functioning during a failed boot, the LED code might be informative.

crazy as it sounds, replace the power supply and see if that doesn't fix the problem. I have seen this problem to many times, even with fairly new power supplies. You might have had a power surge sometime when you didn't realize or while you were gone. Did you have any storms before this started up?

Build a new custom computer. This is what $1,200 back in August 2012 got me.
1) iBUYPOWER Xion Echo Desktop Green Chassis
2) Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3 Motherboard
3) AMD FX-8120, 64-bit, 8-core, 3.1GHz, Socket AM3+
4) iBUYPOWER 16GB Kit (2 x 8GB) DDR3 PC3-10700 SDRAM
5) ATI Radeon HD 6870 1GB Video Card with 800W Power Supply
6) Seagate Internal Hard Disk Drive 2TB 7200RPM SATA III 6Gb/s
7) Pioneer Internal Optical BDR-2207 Blu-ray Drive
8) 12-in-1 Digital Media Card Reader
9) 1) Microsoft Wireless Desktop 800 Keyboard
10) 2) Logitech M705 Wireless Mouse
11) LG EW224 22-inch 1920x1080p/60Hz)

I had a problem in the past with an Asus board that was very finicky about how the cmos battery was installed. It would appear to be in the holder, but would not be making an electrical connection.

You might try gently disturbing the cmos battery while it is not booting to see if that will trigger it.

Also, you might try to clean the cmos battery contacts on the board.
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IUOE Local 101