Hi. My desktops's recently started playing up. I first noticed that sometimes when I pressed the power button it would be a second before it fired up. Later this became several seconds, or meant I had to press the button several times. A few days later it wouldn't come on at all when I pressed the button, no matter how many times or how long I pressed it for - often on these occasions, though, I would come back hours later, or the next morning, to find that it had finally decided to switch on in my absence. Now it just won't come on at all. I had a look inside and noticed that when it's powered down there's still something on in there - a green led and a very very faint electronic whine. I unplugged from the wall and they both went. Plugging up again I found that the power switch now worked fine; this is now the method I have to use every time I want to turn on the computer - unplug and replug socket before switching on. Do you think this is a simple power supply problem? Or something else? I'd appreciate any pointers before I wade in there, having not done any work inside the case myself before. Thanks very much! Robin

Very odd. Try a different power cord.

I'd be surprised (amazed really) if it were a faulty power cord. You have two possibilities. The powersupply itself is faulty and not responding correctly when shutdown, or the motherboard/bios power control is faulty. Either test the powersupply in a different system, or test another powersupply in your system. If you don't have either then take the box to a tech and ask them to test it for you. I used to have a signature but it disappeared and I just couldn't be bothered writing another so please feel free to ingore this.

I WAS amazed the first time I found a bad power cord. Since then, I keep it in mind as something that is simple to check.

Thanks guys. I suspect it's not just the power cord since the computer's perfectly happy once I've done the unplug/replug thing, but I'll test another one in it's place just in case. I have neither a spare power supply nor a different system to test the power supply in, but at under £30 for a new 360W ATX PFC unit (a very quick web search gives that as one price for the current unit I have) I may just buy a new one anyway and put it in. Having read around the subject a bit, I guess, as you say Richard59, that either the unit or the motherboard isn't recognising the power off procedure correctly and sits in limbo until the whole unit is reset by pulling the mains, meaning the soft power isn't working as it should. I notice that going to 'Start' and clicking 'Restart' as opposed to 'Turn Off' will work fine, it's just once the power has properly shut off that it's a problem getting it started again. Thanks again for the tips, I'll let you know if I have any problems with a new one. Cheers Robin