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[Figureman52]

Hello, last night I tried to start the PC, pressed the button and walked away. 5 mins later came back and system was dead, screen etc. all working but nothing from the PC itself. Pushed the button again, nothing. Switched the mains off, waited 5 mins tried again, system powered up got as far as the desktop and then shut down with no warning.

Tried several more times with the same result.

This morning it is working OK again.

A couple of days ago I came back to the powered up system to be greeted with a blank screen and no response to any commands, on rebooting the system clock was half an hour out.

Could the two incidents be connected, what could be causing it, should I worry and what can I do about it?

Thanks.

[jonny2112]

I'm not that computer savvy, but I guess could be any number of things. You may be better to post up the spec, OS, age of system etc to give those in the know an idea where to start. Could be failing hard drive, or an issue with OS startup program for example.
If you have it running now I would be inclined to take half an hour to save / offload any important data, photos, etc as quite often a fresh install or reformat may be required to undo any problems.
Someone will be along soon to steer you in the right direction 

[Dr_X]

Could be the little watch battery on the motherbaord............I try and give my pute a blow out with an air line once a year or so so it stays cool and all the fans are working good

[TheBoy]

If it happens again, try removing power lead from back for 5mins, then retrying

[tunnie]

When it does actually boot, how many beeps do you hear?

If nothing is happening when you press button, kinda points to a failing PSU

[Figureman52]

Could be the little watch battery on the motherbaord............I try and give my pute a blow out with an air line once a year or so so it stays cool and all the fans are working good

Changed that last year and gave it a good clean out.

[Figureman52]

If it happens again, try removing power lead from back for 5mins, then retrying

I had to do that last night to try to get it to start.

If I didn't it wouldn't even try to start

[Figureman52]

When it does actually boot, how many beeps do you hear?

If nothing is happening when you press button, kinda points to a failing PSU

Just the single beep as usual.

[cem_devecioglu]

yep.. as said psu failure can show these symptoms..

I will recommend you swap psu with a known good one.. and also start xp in safe mode and disable all startup programs
too see if any of them  causes crash.. and keep it open for several hours..

[TheBoy]

If it happens again, try removing power lead from back for 5mins, then retrying

I had to do that last night to try to get it to start.

If I didn't it wouldn't even try to start

Damn, thats what I was afraid of.

2 most likely candidates are mobo caps tired, or PSU unstable.

If its older than 3 years (ie, running XP), bin it.

[Martian]

If it happens again, try removing power lead from back for 5mins, then retrying

I had to do that last night to try to get it to start.

If I didn't it wouldn't even try to start

Damn, thats what I was afraid of.

2 most likely candidates are mobo caps tired, or PSU unstable.

If its older than 3 years (ie, running XP), bin it.

+1 for the above

If you have another PSU to hand then try that, but if the fault is still present then it's odds on the motherboard is at fault.

[Figureman52]

Thanks for all the advice.

Think I will try a replacement PSU first and if that doesn't cure it then it looks like the bin option.

At which point I will be looking for a cheap suitable replacement.

[Plomien]

It could be an overheat issue, make sure the CPU cooler is sat properly also try reseating the memory, and boot up with them 1 at a time if you have more than 1 stick.
try going into the bios and reset to default as well

[STMO123]

So the general concensus is........we don't know 

[cem_devecioglu]

So the general concensus is........we don't know