Hi there, Hoping some enlightened people might be able to give me some advice! I have just returned from a weekend away, and when I went to turn on my PC - nothing happened! No drives kicked in, no fans etc. There were some indicator lights on the m/b, but no response to the power. I turned the PC off from the PSU switch, and back on again, but no luck. However, when I turned off the 'mains' switch at the wall and turned that back on again I could turn the PC on. The mains switch also controls the router and monitor power supplies by the way (the router had also been working fine, as I had connected wirelessly on another machine). Also the PC was in full shut down, and not in any power saving mode such as hibernation. Although I have a currently working PC, my concern now is that this could be symptomatic of something more serious, and even an 'early warning' of an impending failure. I would therefore be most grateful for any suggestions as to what you would do at this time (other than make sure the back-ups are up to date!). Should I write this off as 'one of those things' or are there other tests etc I should undertake. I am not a complete novice on PC matters, but have to admit to being a little rusty. Therefore if I have omitted vital information etc please accept my apologies and I'll update the post asap. Thanks for any help / pointers that you can offer. Regards, Paul
It could be one of the motherboard states for a power failure. Perhaps if a power cut has happened while you are away, the machine is sitting in a state waiting for power to be properly reset to the machine before booting back up.
Thanks for the comment. As my wife was away also, I can't be sure there wasn't a power cut (and it certainly wouldn't be a surprise here), although it hasn't happened during any of the other power cuts I have had.
If the machine is running without issue, I wouldn't worry too much. It sounds like a fail-safe on the motherboard kicked in to be honest (probably one of the S-state modes).
Hi, sorry to hijack, but I have a similar problem, but I cannot get the motherboard out of this state. It is receiving power, but when I try to power the pc on, the fans spin for a split second and then everything powers off again. Any idea?
Clear the cmos and take out the battery.It might seem stupid but make sure a fuse isnt blown on the lead that goes into the PSU .
CityWodge - sounds like it's gone in the huff. Not much you can do if its working now. As the saying goes "If it aint broke, don't fix it". Maybe check the psu voltages using a program such as everest. The 12v rail should be no lower than 11.4v and no higher that 12.6v for ATX spec. check all of your internal connectors are in propperly as for eg. a floppy power cable missing one of the pins can cause this problem. Good luck.
Maybe you had a power surge whilst away and it "knocked" the PSU into protection mode? Switching it off from the mains may have reset it? Some PSUs have this feature.
Thanks all for the comments. They have been a great reassurance and (touch wood) all ok since the reset.
Mine turned out to be a short between the motherboard and the case, but thanks for all the helpful suggestions. Now all I need are some ideas of how I go about rebuilding the system and eliminating the short?
