Solved Desktop needs static discharge EVERY TIME!!

It could have been many things but everything was pointing to the PS.
Good to know it is fixed

I'm glad your problem is resolved. I'm 77 and always learning something new.

Sadly, the replacement PSU *hasn't* solved the issue.

Okay - so an update.

The swapped out PSU - which I thought had solved the problem - hasn't!

This morning I booted the pc and it stopped at the BIOS 'splash' screen after the POST beep. Keyboard wasn't operational at that point, nor was there any hard drive activity so I had to press and hold the power button to turn the pc off. After unplugging everything and static draining the pc, it then booted fine.

So, the tread is marked as 'unsolved' again.

I'm thinking possible BIOS corruption (since the BIOS initilisation isn't completing) or is there something else on the mainboard that is on its way out? I've swapped the hard disk over - so its not that. The hard disk S.M.A.R.T. data isn't showing a problem, RAM seems to test out fine.

Once successfully booted, the pc runs without a problem - which tends to indicate to me that the mainboard / RAM / HDD and PSU are fine (since I have the same issue with a different PSU). Hence I'm looking at a BIOS / Motherboard problem.

If the BIOS is flaky, I don't want to try to update because I could end up with a completely bricked pc. Current BIOS is 1.0.3 and the latest BIOS for this machine is (apparently) 1.0.16 dated 27 April 2010 (the pc dates from September 2007). Link to the BIOS Download on Dell Support here (so I can easily find it again!)

There are some BIOS chips available on eBay and the correct mainboard for the machine so I may have to look at those.

Regarding the PSU, I have a replacement Corsair CX450M ready to go (the original PSU was 350W and the spare that I found is only 250W). That will go in in the next day or two.

Zaph

Have you tried replacing the Battery that maintains the BIOS Settings?

I experienced similar symptoms and sure enough it was that battery.
My assumption was that overnight, that small Battery would expend part or all of its energy.
Sometimes a clean boot, sometimes a partial boot.
Once the PC was turned on for a while, perhaps the Battery was regaining some charge?
Bottom line was, I changed the Battery and things returned to normal.
Best regards,

Mike Lynch

Hi Mike,

Thanks for the suggestion.

I guess it is worth putting in a new CR2032 battery for the CMOS.

What I'm not understanding is *why* the pc is exhibiting this strange behaviour.

It wakes from hibernation without a problem but 90% of the time won't cold-boot without a static drain first. After that the pc boots normally and works as expected.

When I've had flat CMOS batteries before in pcs, what usually happens is the pc 'forgets' the date and time and is reset on power-on to something like midnight on 1 Jan 1990 (or similar). Also any BIOS settings are re-set to their default state.

I've seen the issue before where the pc is maintaining the date and time when powered down but has a problem during boot.

Is it because the CMOS battery isn't able to run the BIOS during boot up (due to a larger current drain) but when powered down the lower current draw is sufficient to maintain the time and date settings I wonder?

I'll give it a shot and report back.

Zaph

- - - Updated - - -

Okay, so an update (20/March/22)

The pc boots fine from Hibernation.

Cold-booting it is back to its old tricks.

I have replaced the pitiful 250W spare power supply that I had with a Corsair CX450M and I've replaced the CR2032 CMOS battery with a new one (dated 2032).

Turned PC on and iit stalled at BIOS Splash screen (as per usual) with the keyboard inactive and no HDD activity.

Cables out/static drain of pc & re-boot, started up fine (again I'm writing this on that very same pc).

Just going to try a complete shutdown and re-boot to see what happens.

The CX450M is lovely and quiet. I went with Corsair CX as I have another desktop pc (my main one) that has a CX750M (the 250W PSU came out of that machine originally). This means that the cables of the new unit and old unit are compatible with each other.

Regards

Zaph

Instead of doing a static drain after you shut down, remove and reconnect both ends of the HD cable and try the boot.

Update to my earlier post (#25), this thread.

So, I tried a complete shutdown and cold boot.

PC stuck as usual at the BIOS splash screen. Cables out, static drain, powered on fine (again).

Installed a new AV-package which required a restart. PC wouldn't boot as part of the restart without ANOTHER static drain.

I'm now thinking this is BIOS / Motherboard related.

I'll see if I have a spare SATA cable and try swapping out the existing cable to the HDD.

If that fails, I'll try using a different SATA socket on the Mobo.

If THAT fails, possible a replacement Mobo (poss including CPU) from eBay or a BIOS chip.

Whilst I appreciate that this machine is 15 years old, once booted it is in fine working order (albeit a bit slow to load webpages using Chrome or Firefox - looking for a lightweight browser to try to mitigate that - see here) and it acts as a backup to the main desktop machine which sits on top of it. Plus, I hate binning stuff if it is working (unlike my son who seems to be buying a new TV every five minutes when the latest 2K / 4k / 8K set comes out)

Zaph

BTW the above was tried before W2's post

When the macine was opened up earlier today to replace the 250W PSU with the CX450M, the SATA cable was removed from the HDD to aid cable routing, however, the SATA cable was *not* unplugged from the mobo.

I thought I had a couple of spare SATA cables (like you do), but I couldn't find them. Amazon will deliver 3 LINDY SATA cables tomorrow

I'll try swapping the HDD SATA cable with a new one first.

If that fails, I'll try plugging the HDD into a different SATA socket on the mobo (currently in SATA 0) and see if that works (I may have to re-jig things in the BIOS so that it looks for the hard disk in the correct place - no biggie).

Failing THAT a replacement mobo (possibly combined with a CPU) from ebay (they're about £15 or so).

OR, I could simply live with hibernating the pc each time.

I'd love to get to the bottom of the issue.

It isn't the HDD. It isn't RAM. It isn't the PSU. It isn't the CMOS battery.

It *may* be the BIOS chip or firmware corruption, it *may* be a mainboard fault or it *may* be a flaky SATA cable or socket.

Who knows?? At the very least the list of suspects is getting shorter!

At least the pc has a decent PSU now

Zaph

- - - Updated - - -

wither 2 said:

Instead of doing a static drain after you shut down, remove and reconnect both ends of the HD cable and try the boot.

Click to expand...

The aim of this is to try to clean any oxide build-up on the contacts?

And you meant the SATA data cable didn't you??

Zaph

- - - Updated - - -

Okay...

So my problematic pc continues to puzzle.

Current mainboard/CPU/Ram is:

• Foxconn G22M02
• Intel Core 2 Duo E4400 @ 2GHz
• 4Gb DDR2 RAM

It isn't

• the CPU
• the PSU (replaced)
• the RAM (tested)
• the OS battery (replaced with new)
• the SATA data or power cable(new SATA cable & replacement PSU)

It may be

• a BIOS firmware corruption or a flaky BIOS chip
• a faulty component on the mainboard
• a SATA problem (iffy socket)

So.....
I have sourced a (working) replacement G33M02 mainboard complete with E6600 @ 3.06 GHz and 3Gb RAM for £20 incl p&p. That should SOLVE all of the issues above (BIOS chipfirmware/mobo component/SATA socket) in one fell swoop.

Whilst the E6600 isn't the E8400 or E8600 that this mobo can handle with a BIOS update to 1.0.16) it is a nice incremental change over the E4400 with a higher FSB, a faster processor frequency (pic shows 3.06GHz but Intel specs say 2.4GHz) and twice the amount of L2 cache (2x 2MB instead of just 2Mb).

I've built pcs before so aren't frightened of replacing the mobo however I'm not naive enough to think that all I have to do is unplug the old board and remove, pop the new board in and plug everything back in and it will just work.

Won't Win7/Micro$soft have a wobbly that the mainboard and CPU have changed (thus a new computer as far as the software is concerned) and tell me that my copy of Windows isn't valid?

Or am I being a worry monkey and it should just boot up fine??

Zaph

Update 3rd April

I think I *may* have a couple of candidates for the issue i’ve been experiencing.

Could it it be a faulty peripheral - such as the internal multi-card reader or the optical drive?

Same issue has arisen (won’t boot unless static drain first) with new mono/CPU/RAM and SSD combo. Given that I’ve already replaced the PSU and the SATA cables, the only thing common to both instances are the case(!), the multi-card reader and the optical drive. Either that or someone has hexed the pc for some reason - but I don’t believe in witchcraft, so that points the finger at one of these two peripherals.

In summary then, can a failing peripheral cause the failure of a pc to boot past the BIOS splash screen?

I’m going with yes?

Just need to unplug them one at a time to figure out which one it is.

Zaph

Obviously, no harm in trying. Have you ever tested the memory (I didn't look back)?

wither 2 said:

Obviously, no harm in trying. Have you ever tested the memory (I didn't look back)?

Click to expand...

Hi W2

Yep.

The new motherboard (with the E6600 CPU) has different RAM sticks anyway (and I haven't changed those).

Post # 28 (this thread) - I disconnected both the multi-card reader and the optical drive and the pc boots and restarts without having to static discharge.

Now going to shut down and restart to check, then add one of them (the multi-card reader first as that is the one that gets the most use) and re-boot. If that works, I'll disconnect that, check the pc still boots okay without either peripheral, then connect the optical drive and re-boot.

I'm guessing with one of them the problem will manifest itself again - then I know which one needs replacing.

Will update this post/thread in due course.

Zaph

UPDATE

Okay - so I re-connected the multi-card reader and it booted/restarted okay. Then added the optical drive and it still boots/restarts okay.

For the moment that is - until the wind changes direction or the sun shines (whichever comes first)!

Was it an oxidised connection and removing/replacing the cable scraped the oxide coating off?? I'm clutching at straws here!

Zaph

Update

Shortly after the above post (a week ago now), I disconnected the optical drive (a SONY Optiarc) and all was well - the pc would boot reliably every time.

I ordered a replacement ASUS drive and pc continues to boot with no issues.

Never come across this issue before - a peripheral halting the boot process unless a static drain is carried out. One for the troubleshooting textbooks!

So, this pc has had (1) new motherboard & processor, (2) new SATA cables, (3) new PSU and (4) new optical drive. Looks like it only needed a new optical drive!

That said, it has had a mild processor upgrade (E4400 >> E6600), a far better power supply (Corsair CX450M), and a SSD with a fresh copy of Windows 10.

Thread marked as solved (again)!

Zaph

Glad you got it resolved. I was going to ping you on it yesterday but you said you were going to come back to give us an update.

wither 2 said:

Glad you got it resolved. I was going to ping you on it yesterday but you said you were going to come back to give us an update.

Click to expand...

Thanks W2

I just wanted to make sure that it WAS fixed this time!

Never come across a peripheral screwing the boot process before - especially as it booted fine after a static drain.

Anyhow, pc is now somewhat upgraded and is now running Windows 10. Just in time for Windows 11 to roll in and make W10 obsolete!

Zaph

I seriously doubt that you could run Win 11 on that machine. Microsoft has made so many requirements for it, some of the latest systems are unable to run it.

wither 2 said:

I seriously doubt that you could run Win 11 on that machine. Microsoft has made so many requirements for it, some of the latest systems are unable to run it.

Click to expand...

No, it won't.

My desktop from 2015 won't run Windows 11 either - because of the silly requirement for the Trusted Platform Module. You'd think that they would allow non-TPM machines to run Windows 11 - albeit with reduced security

It was just an observation - given that Windows 10 isn't the "Last Windows you'll ever need" or whatever the advertising guff was when W10 launched.

Windows 10 is slated for EoL in 2025 isn't it?

Zaph

Win 10 won't be supported after 10/14/2025. However, that doesn't mean you can't use it. I mean, I'm using a Vista machine right now and I also use Win 7 machines.

wither 2 said:

Win 10 won't be supported after 10/14/2025. However, that doesn't mean you can't use it. I mean, I'm using a Vista machine right now and I also use Win 7 machines.

Click to expand...

Vista?!

Why? But why? XP I could understand but Vista? That's almost as bad as Windows 8!

Your street cred has just gone down a notch lol

Zaph

They fixed most of the issues in Vista. Win 7 is 60% Vista. Win 8 was a total mistake from the get-go. I happen to like Vista. Kinda has that homey feel like Win 95. Not as complicated as Win 7 and later. The big deal is that it does everything I need. However, your point is well taken.