Start up problem/ First Dos screen

Sometimes ( and recently I in last week) I have found on starting my computer- from pressing the front button -on my Pentium 4 Novatech computer a problem has developed. :(

I hit the ON button on the front. 8)
Up comes the black screen Dos screen with the yellow "magic" or whatever it is in the corner. It starts to show what the PC is.... but halts on the first "paragraph" :roll: ..not running the processor and memory info/details etc that normal comes up before the normal hop to Windows XP.

It is then jammed- you can't turn it off from the front button. you can from the rear flip switch. But to "clear it -make it run/boot -you seem to have to disconect at the mains end. Then it seems to run fine. Weird!!

After that the PC is totally fine. I am not sure it beeps when it fails to start bt does when its "cleared" with a mains turn off /on. :?:

The only thing I can think of is that sometimes the ON button on the front is sticks -( a Novatech thing?? :evil: ) but is that going to stop a start up?? Normally if it sticks its just a turn on /off on the front and all is cool.

I have a new keybaord , which is Ps/2'd in the back but that works fine. Other than that not sure. Overheat? Or Boot Problem?

HELP!!!! :cry: smudge.1969@hotmail.co.uk

[Danno]

in the past when i have seen problems like this where you have to remove the power cable or leave the computer off for a bit before it will come on correctly the problem has been either a faulty power supply or on the very odd occasion a faulty motherboard. the power switches on cases are very very simple i dont think i have ever seen one become faulty, sometimes if they gather a lot of dust they can take a few goes to power the system on.

an easy way to check the power switch is if the computer has a reset switch, you can unplug both switches from the motherboard and swap them around, this just means powering the system on with the reset switch and resetting with the power switch. if it has the same problem with the switches swapped then i think psu or motherboard fault.