Intermittent Power Problem

[johnnyboy1979]

Can someone please help me. I have just built my first PC and am having a rather annoying intermittent problem. The PC runs like a dream when it's on, it's just getting the thing on!! You don't know from one day to the next whether it will come on at all. Sometimes the fans will spin and nothing else happens. Once I do get it on. If I switch it off when I've finished then try and turn it back on again, the fans will spin and then the sytem will die.

I've figured out, if I start swapping all the power connectors around it will work again. Has anyone ever had this problem before and if so how did they fix it?

System:

Giga-Byte GAK8NS Ultra 939
AMD Athlon 64 3200
1GB 184-pin DIMM DDR PC3200
160GB Maxtor 6L160M0 SATA Harddrive
Sony DVD RW DW-Q28A
Radeon 9600 Graphics Card

 

[Bill_Bright]

Yes I have - and I swapped out the power supply and it worked fine after that.

 

[poertner_1274]

Sounds like a likely culprit to me as well. Especially since you are having to switch out molex connectors. Sounds like there might be a short in there somewhere. Have a look at an Antec, or Enermax power supply. DON'T GET CAUGHT BUYING A CHEAP ONE!!!

BTW
:wave:Welcome to TechSpot:wave:

 

[Bill_Bright]

DON'T GET CAUGHT BUYING A CHEAP ONE!!!

BTW
:wave:Welcome to TechSpot:wave:

I agree - I would much rather have a 350W Antec instead of a 500W NoName. I recommend no less than 430 Watts too - having ample power allows the supply to deliver good clean stable power and give you expansion room for a new video card, more RAM, or extra drives in the future - or even carry it over to a new computer.


BTW - Since the OP and I are both new, I'll assume you were greeting both - so thanks, poertner. Been around IT and life in general for a long time - just new to here - seems like a good board.