BleepingComputer.com: Power problem

Please watch this video of my computer:


I can use my computer fine but almost every time i try to turn my computer on after it has been off for a while it does this (video above). When I press the power button it will turn on for less than a second then turn off. You can see the fan and the red lights turn on briefly.

To make my computer turn on I usually do these following things:
1. I unplug the power until the green MB light turns off. Then i plug it back in. If that doesn't work then...
2. I unplug the power and unplug the auxiliary power (http://cdnsupport.gateway.com/s/power/6500648/650064810.jpg labeled p6) to the MB. Then plug everything back in. If that doesn't work then...
3. I do the same as 1 and 2 but i also unplug the auxiliary power (labeled p1 in link above) to the MB. Then plug everything back in. Some times this still doesn't work...

eventually after reapeating all these steps in different orders it will just randomly turn on. Can someone please help me figure out what's wrong?

Hello coryk and welcome to Bleepingcomputer.

Your video is very short and hard to see because the lighting was very low.

The connectors you mentioned are as follows:

P1 is your 20 pin computer main ATX power harness. It powers all of the expansion cards and USB ports, provides power to the motherboard to PSU controller chip.

P6 is the separate ATX 12 Volt motherboard power harness.

More information is needed from you on your power supply, such as make and model number?

Roughly how old is the PSU? (power supply)

You could have issues with Electrolytic capacitors being faulty or leaking.

Those are easy to find on a motherboard, but are difficult to see inside the power supply without opening up the unit. (NOTE: I do NOT recommend this, due to the dangerous high voltage which is common inside power supplies

Electrolytic capacitors can leak Electrolyte or bulge, lean or explode.

You can safely check the motherboard for such symptoms, to better assist you, I am offering several links to web pages (Below) showing what you should be looking for.

Scroll down all 3 pages for an analysis of various visual failures.

http://www.capacitorlab.com/visible-failures/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague

http://pc-medic.blogspot.com/2006/10/leaking-capacitors.html


Check out those web sites and please post back if you notice anything similar to those images.

I have noticed in my years working with computers, that the capacitors located nearest the processor and the RAM slots tend to show signs of those symptoms.

There was a period of time that cheaply put together capacitors were installed on a long stretch of electronic products, including but NOT limited to motherboards for computers.

Bruce.

This post has been edited by MrBruce1959: 07 April 2011 - 07:34 AM