PC won't cold boot, requires CMOS reset + mobo jumpstart

[MarbleMalphite]

Hello,

• OS - Windows 10
• Age of system (hardware) - Built in 2015
• CPU model           - AMD Athlon™ 760K
• Video Card model - Sapphire Radeon NITRO R9 390 OC
• Motherboard -  MSI A88X-G45 Gaming
• RAM - 2x4GB DDR3 AMD Memory
• Power Supply - was -> EVGA 850W P2    now -> Corsair 650W

 

tl:dr: PC won't cold boot, pressing the power button once causes a blink of fans & any leds, holding power causes a spin up spin down cycle & pulsating leds, boots after power held for 5+ minutes + restart via onboard mobo button. Operates normally once booted.

 

I first encountered this problem 2 weeks ago after noticing that my computer wasn't powering on after shutting it down the night before as I normally do.

Looking inside the case, the onboard power button was on (Green LED) this would stay on throughout unless I held the power button after taking out the plug to fully discharge the computer.

I noticed the led light in the power button would light up, the case fans would spin and the cpu would also spin as long as I was holding down the power button. However, it was more of a constant speeding up and slowing down. It was almost acting like the initial current supplied from pressing the power button wasn't sufficient to cause the process of a normal boot up. 

My motherboard has an onboard power button and the results were the same as pressing the power button on the case. I used the screwdriver jumpstart (method?) just to exhaust every option.

 

Suspecting it was the power supply (850W evga plat ) I swapped it out for one I had in another system that was running fine. When installing the power supply I looked around the computer, nothing was out of place (no missing screws, nothing touching the motherboard, bent pins etc). Went to boot and it turned on via the case power button first time no issues (no holding down of the power button). Thinking this was just a fluke I turned it off again to be met with the same problem as before. 

 

Next, swapped the RAM around into 2-4 slots then just one stick then back to 1-2 all combinations provided no difference.

I then took out the CMOS battery for approx. 1 min then placed it back in, no difference.

 

I then held the power case button down for 5 minutes, this resulting in the case fans spinning up and slowing down in a cycle but never "fully stopping" ( if that makes sense, as if it were pulsing- in fact the led fan would brighten and dim in sync with the fans pulsing) until I heard a noticeable increase in the fan speed (no mobo beeps) I let go and saw the motherboard debug leds showed numbers from 30-37.

 

I left it in this state for around 40 minutes, with the debug led going between 36-37. 

Pressing the onboard "Reset" button caused the PC to stay on with the fans still running normally and then booted into windows.

 

I'm now left scratching my head as to what the cause is, I've done a Malwarebytes scan and there are no detected issues. 

No issues using the internet, plugging in and out USB devices playing games etc but I know that shutting it down will cause the same issue again.

I know this was long and If you need clarification let me know.

 

Thanks,

Sorry for the long post!

 

[JoJo_O]

Uhm.. had the exact same issue last summer, with a different configuration. I tried pretty much all your steps, and in the end i found a burned trace in the back of my motherboard.. not sure if it can help? i swapped the mobo for a test and everything went back to normal.. until i replaced my whole system the weeek after, was due to upgrade anyway...

[MarbleMalphite]

10 minutes ago, JoJo_O said:

Uhm.. had the exact same issue last summer, with a different configuration. I tried pretty much all your steps, and in the end i found a burned trace in the back of my motherboard.. not sure if it can help? i swapped the mobo for a test and everything went back to normal.. until i replaced my whole system the weeek after, was due to upgrade anyway...

Did you experience any sudden shutdowns in the meantime? Did yours continue to boot using this "holding the power button" method or did it eventually fail?

[JoJo_O]

39 minutes ago, MarbleMalphite said:

Did you experience any sudden shutdowns in the meantime? Did yours continue to boot using this "holding the power button" method or did it eventually fail?

nope, no sudden shutdowns that i remember and yes, for the little time that i tested the "holding the power button" worked every time. Mind you, i did all the tests, swaps and eventually rebuild in a couple of days.

[MarbleMalphite]

24 minutes ago, JoJo_O said:

nope, no sudden shutdowns that i remember and yes, for the little time that i tested the "holding the power button" worked every time. Mind you, i did all the tests, swaps and eventually rebuild in a couple of days.

Yeah I'm due an upgrade, parts are scarce atm so I just have to avoid shutdowns I guess.

[JoJo_O]

Goodspeed to you mate, may your fps be high and temp low