Forcing motherboard to powerup

[Trypt]

I wish there was a pure troubleshooting or hardware issues forum, but I guess this is the next best thing.

Mobo is in sig.

It won't power up with the power button, it won't power up with the power switch on the motherboard itself (the reset switch right on top of it works fine), and it won't power up using the screwdriver trick to short the pins.

So basically, I have to keep my computer on 24/7/365, which is not a problem since I can reboot, but sometimes the power goes out, and then I have trouble.

The only way I can get it to boot is to continually remove and re-enter the powercord over and over, slowly, fast, weirdly, and usually after about 10-20 mins of that, all of a sudden, it will power up.

What I do is I touch the power cord so that the red light comes on the fans come on for a second and spin, but thats it, and if I put the cord in from the other angle, that doesn't happen, just the yellow light comes on saying there's power. So, I use the first method which spins up the fans over and over and over and over, and eventually, after usually about 50 tries, for no apparent reason at all, it just starts all of a sudden, and I have to be careful not to remove the powercord (it's not totally in) and put it completely in when it does power up, and since this is a routine thing over and over, sometimes it finally powers up but because I am not expecting it I automatically just remove the power cable by a milimeter and there I have to go again.

It just happened today when I got home from work, I noticed the power went off and the computer was off (this is the second time in this month, before that it was about 3 months, and before that about 3 months, and that was when I first noticed).

Now, the funny thing is that it worked fine until I changed cases, so I am thinking it's not just something simple like a broken whatever. In my old case, I had to push the power button like 10 times for it to finally come on, but when I switched to a brand new case, now it won't power up even by the short the pins trick.

So, is there some method that I don't know about that I can try? Anyone ever heard of something like this?

 

[Sniper.nkc]

I would double check your Case wiring to motherboard. Make sure you have the power connectors installed on motherboard correctly. When you press the power switch on case it should come on first try.

Power cord to power supply make be bad. Try another power cord. Also, look at power supply 3 prong pins. Check to see if it is loose. If it is, you need a new power supply.

 

[Automata]

If you have to fiddle with the power cable on the power supply, something is wrong. Change that cable to see if another does it. If that doesn't fix it, replace the power supply.

Use your current system as little as possible until you get this resolved. The longer you run it, the higher the chances of catastrophic failure which could take other components with it.

I had a power supply that did something similar. If the power supply was bolted to the case (pushed all the way against the side), it didn't turn on. But if I unscrewed the power supply and pushed back a few inches, it suddenly started working. I took this as a sign of failure from the power supply and took it apart. I found bulging caps on the main side (I think) and the whole power supply should have been replaced long before that.

 

[trents]

Yeah, it sounds like a PSU problem or a least a PSU power chord problem, not a motherboard or case problem. Do you have a backup of either or can you borrow one to test that? The power chord is often a universal item that is also used on printers and monitors.