PC Issues

So I usually shut off my desktop pc when not using it and hardly use it these days. Well, a couple weeks ago I go to start it up and it ran for a couple seconds then shut down. It kept doing the same thing each attempt at getting it to stay on. I think the power supply is having problems but not sure. I removed RAM and the pc started up, did the no ram beep then shut off. I did buy a cheap 480 watt PS to try on it and it didn't like it so I am thinking it is the MB or cpu going. I decided to hook up the original PS and lo and behold the pc started up and stayed on! Grrr and happy at the same time. Hooked everything back up and everything is working so far. I will be keeping it running constantly instead of turning it off when not home. I read that powering it off and on is harder on the system than letting it run constantly. Is that true?
The pc is an HP Envy 700-019 . Bought it for 899 August 2013 so no more warranty.

It could have been slot creep on the memory, taking it out and re-seating it would solve any lose connections. I have had that even when the ram felt firmly in place, taking it out and putting it back in can solve it. Nice it works anyway, that's a decent bit of hardware

Do you know if you put the chips in the same order as before? I would run a memory test just to exclude the ram physically. You can download memtest86 and its included on most Ubuntu liveCD's as a boot option also.

Powering it off and on has no wear on the PC at all. The idea that it does "damage" is based on how an old light bulb works. We turn loads of appliances on and off all the time, PC's are the same really.

Yah I put them back in the same. But even with the RAM out it still shut down and I did test the cmos battery as well, it was ok. I will check out memtest86.

Stranger, I am still going with "taking it apart and putting it back together" as the solution
CMOS battery should just save settings, it shouldnt cause a shutdown. Overheating or over draw of power maybe, but then it should at least start, its an oddddd one :p

I had two separate PC issues this last week.

One that would BSOD all the time, and when it got to me, it would no longer boot.
Turned out it has 6gb over 4 chips, 2x2gb and 2x1gb, removing the 1gb chips let it boot again, and no BSODs since. Crash dumps pointed to memory errors and a mix of RAM can give problems.

Other PC I had in would not remember CMOS settings, I did not have a replacement battery handy but removing the old one sorted bootup problems. It forgets its CMOS settings so I have to hit F2 for defaults at boot, but defaults are what I want it running at anyway so not going out of my way to replace the battery :p

Anyway, just wanted to report my variations of the problem

Hmm, interesting. Thanks for the insight. ☺

What I find weird is I haven't used it/turned it on for long periods of time and it isn't moved around much but maybe even the vibration of the fans could unseat ram even in the slightest? I am afraid now of turning it off since I had so much trouble getting it to turn back on so am still going to do the memtest. Will report back. It has been so hot here, not used to it and I feel like doing absolutely nothing when I get home lol

If you can do nothing, DO EEET!

Fan vibration and heat cycles between relative heat and relative cold, loads of things could cause chips to loosen.
I just completed my move and a old netbook that had been running debian with no gui would not boot after the move. It had run fine on its own without reboots or anything for 6months before, oddness is also a factor :p

So my HP PC has its own memory test, also every extensive tests for pretty much everything. My keyboard I am using is a wireless micrsoft arc keyboard so the function keys are a bit of a PITA as it is compacted. Long story short i just used the HP tests so far and they do take several hours to complete and so far all components have passed. I will still try memtest but I need it to boot at startup and I haven't got that far yet lol.

I managed to clone the hard drive to a new pc awhile back and it's all good now.

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Clonezilla?

No, Laplink Disk Image software. Microsoft used to have a free service but the bastages stopped doing that so they pointed to this at a cost. It was worth it for me but I was still mad about it.

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CloneZilla is free, has a load of options and is well supported.
It will clone to and from images, disks, partitions and from local storage, shares and other remote options.

Worth a try if you need to clone again sometime.

I will definitely try it next time.

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