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PC intermittently doesn't start.

When I turn it on the fans/lights come on but nothing happens - the screen remains black and keyboard lights (e.g. scroll lock) don't active. There's no beeping. To fix I have to hold down the power but try again. Sometimes this takes 3 or 4 attempts. It seems to happen regardless of the season. All plugs are well connected and have been tested several times.

Specs are:

PSU: Corsair RM650x

CPU: Ryzon 5 3600

Board: MSI B450M PRO-VDH

GFX: ASUS RX 5700 EVO OC 8GB

Drive: Samsung SSD 860 EVO 500GB

I realise this probably can't be diagnosed based on the information available but I'm looking for tips on where to start. Would it most likely be the PSU that I should replace first?

Thanks

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  • If none of the answers solve your problem, I can tell you I have had this behavior with a myriad of AMD processor based machines dating all of the way back to the Athlon. I love AMD and I am not saying that it is them. I am saying something on more than one of my AMD computers have produced this problem even when my power supply was WAY over spec. Might be something to do with mobo chipsets. I haven't narrowed it down. I try not to shutdown (restart ok) because I don't know how long/magic to get it to boot back up.
    – Señor CMasMas
    Commented Feb 13, 2023 at 22:14
  • Thanks for your comment. Mildly disconcerting but good to know!
    – D82977
    Commented Feb 13, 2023 at 23:46

2 Answers 2

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Would it most likely be the PSU that I should replace first?

Yes. For instance Rising ESRs in capacitors of a switching power supply could be an explanation.

Make sure that not only the central mainboard connector sits correctly but look at the additional power supply plug as well.

If your CPU has built-in graphics capabilities you may even be able to remove the graphics card to exclude a possible culprit.

The general idea is to diagnose starting with a minimum configuration.

Nevertheless the bug I described above may hide and could show up under higher electrical load which would you make suspect the additional devices added...

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  • Great, thanks for the advice, I'll start with the PSU. The connectors are firm but I'll double check just in case. Thanks
    – D82977
    Commented Feb 13, 2023 at 20:36
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Using the Newegg Power Supply Calculator and using your hardware approximation, I get:

PSU wattage suggested for your complete PC:
500 - 599 Watts

You power supply is 650 W, which is very close to the limit. If you have any USB devices connected, they will also draw some power. Note that the boot process, when everything starts up, is the most demanding power event for a computer.

If this computer is new, or if you have recently upgraded some component to a stronger one or added some RAM, your PSU is no longer strong enough and also needs to be upgraded.

If the computer and components are several years old, it's possible that the PSU has weakened and is no longer strong enough to supply enough power for booting.

However, you should be aware that all we can do here is nothing but conjecture. You could be putting yourself in a situation where you will replace healthy components one after the other, so wasting your money. A repair-shop will have replacement components and can test more than one component, at the cost of only the one bad component that it will find.

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  • oh cool, that calculator is really helpful. I do have several HDDs connected, in addition to the SSD, so this will draw more power, pushing me closer to the max I guess. The PC is about 3 or 4 years old and the problem has existed since that time (with the same configuration). That's a great point about getting it checked by a repair shop vs replacing each component individually; doing the latter is definitely a gamble. Thanks again
    – D82977
    Commented Feb 13, 2023 at 21:14

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