Hi all, I am having a problem with my computer starting up

When I press the startup button, my computer starts powering up, the fan motors hum to life, the lights all light up, etc. Within a second, however, everything flickers. The lights blink off for a split-second, the hum of the fans is interrupted, and then it starts back from square one. Within a second, however, it flickers again. holding the startup button, the usual forced shutdown procedure, has no effect. The process repeats until I turn the power supply off. I initially assumed it was a faulty power supply, so I switched it for a SPARE. However, the problem persisted. Next, I wondered if my surge protector or room electrical connection was going bad, so I tried an alternate surge protector in my brother's room, where his computer (very similar to mine) is working just fine. Again, no luck. Because changing power supplies did not resolve the problem, I have switched back to my original, more efficient power supply.

I am hesitant to CONTINUE testing, for fear of damaging my computer further. Every time I power up, the average period between flickers shrinks. It's still pretty random and unpredictable, but while it was originally 1-2 seconds between flickers, it is now 1-2 flickers per second.

My computer has
Pentium Core 2 duo 3.0ghz
Windows Vista 64 (up to date)
4gb main memory
2 hard drives
Nvidia GeForce 9800GT
Corsair TX650W power supply

If there is any further information you may need to help me, please let me know and I'll be glad to find out.It sounds like a faulty component is forcing it to shutdown. Disconnect components for minimum boot to BIOS leaving motherboard, RAM, graphics card. Also check to insure CPU fan is solidly attached to CPU.I disconnected all my peripherals, including my DVD drives, extra hard drive, etc. No luck. Then I tried removing some of my memory, and alternating it to see if that was the cause. Still no luck. I was about to dig up my old graphics card to try that, when my dad suggested I do a visual inspection of each of the components, especially the capacitors. He'd recently had to replace the motherboard on his work computer, and apparently some of the capacitors had started leaking their contents at the same time he noticed a performance drop.

My visual inspection of my own motherboard revealed no leaking capacitors, scorching, flying sparks, etc. But one of the capacitors did look a bit odd. The top LOOKED slightly bulged in comparison to similar capacitors in other places on the motherboard. Nothing major, just a slightly convex shape instead of the flat or concave shapes I saw on the others. Is this cause for concern?

BTW, the basic symptom is getting worse. It is now flickering about 2 to 4 times per second, instead of the 1 to 2 times it was before.Quote from: kotori87 on June 04, 2010, 02:31:10 AM

...Is this cause for concern?
BTW, the basic symptom is getting worse. It is now flickering about 2 to 4 times per second, instead of the 1 to 2 times it was before...

That seems to fit the symptoms. My computer was built in 2007, and apparently they were still using faulty capacitors at the time. I have replaced my motherboard, and the computer is now working fine. I even took the opportunity to dust everything down, neaten up the wiring, and remove a peripheral that I wasn't using. Thanks for your help!

Sounds like Faulty hard drive to me, or thats what usually happens when there is no hard drive in it.