PC playing up

Okay peoples, here's my problem...

First some details of the hardware that *could* be the culprit:
1. Creative SB Audigy 2 Value (yeah i kno, ima upgrade soon)
2. Some expensive power supply that has separate molex power connectors for fans so that the fans can recieve lower power than normal and also remain on for a while after the PC has been turned off. The power supply is rated at 450W and that's more than enough.
3. My Leadtek A6600GT TDH video card (which is obviously based on the nVidia GeForce 6600GT chipset).


Two days ago I noticed that while my PC was off, the power LEDs were flashing quite fast, randomly, at different intensities and for different durations. Bit strange but I let it go.

Yesterday it took about 10 tries to get my PC to boot up. It paused in various stages; before anything even came up on screen, during the XP loading screen, while searching for IDE disk drives, after the bootstrap loader had found an OS but before it started loading, during windows startup after the desktop and a few other things had loaded and other stages of boot up too.

It also restart randomly once and it BSOD'd me once while I was playing Oblivion, and has paused several times when the screensaver has been on.

The only hardware changes I have made recently are a set of Z-5500 speakers. I tried to connect the speakers via coax to the digital i/o port using a 3.5mm - RCA adapter, which worked fine albeit only in stereo. I realised for full digital i/o, I need a separate Creative digital i/o module. I turned off the soundcard's internal dolby digital decoder so the Z-5500s could do it instead. I thought, for games I'd use the analog connection but when I want to listen to music I can put it on coax and upmix the stereo signal (using the Z-5500 control pod) to 5.1.

Later I noticed that the speaker setup type had been changed to 2/2.1 channels. I immediately changed it back to 5.1, and the PC paused. Later I noticed that the internal dolby digital decoder had been turned on again. I turned it off again, then immediately went to the speaker setup and noticed that it had been changed to 2/2.1 again. I set it to 5.1 and at that moment my PC paused. It was fine for the rest of the day. I turn my PC off when I sleep as it's not doing anything then. Perhaps the sound card was looking for the digital i/o module but found my speakers instead.

Then in the middle of the night, I woke up and found that the fans were on. The only time this should happen is if the PC had just been turned off or the power had been reconnected, and I know that didn't happen because my monitor was still in standby.

When I got up this morning it took a couple of attempts to start the PC, the first time it paused was in the video card power on screen where some text scrolls in from the right of the screen, it paused half way through that. Then it paused during Windows startup again.

I think it could be the power supply, because the fans weren't supposed to be on. I also tried changing the BIOS battery because my motherboard monitor said it was getting flat, however after testing it with a multimeter I found it to be still at 3.1V. It could be the sound card because of the pausing, it could be the video card because it paused during its POST, and then it could be the motherboard because, well, motherboards do lots of different things.

I thought I'd ask on the forum before deciding what to do. So, any ideas?

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I actually have the same graphics card you have.....the Leadtek Winfast A6600GT. If it crashes on the Video Card's BIOS screen....then I suggest you unplug the power and reseat everything you can and then try it again.

So there aren't any POST codes that emit when your PC fails to boot? What usually happens when it fails to boot? Does it just hang at random points in startup or does nothing happen? If nothing's happening, or it seems like nothings happening, then your Video Card is probably at fault. What kind of PSU do you have anyways? Because I know the A6600GT uses auxiliary power from the PSU.

Alternatively, if reseating everything doesn't work, do you have another computer to test the parts in question? Because that would determine whether or not your Mobo is busted.

I doubt your sound card is the culprit though....Your sound card being busted only gives you no sound. It shouldn't completely screw over your computer starting up.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Thanks for the reply.

I haven't actually bothered to look at the POST code LED modules on the mobo because it's not hanging in the same place every time; it hangs at random places.

Also about 12 hours ago it wouldnt turn on until I unplugged the power for 2 mins and put it back in again. I do have an old Radeon 9600SE I could try as well as an old power supply that works fine, just didn't supply enough power. After my exams in the next week or two I'll get around to having a fiddle.

My PSU is a Topower TopSilent 450W.

There is another PC I could test with, though I doubt my dad would let me try anything with it.

I was thinking pretty much the same things as you and probably most of the other people who read this, I just like to ask around to make sure there isn't something I've missed, so thanks.

I hope it's not the mobo... I really, really, REALLY don't wanna have to buy a new system right now.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

These spastic problems are making me think motherboard problems. I hate to say it, but given the weirdness of things, I am looking directly at the motherboad going nuts.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

I'ts being a complete tard. For a few days it was fine, behaving just like normal, until I put it in Sleep mode again. Now it's back to being a tard. I have to turn the power supply off when I shut down, otherwise the power light flashes etc like before.

I guess I won't put it in sleep mode again.

I was speaking idiomatically.