Powering Up Lagging Few Seconds

[Makaveli84]

Hello,
I recently finished building a new system (i3-540, 2 x 2GB DDR3 1333 Mhz, MSI MoBo, PSU = 460W), and one thing is bugging me out.. Whenever i push the power button, it takes the system around 3 to 4 seconds to power up!
Is that normal?? If not, what's causing it and how to fix it?


P.S: Tried the system with only CPU, MoBo and RAM connected (no PCI-E graphics card, no HDDs, no ODDs), still the same thing.

 

[mdd1963]

could be the PSU is slow to come up, or, could be the MB is intentionally giving the PSU a few second to stabilize before applying all operating voltages system-wide...

3-4 seconds is a bit long...

 

[apache_lives]

generic psu's are rubbish

msi motherboards are rubbish

 

[Makaveli84]

generic psu's are rubbish

It's not generic.. Not a great one, but an ok one (CoolerMaster Elite Power 460W).

msi motherboards are rubbish

Well, up until now, i've only had systems with Intel MoBos. For this build, i've done ton of research and nowhere did i get the impression that MSI MoBos lack in quality to Intel ones.. Actually, most reviews put MSI ahead of Intel boards. And since the MSI board had more options and better OC'ing support, i went for it.
Can anyone confirm this power up delay is because of the board??

 

[banthracis]

You should give a full list of system specs with full model numbers.

As mentioned above, between that PSU and MSI mobo you're got 2 good candidates already.
BTW Intel boards suck. ASUS and Gigabyte are the two top brands for mobo's.

 

[aardwolf]

I don't suppose it could be checking the RAM now where it wasn't before? (still 4gb should be fast)

In my experience this sometimes happens when a hard drive is late to spin up.

 

[Makaveli84]

You should give a full list of system specs with full model numbers.

As mentioned above, between that PSU and MSI mobo you're got 2 good candidates already.
BTW Intel boards suck. ASUS and Gigabyte are the two top brands for mobo's.

MSI H55M-E33
CM Elite Power 460W (RS-460-PSAR-J3 / RS-460-PSAP-J3) http://www.coolermaster.com/product.php?category_id=3551&product_id=6615
RAM = Kingston DDR3 1333 (that's all i know).


Regarding ASUS and Gigabyte, both were much beyond budget (buying them locally where i live).

 

[Makaveli84]

In my experience this sometimes happens when a hard drive is late to spin up.

Well, maybe, but no other components are powering on.. I mean in those 3 seconds, not even the LEDs light up, nor do fans start spinning.. So unless you're suggesting that the hard drive is delaying the whole power cycle, then i'm not sure that's what it is. I'll try out without the hard drive connected.

 

[aardwolf]

Ahh now that's more interesting, the part with no LEDs or fans. So it's just silent for a few seconds, and poof it turns on?

I'd definitely start removing as many components as possible, and see if with the bare minimum connected (mobo, gfx, psu, cpu, ram) the problem is still there.

 

[banthracis]

1. Switch the PC to another outlet on a different breaker. See if this helps. Could you a home electrical issue.

2. Swap in a different PSU, one that's known to be working properly. If you do need to buy a new one, get something decent.

Exs.

Earthwatts for $45
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371033&cm_re=antec_earthwatts-_-17-371-033-_-Product

Seasonic for $53
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151072&cm_re=seasonic_power_supply-_-17-151-072-_-Product

 

[Makaveli84]

Ahh now that's more interesting, the part with no LEDs or fans. So it's just silent for a few seconds, and poof it turns on?

I'd definitely start removing as many components as possible, and see if with the bare minimum connected (mobo, gfx, psu, cpu, ram) the problem is still there.

Yep. CPU + RAM + MoBo only, still the same problem.

 

[Makaveli84]

1. Switch the PC to another outlet on a different breaker. See if this helps. Could you a home electrical issue.

2. Swap in a different PSU, one that's known to be working properly. If you do need to buy a new one, get something decent.

Exs.

Earthwatts for $45
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371033&cm_re=antec_earthwatts-_-17-371-033-_-Product

Seasonic for $53
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151072&cm_re=seasonic_power_supply-_-17-151-072-_-Product

Coincidentally, i had already done that.. Same problem.
Also, PSU is brand new. So unless i can be sure it's b/c of the PSU, i don't intend to buy another one (even then, i'll probably rma it). Add to that, i don't live in the U.S. and i only buy PC components locally.

 

[aardwolf]

banthracis is trying to get you to narrow down your issue though. If you have a PSU that you can swap in for a few minutes, you can at least rule out the other components of your build.

 

[Makaveli84]

banthracis is trying to get you to narrow down your issue though. If you have a PSU that you can swap in for a few minutes, you can at least rule out the other components of your build.

I'll see if this can be arranged.. I don't have another working PSU as i ditched my previous system (a P4 system) after its PSU went down, and been using my laptop only. Anyways, i am not very annoyed by this issue, i'm just worried a more serious issue is underlying. So i was hoping someone here had a similar experience and managed to solve it or at least to live safely with it so i could move on..

 

[aardwolf]

One other thing you can do is try to stress your machine a bit to see if there's something really wrong.. run Prime95 for a bit to pound it and see if it cracks under the pressure.

 

[banthracis]

Throw in a memtest as well. Do it overnight for at least 8 passes.
http://www.memtest.org/