POST sometimes needs reset of power supply switch

DaveX

Distinguished
Apr 20, 2011
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Here are my specs:
CPU: i7-940
Mobo: ASRock X58 Xtreme
GPU: Radeon 5850
PSU: Corsair TX-650
HD: 60GB Vertex 2

I built my desktop about a year ago. Recently it started not posting every time I turned it on, but rather required a reset of the on/off switch in the back of the power supply before it would POST again. This happens maybe 1 in every 5 times I try to turn on my computer. By 'reset' I mean I would switch it to the off position and simply back into the on position, then press the power button on my desktop. Sometimes, simply pressing the reset button on my desktop also works, sometimes it doesn't though.

When it doesn't POST, the debug LED on my motherboard gets stuck on '2A' when running through the start-up codes, instead of getting to the proper '00' that it should show when hitting the Windows loading screen. I looked online for what '2A' means and found it means "Initializes different devices through DIM."

http://forums.tweaktown.com/asrock/40131-x58-extreme-fails-start-debug-led-says-2a.html

^In that thread the display adapter was the culprit but I doubt it's my GPU though, it runs perfectly fine when playing games and in general everyday use. I checked the PSU voltages in BIOS and they all seem to be within acceptable ranges of spec. I'm thinking it could be the motherboard, but have no idea what could be causing this. Do you guys have any idea?

On a somewhat related note, a few months ago my computer refused to POST and I had to take out my CPU and bend a pin back into shape before re-seating it to make it work properly again. I don't think my current problem is related to this past problem though because this past problem had different debug LED codes that hinted at memory controller problems. You never know though...