Windows wont boot unless it's been off for a decent amount of time

Hi, I'm having a very annoying problem with my computer and hope someone can help me.

Basically, if I turn my computer off, if I turn it back on it wont boot unless it's been turned off/unplugged for (usually) at least an hour and a half/two hours. What happens when I turn it on within that time, is my monitor just says "No Signal" and the light stays orange instead of blue like it should be. The computer still sounds like it's coming on, but nothing goes through to the monitor.

It used to happen occasionally when I tried to resume from sleep or hibernate mode, but now it seems to happen any time I turn it off. When I turn it off at night, it's always alright when I turn it on the next day (touch wood), so it seems to need a rest of a specific length for some reason.

Does anyone know what might be causing this? Thanks! :)

Is this a HP computer? Try turning it off and then unplug the power, hold in the power button for 15 seconds. Plug back in and start up the computer. Does it boot normally?

cflusflwfl said:

Is this a HP computer? Try turning it off and then unplug the power, hold in the power button for 15 seconds. Plug back in and start up the computer. Does it boot normally?

No it's not an HP, it's a custom build.

I tried your suggestion last night but unfortunately it still didn't boot afterwards.

This could be a video issue rather than a boot issue. Serious video hardware problems should cause the board to issue a beep error code, provided it has an onboard speaker or a chassis speaker is connected. But it's also possible the issue isn't of a sort that would cause that and the system is actually booting. Try replacing your video card, or installing one if you're using onboard video. That's probably the easiest option if you have the hardware.

Otherwise, watch the HDD activity light during good boots and failed boots. If the behaviour is similar, that's a good indication it's actually booting. To see if it's actually booting to Windows, you could try pinging it from another machine. By default Windows Firewall prevents your computer responding to a ping, so you may have to change that setting.

Sorry for not replying sooner, haven't been able to get online for a while.

Yesterday the problem appeared when I turned it on after it had been off all night. I noticed that the HDD light doesn't flash at all.

The only video card I have is one from an old computer, which is from around 2004, would I be able to install that one alright?

A video card from that time frame could be AGP, PCI or PCIe. If it fits properly into one of the slots in your motherboard, it's safe to try. If you're uncomfortable making that determination, give us the model number or post a picture.

You never indicated if you're using onboard video or a video card. If you're using a video card, and the replacement will go into the same slot, it should be plug'n'play. If you're using onboard video, or the replacement card goes into a different slot than the original, you may need to reset the BIOS via a switch or jumper on the motherboard.

But the fact that the HDD light doesn't flash at all suggests to me this isn't a video issue. If you don't have a speaker* connected you should do so in case the board is trying to tell you something.

* Not talking hi-fi here. It's really more of a buzzer or beeper. In the past they looked like this:

These days they tend to look like this:

and may be built into the motherboard: