Computer takes time just to power on

[mol666]

I have a Dell Studio XPS 435 MT and recently it started to have this weird behavior:

I turn on the no break and I can't turn on the computer, until 5 or 10 minutes later, it starts as normal and gives no problem. If I keep the no break turned on I can turn off and on the computer without delay.

The green light from the PSU is on at the moment to turn on the no break, but the CPU will not start until a few minutes.

I'm thinking I have to buy a new PSU, but I don't want to spend the money if that's not the problem. Also, I'm not sure what kind of PSU I have to buy, because the actual one has all the specs in Chinese (thank you Dell). On the online documents it says this model uses a 360W PSU.

I use my computer to do video post production. Intel Core i7, 20GB RAM, two HDD in RAID 0 and one HDD with the system. I often use external disks connected to the SATA, Firewire or USB 2 ports to backup or data transfer (don't work directly form them).

Thanks for any help or suggestions on changing my PSU (if that's the problem)

 

[carlinamloch14]

How many watts is your power supply?

 

[mol666]

The level of the PSU is in Chinese, but it's supposed to be (according to online documentation) 360W

 

[jay_nar2012]

For your question about what PSU do you get if you need a new one.
You can use a standard ATX power supply.

 

[mol666]

Do you think it's a PSU problem? I mean, the green light looks OK and eventually the computer starts.

 

[inzone]

It seems to me that the problem is this "no break" setting that is being used and there is either a confilct with it or a corrupted file. The psu is not a problem unless it is causing random freezes and shut downs , if your not getting any of those situations then it's a good chance that the psu is fine.
What happens if you turn off the "no break" ?

 

[jay_nar2012]

Your description is a little bit hard to understand (not in a rude way).
whats the 'no break'?

 

[mol666]

Sorry, the No-Break how it's called in Spanish. It's a voltage regulator with a battery supply in case a power failure.

 

[jay_nar2012]

Like a UPS?

 

[mol666]

That's it, thank you. I have a UPS and every time I turn it on the computer won't start for five or ten minutes. Then, it starts normal.

 

[mol666]

I tested it plugging the computer directly to the wall and it's the same behavior.

 

[jay_nar2012]

Maybe it gives the battery some charge or checks the circuit for faults just to be safe?

 

[inzone]

Then your issue is with this UPS and not the power supply. What you can do is diconnect the UPS from the computer and run it off a plug strip and see if it does the same thing , if it doesn't then the issue lies with the UPS.

 

[mol666]

I already tested without the UPS and in different places of the house and it still takes several minutes until the power button responds and the computer starts. Yet, the led signal in the PSU is green.

 

[inzone]

With the computer doing the same thing being pluged into the wall socket then there is an issue with the motherboards bios because it's working out a conflict of some kind for it to tajke that long to turn on.

 

[jay_nar2012]

Maybe there is a setting in the bios that delays turning on, if you know how to get in the bios, you could look around and see if you can find a delay thing.

 

[mol666]

So, I should reset the BIOS and see if that fixes it. Right?

 

[inzone]

You can try loading the same bios file or upgrading the bios altogether but it's most likely going to take a call to the Dell tech support to do that. Dell tends to make it very hard to do things like that.

 

[mol666]

I have to add that the computer worked fine for years and suddenly started with this. It may be a corrupted BIOS preference or something.

 

[inzone]

So, I should reset the BIOS and see if that fixes it. Right?

Yes.

 

[inzone]

The bios file can get corrupted and if you do a bios update or even reload the same bios file it should fix it.

 

[jay_nar2012]

Remember to turn off your PC.....

 

[inzone]

There are also times when an event will change settings in the bios to settings that you did not make so a rest , reload or bios update can fix the issue.

 

[jay_nar2012]

.......if you are resetting the bios.
If you are upgrading then don't.

 

[mol666]

Best answer selected by mol666.