annoying power on problem

[Coyotemac]

Hi all,

I have an annoying problem with my home pc. If I power down my pc when I start it back again it will "half-way" power on - CDroms, floppy, fans all work but no motherboard beeps or HDD activity. To resolve this I have to restart a couple of times before it finally kicks in and starts up normally.

My question to you fine folks is -does this sounds like a power supply problem (either a failing one or not enough power), a switch problem, or a motherboard problem?

Based on the number of hardware devices I have I'm wondering if I just need to break down and pick up a heftier spower supply.

Not sure if the System specs would help in diagnosis but just in case here they are:

chieftec "server chassis" case (3 case fans)
sparkle 300W power supply
soltek dvr4-75 motherboard (KT-266a chipset)
athlon XP 1600+
384 MB PC2700 DDR RAM
120GB hard drive
20 GB hard drive
DVD-RW drive
CD-RW drive
ATI radeon 9500 pro video card
linksys 10/100 ethernet card
winfast TV tuner/capture card
USB 2.0 card

[Archer]

sparkle 300W power supply

No name brand says quite a lot [shrug].
You could try temporarily shorting out the motherboard terminals for the case switch and see if it boots but my moneys on the power supply.
You could try disconnecting the CDRoms and TV card to reduce the load to see if it boots properly.

[Tekboy]

Sure sounds like the Power Supply from here. I have had ONE instance where the offending machine with your symptoms ended up being the Hard Drive (A Sam's Club special) and that was like 6 years ago.

Bet you need a Power Supply.

[Coyotemac]

Sure sounds like the Power Supply from here. I have had ONE instance where the offending machine with your symptoms ended up being the Hard Drive (A Sam's Club special) and that was like 6 years ago.

Bet you need a Power Supply.

I was pretty sure it was the power supply but wanted to make sure I hadn't overlooked anything obvious.

Thanks!

[Ruslan]

I was pretty sure it was the power supply but wanted to make sure I hadn't overlooked anything obvious.

Thanks!

Yes, there is one ... check out capacitors on the motherboard, some of them could be with swollen tops (leaked) and cause problem like you just described...
If you'll find any - replace them, and the problem will be solved...