PC hangs on startup / boot

[forumfan_920]

hi guys,

i have a fairly old motherboard MSI G31TM-P21 socket LGA775. The problem with it is that it doesn't start up. When powering on, the front panel LEDs light up, the disks whirring indicating that there's power distribution, but i get nothing displayed (this is not a video/graphics display issue). There were about 2 out of 6 or 7 times that the PC started up, POST-ed and booted into windows; after a minute or two the system would just shut down like someone literally pulled the plug out from behind the PSU

What do you recon the problem is?
BIOS issue?
Hardware related?
From what i saw, it had windows xp installed on it (its not mine, checking it for a friend)

 

[mikeh77586]

I'm having the same problem with the MSI G31TM-P21 main board. And to answer your questions yes I did swap out the PSU with a new PSU, Logitech 550 Watt. As far as the mem goes I am running 4 gigs and have replaced each one of the 2 gig modules one at a time to see if it was a memory problem. this is new board, a new Intel Duel core processor and new RAM. The only thing that wasn't new at the time of the build was the PSU but now it is also new.

 

[mikeh77586]

Update: If I turn the switch off on the PSU and back on, Then wait about 10 minutes or so Then, turn it back on, then hit the power switch it comes on and boots. This would indicate a heat problem but I can assure you there is no heat buildup here. Besides the CPU fan and inclusive of the two PSU fans, I also have a case fan located at the front and rear of the tower as well as on the side at the access panel. I really feel very little heat at all from the unit when it is on. To me this sounds like a classic PSU problem but that isn't the case here. I'm considering a BIOS update, which I truly hate to do. I don't know about you but, if you have ever did a bios update and watched the pc not start it is sickening. I am STUMPED!!