Hey guys - hoping some of you experts can shed some light on this for me:

I have an Asus p4S8x system with Intel 2.4GHz processor, Pioneer DVD drive, Sony CDRW drive, one case fan, and one 80gb Western Digital 8mb cache 80GBHD that's been working flawlessly for me.
Recently, I got a the PVT28ANC XFX GeForce4 ti4200 128mb VIVO DVI video card.

After about 8 hours of use with the new video card, my 300 watt evercase power supply stopped working - that is, it is no longer able to power up my system. When I press the power button, I hear the system struggling to turn on, and it continues to struggle as long as I hold the button down.

So I got a new Antec SL400 400watt power supply, and it has been working well for the past couple of days with one exception - if the computer has been shut off for a while, I have to hold case the power button for at least a second or 2 for it to finally boot up (if I release the power button too quicky, it does not power on). This only happens if the computer has been powered off for several hours, but it does not happen if the computer has only been powered off for a few seconds/minutes. So if the comp is "warm", one gentle, quick tap of the power button will boot her up, but if it has been powered off for a extended periods, I have to hold the power button for a few seconds for it to boot up again. It seems as if the PC is struggling to turn on, but shouldn't a 400 watt Antec power supply be enough? I have done several trouble-shooting tests summarized below:

1-When my old TNT2 vid card is installed in place of the new XFX card, this problem never occurs and the system powers up fine. 2-When only the motherboard, CPU, RAM, and fans are connected, the sys also powers up fine.
3-I have also tried power on by PS2 keyboard, and it will boot up if the comp is warm, but will not boot up if the comp has been off for a while. Only pressing the power button on case for 1-2 seconds will power the system on - this rules out problems with ATX case button.

Any input/troubleshooting ideas would be greatly appreciated!

This problem is fairly common with new video cards. I think you'll notice that if you remove your video card (in which after powering off your PC), you shouldn't have any problems booting up.

There are a few things you can do:

1) Check how much power/voltage (or juice) your Vid card needs and total it up with all your system needs.
2) Make sure your PSU (power suppy) is set to give off enough power to handle the card and the rest of your system.
3) I see that your PSU isnt part of the "TruePower" series from Antec in which the PSU controls the power itself. What you want to do is refer to your manual and online documentation for your power supply. Check for steps in increasing your voltage, be very carefull, when increasing, go in very small increments. But do remember to check documentation before and take plenty of precautions.

Do more research on your PSU and your card!

Thanks for the reply!. Yes, it does seem that the power supply is not giving enoughjuice to the AGP port. You mentioned something about increasing voltage of the PSU. I've never heard of this - could you elaborate?

Similar problem.

Diablo - I may have a similar problem. I have just assembled a PC with almost identical specs - only mobo is gigabyte 8SQ800. The vid card is 128mb 8X. The PC works fine, but then, after ten minutes or so, the power supply just stops! I have noticed it tends to to this when I try hard core graphics. I have a 400w Q-Tec low noise temp-controlled PSU. Extreme X - what would you guys do in this situation?

Dave S
London, UK.

Like what Extreme mentioned earlier is that your PSU may not be adequate to power up the system with the new card, this may be ture as earlier on you did not faced any trouble with a TNT. Pleae keep in mind that high wattage psu might not be necessary be adequate to power up a system with power-hungry graphics cards of yours. For further solutions and explanations to your problem i would recommend you to take a look at the thread below:

http://www.techspot.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=5433

Guys -please help. I just got a new Antec TruePower 430 watt power supply, and I still have the same problem (see first post). The computer still struggles to turn on on a cold boot (have to hold the button for a second or 2)! Xtreme, I can't find any documentation on setting the power supply to output more power. You guys seem right in that there is not enough power being given to the gaphics card. Do you think it is strange that I never have any problems at all after the system has powered up? any more suggestions?

Thanks,

D.

Sounds like a problem with the faulty front switch on the PC case. When its warm/running, you've probably just engaged the switch fully. When its cold, its probably disengaged, although appears on. I would try opening the power on switch, setting it fully on, then booting up using the PSU's on/off switch. If the problem disappears then it was the PC case's front power switch, which will need to be replaced.

Dave,

Cold boot and hot boot startup problem.

Cold boot and hot boot startup problem.
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I am having cold boot problem in my PC.
P4 2.4GHZ, 1GB DDR memeory, Intel 645PESV and intel 865GBF board.
200GB and 80GB HDD. Winfast AGP8X video card.

Every day morning need press start button three four times then PC will start. Hot start no problem. checked three power supply. intel 850GB mobo with 1.7GHZ P4 working with all three power supply.

Last more than month contacted intel got replacement of CPU 2.4GHZ
intel Mobo D845PESV and Intel D865GBF but still same problem every day try new experienets
Thanks
Vijay Shinde

The new high power Video cards take a huge jolt at start up then drop off. When you start to cruch the graphics, the load sharply rises almost to the startup levels.

I had a similar problem when I fitted my PCIE XFX card, even though I have a 550 watt Power supply. It's not the PSU voltage that is lacking, it's the PSU's ability to cope with an instant pulse type of drain and hold the same current and voltage during the drain, that is the problem. Most of the High end Graphics cards have a second power connector to (supposedly) overcome this problem.
This can appear either as a no start condition, a labouring start, or a pulsing at the CPU fan as it turns on and off when the low power state error is actioned.
The problem is, that most PSU's usually only have two peripheral power lines (the ones you plug the power connectors into, for your HDDs, CDROM etc). People put one of these connectors to the Graphics card extra power connector and other plugs on the same line, to the case fan, neons, CDROM etc. The start up load drops the detected voltage at the Motherboard (in my case the 945 chip - not the CPU) and it shuts the system down.
Ideally one line should be devoted to the graphics card extra supply alone or at least to those peripherals that start AFTER the graphics card (eg Floppy Drive).
Check your card manual - can you boot on reduced graphics - eg 800 x 600.
Try altering your settings from Control Panel, to a lower setting then shut down (to save the settings) and restart from complete cold. Does the problem persist?
If so, you may have reached the limit of your Motherboard's AGP voltage.

Many of the newer cards require separate power supplies because their own load is so high.

Yep as I said Tedster, but be aware that if you plug a lot of other stuff on that same connector line, that you used for the Graphics Card's extra power connector, you you can run low power at startup.

The LGA775 CPUs (Twin Core) (aka Series D) can be prone to this because they too are power hugry at start up. Make sure you distribute the power load over BOTH PSU supply lines.