Problem Occurs When Attempting To Power On Without Changing The Power Source
Problem Occurs When Attempting To Power On Without Changing The Power Source
Most references I've found indicate that a standard desktop PC should consume about 300W, even without a high-end graphics card. This is far from the actual power draw I'm experiencing when trying to power it on. When the voltmeter isn't connected elsewhere, it reads approximately 122 volts, though it sometimes rises slightly to 122.5V.
It seems I got the electricity setup mixed up quite a bit—completely my mistake. I finally figured out the fix: turning off the AC and then reattaching all the computer cables to the wall power resolved everything. My PC has been running smoothly for three days now, and it looks like the AC's extra power consumption was causing the problem.
Well, it didn't last long. After a long gaming session on Sunday night—playing from an installed game on my HDD—the computer is experiencing boot problems again. During the session, the fan was running very loudly, but everything else seemed normal until the boot issue resurfaced. While trying to boot, I saw the pre-boot screen briefly on the monitor before it shut down suddenly, and then nothing happened afterward. I contacted another computer shop, who suggested the problem might be with the motherboard, possibly due to incorrect installation by the replacement place. The only other possibilities I can think of are related to RAM or CPU, but I don't have any concrete information right now.
So I purchased an APC Back-UPS Pro BN 1500VA. It has a tower design, 1500VA capacity, works with 120V and has 10 NEMA 5-15R outlets, an LCD display, plus one USB Type C and one USB Type A port. Schneider Electric USA offers it. I tested it on my desktop using both battery power and a standard surge protector, but neither worked, indicating the problem might not be with the power supply itself. Interestingly, when both my monitor and PC were connected to the UPS, the monitor also stopped working after several attempts. The model is an Acer s231HL. Whenever it’s plugged in, the power button light turns on, but the screen won’t connect, and I can’t turn it off— the light stays blue even when I press the power button multiple times. I’ve tried this with my laptop, which suggests the issue might be with the monitor now. It doesn’t connect to any device using an HDMI cable. Unless there’s a very unusual timing coincidence, it seems like the PC might have caused the monitor to fail too. Any thoughts on what could be happening?