K7S5A and Antec turning itself ON randomly

[Don Taylor]

Old ECS K7S5A and Athlon 2000, been really reliable for years.
Old Antec 300 watt supply fan started whining, replaced it with
a new Antec 350 watt supply months ago, no problems. CPU fan/PS
fan/Drive fan make enough noise I turn it off at night.

A week ago I came out in the morning and the fans were running!
Immediately did virus/spyware check (it sits behind hw and sw
firewalls, hasn't been infected in five years) and came up
clean. A day or two later this repeated. And the next day.
And the next.

Almost every time if I flip on the monitor it hasn't completed
powerup and I need to punch the reset button to get it to come
up. No errors logged. If I turn it off and bring it back up
the bootup happens without errors or hangs.

Isn't and never has been any wake-on-X for any X set in the
bios.

No power spikes that I know of, the old tape answering machine
always cycles if there is anything like that.

Could it be the CMOS battery going? I've checked and it isn't
loosing config. Last night I unplugged the thing from the wall
and this morning when I plugged it back in and started it up it
still had all the config. So that tends to make me think less
that it is the battery. But I can't think of anything else that
could be doing this.

I've had lots of machines die on me. But this is the first one
I've ever had come to life on me.

Someone a few months ago was having lots of trouble with a newer
Antec supply. I dunno. I'm stumped. Any ideas? Thanks

 

[Mike T.]

Old ECS K7S5A and Athlon 2000, been really reliable for years.
Old Antec 300 watt supply fan started whining, replaced it with
a new Antec 350 watt supply months ago, no problems. CPU fan/PS
fan/Drive fan make enough noise I turn it off at night.

A week ago I came out in the morning and the fans were running!
Immediately did virus/spyware check (it sits behind hw and sw
firewalls, hasn't been infected in five years) and came up
clean. A day or two later this repeated. And the next day.
And the next.

Almost every time if I flip on the monitor it hasn't completed
powerup and I need to punch the reset button to get it to come
up. No errors logged. If I turn it off and bring it back up
the bootup happens without errors or hangs.

Isn't and never has been any wake-on-X for any X set in the
bios.

Is it possible that the case power switch is wearing out/sticking/dirty?
Could something be shorting out the power switch pins on the
ainboard? -Dave

 

[Rod Speed]

Old ECS K7S5A and Athlon 2000, been really reliable for years.
Old Antec 300 watt supply fan started whining, replaced it with
a new Antec 350 watt supply months ago, no problems. CPU
fan/PS fan/Drive fan make enough noise I turn it off at night.

A week ago I came out in the morning and the fans were running!
Immediately did virus/spyware check (it sits behind hw and sw
firewalls, hasn't been infected in five years) and came up clean.

Very unlikely to be a virus too.

A day or two later this repeated. And the next day. And the next.

Almost every time if I flip on the monitor it hasn't completed
powerup and I need to punch the reset button to get it to
come up. No errors logged. If I turn it off and bring it
back up the bootup happens without errors or hangs.

Isn't and never has been any wake-on-X for any X set in the bios.

No power spikes that I know of, the old tape answering
machine always cycles if there is anything like that.

Could it be the CMOS battery going?

That wont produce that particular set of symptoms.

I've checked and it isn't loosing config. Last night I unplugged
the thing from the wall and this morning when I plugged it back
in and started it up it still had all the config. So that tends to
make me think less that it is the battery.

Yeah, very unlikely to be that.

But I can't think of anything else that could be doing this.

It could be that the motherboard has gone flakey.

Check for bad caps. These are the usually black or blue plastic
covered posts sticking up vertically from the motherboard surface.
The tops should be flat. Look for caps that have bulged or leaking tops.

If you find any, the only real alternative is to replace the motherboard.

I've had lots of machines die on me.

I've seen very few die myself.

But this is the first one I've ever had come to life on me.

Yeah, but a fault can certainly act like a power on without that enabled.

Someone a few months ago was having
lots of trouble with a newer Antec supply.

Is your system configured to power up on a mains glitch ?

What happens if you JUST plug the mains in and dont do anything else ?

If its configured to boot on power on it could be the power supply glitching.

I dunno. I'm stumped. Any ideas?

Its likely either the power supply or the motherboard.
Cheaper to try a different power supply than motherboard
if there is no evidence of bad caps on the motherboard.

 

[SteveH]

Old ECS K7S5A and Athlon 2000, been really reliable for years.
Old Antec 300 watt supply fan started whining, replaced it with
a new Antec 350 watt supply months ago, no problems. CPU fan/PS
fan/Drive fan make enough noise I turn it off at night.

A week ago I came out in the morning and the fans were running!
Immediately did virus/spyware check (it sits behind hw and sw
firewalls, hasn't been infected in five years) and came up
clean. A day or two later this repeated. And the next day.
And the next.

Almost every time if I flip on the monitor it hasn't completed
powerup and I need to punch the reset button to get it to come
up. No errors logged. If I turn it off and bring it back up
the bootup happens without errors or hangs.

Isn't and never has been any wake-on-X for any X set in the
bios.

No power spikes that I know of, the old tape answering machine
always cycles if there is anything like that.

Could it be the CMOS battery going? I've checked and it isn't
loosing config. Last night I unplugged the thing from the wall
and this morning when I plugged it back in and started it up it
still had all the config. So that tends to make me think less
that it is the battery. But I can't think of anything else that
could be doing this.

I've had lots of machines die on me. But this is the first one
I've ever had come to life on me.

Someone a few months ago was having lots of trouble with a newer
Antec supply. I dunno. I'm stumped. Any ideas? Thanks

It's a K7S5A, it doesn't need a reason to do weird stuff.
;-)

SteveH