Power supply issue?

[Ithiltari]

Friday, my desktop turned off sometime while I was at work. When I came home and attempted to turn it on, nothing happened. I unplugged the power cord from the back of the computer for about five minutes, then plugged it in and attempted to turn it back on. Fans came on and all the LED's started glowing - and then it suddenly switched off. I pulled the desktop out from where I have it sitting and noticed a distinct ozone smell. Figuring at this point the power supply was bad, I bought a new one and installed it, making sure all the connections were correct. Still nothing.  At this point I'm overly frustrated and call it a night.

Saturday I open it back up and re-dust everything, making sure to clear out all the fans, including the one on the graphics card. While doing so, apparently I hadn't plugged the power button back in correctly. Whoops! Fixed that. Still no powering on. I moved the power cord to a different power strip, at which point the desktop booted up just fine. Unfortunately, I can't keep the desktop at that power strip, so I moved it back to no avail at getting it to power up. More annoyance, so I goofed off on Xbox Live for the rest of the night.

On Sunday, I figure the power strip itself might not be working, so I go out and buy a new one. With battery backup, hooray. Nothing. Plug it into the second strip, and it boots up. So, at this point, I switch where the UPS power strip and the second one are. Computer boots right up, no problems. Everything's fine, I think. Go to bed. Go to work.

Come home, PC is off again and will not turn on. Switched the power strip plug ins again, with the same result. Switched it to a different plug (as a note - I have my own circuit in my room, but it's over on a wall where I can't put...anything, really. So there's an extension cord with three outlets on the end running over to where the desktop/other electronics are, and I'm swapping the three power strips along that. I am aware that this is a bad situation, but can't really do anything about it) on the extension cord (bothering my brother who was playing on Live when I d/c'd the internet) and it still only turns on long enough to get to 'loading windows' before powering right back down.

I am at an utter loss as to what's wrong. I can post specs for everything in the desktop if asked (there's a fair bit of digging I need to do to find it all).

[Computer_Commando]

Doesn't seem like a computer.  More like a power problem at your house.  Sounds like you need an electrician.

[Geek-9pm]

Welcome!
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Ithiltari, You have more than one problem.

First, before anything else, never leave the  computer on overnight unless it is needed. All common electronic devices do present a very real fire hazard. Exceptions are for devices that are meant to be left on, such as medical equipment.

In what area do you live? Is 240 volt AC that standard in your area? Int hue USA and Canada, 120 VAC is normal for household use. You may need to have someone inspect your wiring system of your house. Also, inspect the power cord of the computer. Or just replace it.

As for the power strips, if they are failing, they should be recycled. Get new ones.

That smell you noticed did not come from your computer, it is from a failing electrical circuit.** You have got to fix this. You could have a house fire.

**(Assertion based on Precautionary principle.)

Now then, as you have stated, your computer is OK. 

[Ithiltari]

Thanks for the replies!

The only things that are left on overnight are the router, modem, and the desktop (because I schedule my virus/malware scans to run overnight, as well as Windows Update checks). Everything else (monitors, speakers, external hard drives, printer) gets shut down, though not unplugged. And I only turn on things that I need (so the printer stays off a lot of the time).

I'm in the US. Double checked with my dad about what had happened when the electricians were out upgrading the house to circuit breakers instead of fuses, and we're 120V here, with the circuit I'm personally on being a 20 amp one.

Replaced the one power strip already, which didn't seem to be the problem. It's still not booting up even with a brand new strip in place.

The electrical circuit in question is nowhere near the PC and is only a few years old, as it was run brand new to my room when we upgraded the house.

And yes, as far as I can tell, the computer itself is okay - boots up fine when it can, no problems with the HD's or anything else. It just won't turn on most of the time.

[Geek-9pm]

OK. Glad to see yo0u are on to the electrical issue. In all my years of experience as a tech, very rarely has a PC ever had enough sparking to create an ozone smell. That is more typical of electrical circuits that are sparking.

Let's eliminate the Hard Drive and the CD/DVD drive. Remove the connectors from them. power up the computer into the BIOS.  Does it boot up every time with no drives? Failing drives can stop the PC from booting and later show no symptoms. Drives me crazy.

Same test with the RAM. Remove it, power up the PC. Of course it will not do the BIOS, but it will let you know the RAM is gone. Bad RAM can also stop a PC cold. Rare, but it happens.

Last, but not least, inspect the Motherboard for swollen electrolytic capacitors. Still happens. Sometimes.

[Ithiltari]

Removed the HD's and the DVD drive from the PSU, and the desktop booted into the BIOS, though it then shut down fairly quickly afterwards on it's own. Usually after it turns off, I have to disconnect the power and let it sit for a few minutes before attempting to power it back up - this continued to occur for every test, including the RAM.

Pulled the 4 sticks of RAM out, and it gave me the wonderful three beeps of no RAM. And then powered back down.

Looked at the capacitors, everything appears normal (googled a picture of what swollen ones would look like, and mine are all normal sized).

[Geek-9pm]

Please review some of this material:
Heat Sink Install
Would that apply to your problem?

[Ithiltari]

I don't think so; I've got a heat sink on the processor that's locked into place. Popped it off and double checked everything (there's still thermal paste between the sink and the processor), then locked it back into place. The fan is plugged into the mobo properly as well.

I've taken the video card (not new hardware, it's been in since I built the PC) out as well, and it still won't boot up.

Edit: Someone suggested at work that it might be the CMOS battery - does that seem likely?

[Geek-9pm]

Wow! No more ideas from me. You have tried just about everything. Maybe it is something simple. Like jumpers or default BIOS. By chance, you don't have the CMOS reset left with a jumper on it? No, of course not. Just grasping at a straw.

[Computer_Commando]

...Double checked with my dad about what had happened when the electricians were out upgrading the house to circuit breakers instead of fuses...

I lost count of how many times so-called "electricians have effed it all up.

[Ithiltari]

Didn't see any jumpers! Thanks for all your help, you've been really amazing.

I hope they didn't mess anything up, although it's been probably ~2 years since everything got all switched around.

Went and bought a new battery for the CMOS and now the PC boots up fine and appears to be staying on, though who knows if it'll stay on longer than an hour. Here's hoping!

[Ithiltari]

Alas, it turned right back off after a few minutes.