Have to boot twice to get into Windows.

Soulfly · 02 Mar 2013

Hey guys,

For quite a few months, I've had this problem where I needed to boot twice to boot into Windows. For example, the first time I would boot in the morning, it would shut off by itself halfway, but when I booted it up a second time, it would go into Windows like it should.

And also, for some weird reason, If I turned off and back on the power supply switch, I had a 80% chance of it booting into Windows on the first try. And lately, on rare occasions, while using the computer, it would shut off on its own.

I don't think it's a problem with the memory as I've used the Windows memory diagnostic tool to check for problems, and it has given me none. Could it just be the PSU? This computer is old as dirt by the way.

And since I'm such a dumbass to wait at the last minute to fix a problem, could all those failed bootings damage any components of my PC?

Thanks in advance guys!

Jacee · 02 Mar 2013

You may have a bad power supply unit.

mitchell65 · 02 Mar 2013

If you were interested in testing the PSU have a look here:
How Do I Test the Power Supply in My Computer?
If you do go down this road TAKE NOTE OF THE DANGER WARNINGS!

Soulfly · 02 Mar 2013

mitchell65 said:

If you were interested in testing the PSU have a look here:
How Do I Test the Power Supply in My Computer?
If you do go down this road TAKE NOTE OF THE DANGER WARNINGS!

Thank you, I'll check it out! I forgot to mention that also before this problem started, sometimes when I would boot the comp, it wouldn't fully start but instead would kind of stutter like if you were trying to start up your car and hear a "chuggah chuggah chuggah", and the led lights on the fans would be stuttering, so I also believe that this could be related to the PSU.

mitchell65 · 02 Mar 2013

Certainly souns like it to me but DO TAKE CARE YOU WILL BE WORKING WITH LIVE ELECTRICS!!!!!!

Soulfly · 02 Mar 2013

mitchell65 said:

Certainly souns like it to me but DO TAKE CARE YOU WILL BE WORKING WITH LIVE ELECTRICS!!!!!!

Will do, thanks. Will be updating as soon as I can...If I didn't get electrocuted to death. :P

VistaKing · 02 Mar 2013

Safer way of testing the power supply is. Taking it to your friends house plug in the 24-PIN and the 4 or 8-pin cable to the motherboard and see if it starts up . You don't want to mess inside the Power Supply.

Note

Another way of testing the power supply is using a PAPER CLIP . Yes a Paper Clip. Turn it to a U shape . Put one end of the paper clip to the green cable and the other end to any of the black cables on the 20 or 24-pin connector depending on your Power Supply. Then plug in the Power Cord to the wall.

Tip

Unplug the power Cable from the wall and power supply before you do anything . IF there is a switch on the back of the Power supply be sure to turn that off as well . After you have the Paper clip inside the green and black wire of the Connector plug in the power cable and turn the switch on

gregrocker · 02 Mar 2013

Never open the PSU. The residual power inside can electrocute you even if its not plugged in.

Please post back a Disk Management - Post a Screen Capture Image - Windows 7 Forums

Soulfly · 02 Mar 2013

gregrocker said:

Never open the PSU. The residual power inside can electrocute you even if its not plugged in.

Please post back a Disk Management - Post a Screen Capture Image - Windows 7 Forums

Here you are.

gregrocker · 02 Mar 2013

It looks correct. Run a couple of Startup Repairs
to see if it finds anything to repair.

Then work through these Troubleshooting Steps for Windows 7 to check over the OS and testable hardware thoroughly.