Hello,

This video on youtube shows the strange procedure I have to follow to boot =
up my computer lately:

https://youtu.be/oglScNl_jjw

This strange problem started occuring after I accidently put the computer i=
nto sleep mode, and re-powered the system after the power was cut but the f=
ans had not completely stopped spinning.

Did perhaps the spinning of the fans cause some kind of purge surge ?

Perhaps the copper coils inside the fans caused some kind of feedback power=
 into the system ?

My first hypothesis/hunch was that it might be a bios bug/race condition.

I pulled out all cables, cut the power, even removed the battery, but this =
did not help. So perhaps it's hardware damage instead of software bug ?

One last thing I have not tried yet is to reset the CMOS ? Perhaps the CMOS=
 of my DreamPC can remember settings without batery power ? To me that seem=
s somewhat unlikely but what do I know ?! ;)

Anyway I share this video with you to show this very strange and bizar boot=
 sequence/problem/procedure.

I would love to hear any theories/hypothesis what might be causing this.

So far, before I showed this video and told this story people have written =
back with following feedback/advice/theories:

1. Power supply might be giving a bad "good power" signal. DreamPC2006 curr=
ently has OCZ Stream X power supply it has. (I could look into it further f=
or more details though googling Skybuck's DreamPC might also uncover more i=
nfo about it from my previous postings). Personally I cannot imagine this b=
rand which was somewhat expensive to have this problem ? Though I can imagi=
ne that wear and tear over the years might have caused this... or perhaps l=
ightning. Then again it seems very minor and such... so very strange... It =
didn't fail completely... it's just behaving strangely ???

2. Wrong settings for CPU ? The system boots with defaults... no overclocki=
ng is used or ever was used. Surely the system should boot with defaults ? =
I cannot imagine it not booting with defaults... Very strange. Perhaps try =
and set it to 2.0 ghz instead of standard ?! Haven't tried this yet cause i=
t's such a strange theory and I am not sure if setting different settings t=
han default is save.

3. Batteries inside keyboard/mouse remembering weird settings. My mouse/key=
board don't have any batteries, they just USB. I don't know if they have an=
y memory though that stays resident after power cut ?!?

4. All cables were removed and power shutdown and CMOS battery removed, and=
 everything reconnected, this did not help.

Was further strange about this system which it has done for years now. When=
 I touch a key or mouse or even the case it would power on ?! Those setting=
s were disabled in the bios but it still does it ?! Could this indicate som=
e strange wiring problem ?

5. My latest theory, some plug/cable is misplaced inside of it, or the flas=
h/card reader drive is causing some strange electrical effect, or perhaps e=
ven wrongly connected, I even once fried a system with such a plug connecti=
ng it wrongly... I believe I did connect it correctly... but perhaps these =
are just shady devices. I don't feel like experimenting with replugging cab=
les unless there is hardcore proof that something was connected wrongly ! I=
'd right not fry my system or mess with it... unless some solution sounds c=
redible and doesn't sound like it could endager my system. This system has =
to survive until at least 2017 february. By that time I should have a new A=
MD Zen based system ! ;) =3DD  But it would be very cool if my old computer=
 woulds survive like all my other computers... there is a lot of info on it=
 and it's still usefull and it would make a nice backup computer.=20

This current boot procedure is making me nervous... I am slightly worried t=
hat someday this will cause it to fry to death. Since these components are =
old and especially the socket 939 motherboard, I will probably not find an =
replacement easily.... though I just remembered I do have a backup motherbo=
ard lying around somewhere, so perhaps that could save me in the feature in=
 case it's the motherboard and/or it's chips that go bad in the near future=
..

Let me know what you think is causing this weird power on/boot problem ?!?!=
?!?

Bye,
  Skybuck.

On Tue, 20 Dec 2016 04:27:08 -0800 (PST), skybuck2000@hotmail.com
wrote:

>This video on youtube shows the strange procedure I have to follow to boot up my computer lately:
>
>https://youtu.be/oglScNl_jjw
>
>  :
>
>Let me know what you think is causing this weird power on/boot problem ?!?!?!?

Just a thought ... do you have a UPS (battery backup)?

I have seen similar behavior with misconfigured UPS software.
Specifically, the software was looking for the wrong type UPS -
"smart" vs "basic" - and was shutting down the computer when it saw
the wrong signals.

In my case the computer shut down every time.  I had to disconnect the
UPS cable to get in and fix the configuration.

Since you can get in ... albiet on the second try ... my guess would
be that the issue is *not* the UPS software, but rather something with
the USB port.

One possibility is the UPS software is starting before the USB port is
initialized, and so at the initial power-on, the software cannot see
the battery.   But then when the computer comes out of sleep mode, the
port is working and the battery is visible.

If this isn't the problem, then I'm out of ideas.

Hope you can figure it out.
George