My Computer Doesn't Start Up Right Away

by the way it was me I was the one who posted the question for some reason I managed to post it as Guest

When my computer starts to run slow, I delete unwanted files, pictures, documents, downloads and then I run "disk clean up" and "disk defragmenter" under system tools.

Hope this helps.

Hi there,

Click

Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click Backup.

For information on how to use this tool, see Ed Bott's column, Backup Made Easy and the Microsoft Knowledge Base article, How to Use Backup to Restore Files and Folders on Your Computer in Windows XP.

Before the power supply R&R had you installed any new hard/software?

You could have a poor connection on the motherboard that breaks when the machine is cold and makes again when warmed up a bit.

Power off, disconnect the power cord and try re-seating the power supply cable to the motherboard.

Remove the front bezel from the case and cleanup the power button.

Download and run S.M.A.R.T. tools and test the HDD integrity.

If still no joy we'll go from there...

Try reloading your OS if you have your XP Pro CD or DVD disk. Do a system repair by following the instructions when Windows loads up. Also check your power switch, it may be faulty.

You will get the answer to your problem from the BIOS POST messages.

The PC should be one beep once indicating that all BIOS tests pass. If there is no beep, the mainboard or CPU has failed.

Sometimes there are intermittent failures which resolve after pressing reset, cycling the power switch, the power button or all three.

A green light on the mainboard should be ON.

Other beeps indicate other problems. Check your manual to see what each message means. Remove all cards and memory modules keeping only the video card. If the problem goes away, replace these cards one at a time.

Are you sure the computer isn't running but that there is no signal to the display from the video card? If the PC beeps once, but nothing is seen on the monitor, check the monitor, video card, and cables.

Does it boot up if you wait long enough, or just sit there?

If it boots after a delay, check your BIOS settitngs - some PCs have an optional delay to allow the hard drive to perform self-diagnostics before starting to boot.

Also try booting in safe mode to see if there are any clues from the boot sequence.

Have you tried keeping the power button depressed for ~5 sec. when starting? A tap on the power button is used to come out of SLEEP mode and you may be confusing the computer''s startup protocol if you don't hold long enough.

"for some reason my computer doesn't start up right away"

WHAT!?? NO... say it ain't so. It can not be! not Windows! this is serious...

You make no mention of exactly where the boot process seems to stop. The basic process is that your computer does a lot of voltage and equipment checks before giving (is it) one beep. Then it goes to the active drive, and that tells it where your OS is. It then loads the OS from the location advised and including all the start up menu items.

Assuming you pass the initial boot stage, the first problem error is finding the OS. If that goes wrong then think poor hard drive since from what you say it will come good eventually. Unless of course there are a couple of options in your OS boot list and the double button push causes it to revert to somewhere else to look and that is actually correct.

If the OS process starts (windows screen comes up etc.) and there is an intermittent problem, then also think about if your CPU is cooling properly (dust builds up over time). The CPU does a lot of work and gets quite hot in the load up part of getting started and performance can get flacky. If you look around you'll probably find a temperature report somewhere - and the critical temp depends on the CPU. For a Pentium 4 if I recall its getting over about 80 deg. C. Normal is more like (roughly) 50 deg C.

Good luck, and pray that you find the answer in 30 minutes and not thirty hours.

Hi, I had a similar problem but it was the mother board power supply (actually located on the mother baord). It turns out that one of the aluminum electrolytic caps had overheated and the mother board power supply for driving the CPU was fried. The computer would work or boot properly only after it warmed up for a few minutes and was rebooted, similar to yours. The clue was one of th caps was getting very hot and the label was distorted on it from the heat. New mother board was the only way I could fix the problem, tried replacing the caps... just didn't seem to help as well as I had hoped.

At first thought, I'd suspect your motherboard is on the way out. But that's the worst case scenario, so I'd try some of the suggestions before hitting the panic button. A couple of questions: 1-when you try the start up, does the hard drive actually begin to spin up, or are you going by what the LEDs indicate? and 2-are you sure that XP isn't running? If you're seeing a blank screen and taking that as an indication that XP didn't load, maybe the problem is in the video circuit (monitor, cable, drivers, etc.) 3-Watch the LEDs on your keyboard during the startup. It's not much, but sometimes they can give you an idea of what's going on (or not).

My bet is either a power supply that is not supplying a valid "Power Good" signal to the motherboard, or a failing motherboard. Of the two, my money is on the power supply.

I bet it's not the power supply. IF you read the post, you will find that OP replaced this before asking for help.

He refuses to tell us whether or not he gets the BIOS self test POST beep which would indicate a problem.

Sorry, I must have missed that bit.

If it has a reset button check that it is not sticking and releasing slowly. I had this happen on 2 PC's due to dusty environment.

If you don't run your computer often, it may have done updates while it was running that required a reboot. after the shutdown it has to finish updates before it will finish booting. have patience and just let it run for a while.