pc keeps powering on and off and wont properly start up

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Clarkender

Clarkender

PCHF Member
Apr 25, 2024
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pc literally wont boot up. it turns on for 2 seconds then powers off for 5, and repeats.
ive turned turned off psu for a bit and turned it back on, same issue.
it wont let me attach the 3 second clip here so thats bs
 
Hello

It may be your psu.. Do you have a spare psu that works to check that ?
 
Desktop or laptop?
If desktop, open the side cover and disconnect the PWR SW cable from the front panel header.
To start, short those two exposed pins with anything metallic.
 
Bruce said:
Desktop or laptop?
If desktop, open the side cover and disconnect the PWR SW cable from the front panel header.
To start, short those two exposed pins with anything metallic.
Click to expand...
desktop.
idk what the PWR SW cable is, nor what the front panel header is.
i also do not know how to short pins (and i dont know what pins are)
 
When you take off the side cover of the tower, the bottom right side of the motherboard (usually) is where you will find what is called the front panel header.
It has all the wires from the outside of the case for hard drive LED, Power LED, power switch, and sometimes a reset switch.
They will be twisted in pairs, and each pair will be a different colour.

One twisted pair, usually black/red but not always, and usually the top left of the front panel header is the PWR SW wires, standing for POWER SWITCH.
On the twisted pair there is a black socket that the wires go into, and in turn this socket connects to the front panel head onto what is called pins.
Pulling this pair off, and shorting those to pins together with anything metallic, like a screwdriver, will simulate the power switch being pressed.
This is a good test if the power button seems to be stuck in.

But really, I'm not sure you should be delving into the innards of your PC. No malice, but it sounds like you are out of your league.
The other things to try would be to remove the Nvidia graphics card and the memory sticks, wipe their motherboard slots and their circuit boards and contact pins, then reseat them and see if that helps.
But I think it may be time to seek assistance from a friend or a repair shop. :)
 
hi again, sorry for the no reply. last time the the power loop was fixed when i reseated the ram sticks. howeverrr, after school yesterday, my pc decided to start doing it again. ive done the following: reseating the ram, swapping their places, testing if one of the sticks is faulty, tried to take out the little circle battery thing on the motherboard but its trapped underneath protection, cleaned the ssd, and tried removing excess cables to see if an accessory is the problem.
however, instead of looping, today it turns on fine, and the leds light up fine, and i hear the usual beeps. but my monitor (both) do not power on or connect. its a new monitor and an old one, and i bought new dp and hdmi cables a few months ago bc of previous issues. its most likely my psu of some sort or my motherboard.
oh wait i forgot, what happened first was that my pc would boot into the motherboard model screen and just freeze on that, and i cant access bios or startup in safety mode.
the order of the events is pc would boot into motherboard screen, tried the fixes, started power looping, got off for the day, fast forward to today, pc boots up fine but either monitors do not power on or connect. sorry for the mess up.

i dont know whats giving me so many problems but i think its the psu. it could be ram cpu or motherboard, but this seems like a power problem considering the boot looping. the pc is 8 years old to be fair and didnt get much maintenance until these recent couple years. however the psu is new-ish (tuf gaming 750w bronze), being a year old, and my gpu is a couple years old (nvidia rtx 3060). i really dont wanna do this pin shortening stuff bc i could permanantly damage things and im definitely no professional.
the power button is not stuck in.
how do i wipe the gpu and ram slots?
that first part of your big power shortening comment cant be done. i cant find where these twisted wires are and that.
 
Clarkender said:
hi again, sorry for the no reply. last time the the power loop was fixed when i reseated the ram sticks. howeverrr, after school yesterday, my pc decided to start doing it again. ive done the following: reseating the ram, swapping their places, testing if one of the sticks is faulty, tried to take out the little circle battery thing on the motherboard but its trapped underneath protection, cleaned the ssd, and tried removing excess cables to see if an accessory is the problem.
however, instead of looping, today it turns on fine, and the leds light up fine, and i hear the usual beeps. but my monitor (both) do not power on or connect. its a new monitor and an old one, and i bought new dp and hdmi cables a few months ago bc of previous issues. its most likely my psu of some sort or my motherboard.
oh wait i forgot, what happened first was that my pc would boot into the motherboard model screen and just freeze on that, and i cant access bios or startup in safety mode.
the order of the events is pc would boot into motherboard screen, tried the fixes, started power looping, got off for the day, fast forward to today, pc boots up fine but either monitors do not power on or connect. sorry for the mess up.

i dont know whats giving me so many problems but i think its the psu. it could be ram cpu or motherboard, but this seems like a power problem considering the boot looping. the pc is 8 years old to be fair and didnt get much maintenance until these recent couple years. however the psu is new-ish (tuf gaming 750w bronze), being a year old, and my gpu is a couple years old (nvidia rtx 3060). i really dont wanna do this pin shortening stuff bc i could permanantly damage things and im definitely no professional.
the power button is not stuck in.
how do i wipe the gpu and ram slots?
that first part of your big power shortening comment cant be done. i cant find where these twisted wires are and that.
Click to expand...
also gpu fans arent spinning
 
Can you get it started any way at all, like only connecting one screen, or if the motherboard and processor allow it, remove the RTX3060 graphics card and use the onboard one.

If you can get it to boot;
1) Let’s show the complete PC specs using Speccy by Piriform - Get Speccy (Is Speccy safe?)

In Speccy, click File > Publish Snapshot (hit Yes if prompted) > Copy to Clipboard > Close.
Paste that link into your post.

2) Speccy doesn’t show the Power Supply Unit so list the make/model of the PSU.

3) Let’s also show installed programs using MiniToolBox by FarBar - Get MTB
In MTB, tick List Installed Programs, click Go then close the program.
A file MTB.txt is created in the same folder, attach that in a post.
 
i am on the pc via connecting my 2nd monitor to the motherboard (main monitor wont work)
(gpu not listed since its not connected but its nvidia rtx 3060)
power supply:

ASUS TUF Gaming 750W 80+ Bronze Non Modular Power Supply​

since im able to use the pc, are there any other things that i could be doing to possibly help my situation?
 

Attachments

i also made another forum on tomshardware which has a lot more info and is more well written if youd like to continue from there
https://forums.tomshardware.com/thr...y-pc-unable-to-boot-and-run-properly.3843775/

1714727646280.png
 
From Speccy;
  • E:\ has a few SMART errors, disconnect the drive and see if anything changes
  • C:\ is down to 21GB of free space, clean that up to improve Windows operations
  • There are two newer BIOS updates since your current one of R02-B0
In case memory is to blame, remove both sticks, wipe their contact pins, their motherboard slots, and their circuitry boards with a soft bristled brush. Just put one stick back in and test. If no issues, remove and try the other. If issues, try the other mobo slots.

From MTB;
  • remove the ACER bloatware programs
To confirm, with the GPU removed and running on one screen, the PC works fine?
If so, can you get your hands on another graphics card for testing purposes?
 
yes ive got my old 1070 working. however only my 2nd monitor can run on it, instead of neither of my monitors working on the 3060.
please refer to the other forum as ive had a big discussion on there with someone for info.
ill try those fixes.
and also yes the pc runs fine with the gpu removed. i even removed it whilst the pc is running, and it had 0 effect. you could say the gpu wasnt active at all whatsoever except for the slight rgb on it
 
Bruce said:
From Speccy;
  • E:\ has a few SMART errors, disconnect the drive and see if anything changes
  • C:\ is down to 21GB of free space, clean that up to improve Windows operations
  • There are two newer BIOS updates since your current one of R02-B0
In case memory is to blame, remove both sticks, wipe their contact pins, their motherboard slots, and their circuitry boards with a soft bristled brush. Just put one stick back in and test. If no issues, remove and try the other. If issues, try the other mobo slots.

From MTB;
  • remove the ACER bloatware programs
To confirm, with the GPU removed and running on one screen, the PC works fine?
If so, can you get your hands on another graphics card for testing purposes?
Click to expand...
i cannot enter uefi firmware to flash bios. when pressing f12 to enter boot menu, only windows boot manager pops up. but once i press it, it just boots into windows like normally. ive researched several forums but nothing helps. i cant remove the cmos battery, nor want to, as it can cause further issues if not done by a professional with necessary tools.
 
Inside your case, on the motherboard, is the CMOS battery that supplies power to BIOS when the PC is off.
If it has the standard CR2032 type button cell battery, there is no special tool required, it simply flicks out by using anything like a small flat head screwdriver, nail file, tweezers, etc.

You can still try the other suggestions, disconnect E:\ drive, cleanup C:\ drive with either CCleaner (free version) or Glary Disk Cleaner.


Clarkender said:
i even removed it whilst the pc is running
Click to expand...
NEVER EVER do this!!!!
Power is running through the circuitry and when you yank out components you have no way of controlling how the power is drained, or even if you cause a short as you lift the GPU out of it's slot at an angle. This goes with anything connected to the motherboard - turn off first, unplug from wall, press power button to discharge the capacitors, then work on the PC.
 
Bruce said:
Inside your case, on the motherboard, is the CMOS battery that supplies power to BIOS when the PC is off.
If it has the standard CR2032 type button cell battery, there is no special tool required, it simply flicks out by using anything like a small flat head screwdriver, nail file, tweezers, etc.

You can still try the other suggestions, disconnect E:\ drive, cleanup C:\ drive with either CCleaner (free version) or Glary Disk Cleaner.



NEVER EVER do this!!!!
Power is running through the circuitry and when you yank out components you have no way of controlling how the power is drained, or even if you cause a short as you lift the GPU out of it's slot at an angle. This goes with anything connected to the motherboard - turn off first, unplug from wall, press power button to discharge the capacitors, then work on the PC.
Click to expand...
got it.
i cannot remove the cmos battery. its stuck underneath some plastic on its sides.
 
Does it look lie this

1714805321326.jpeg


If so, it just flicks out by putting one of those sharp pointy objects I mentioned under the left side of that picture, underneath the battery.
 
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