Have you tried booting into safe mode the first time you turn it on
to help verify if it is in fact a hardware or software issue. If it cold
boots fine everytime into safemode then I would diagnose using
the msconfig.exe utillity.

If it can't cold boot into safe mode the first time then I might
consider diagnosing the circuits.
You mentioned the power switch doesn't work. Have you tried
using a aux. device to switch off/on with ?

If you've been powering the computer by plugging directly in, you will
eventually damage the electrolytic capacitors in the power supply.
Leaky capacitors can definitely cause this symptom.
Have you tried a different power supply ?

As an example, I had a customer's monitor which would never power
up on the first try. This unit was subjected to surge damage from a
large copier sharing the same outlet. I resoldered the capacitor's and it's
been 10 months since.
hope this helps
-yui shin


----- Original Message -----
> John Penberthy wrote:

JP> >I've got a little computer here that is driving me nuts.  When I
"chilly"
> >cold first boot the computer, (after a long period of time, hence
"chilly"),
> >I will boot the computer and it will freeze just after loading the mouse
> >drivers, (confirmed with step-by-step start-up.)  At this point I must
> >literally cut power to the machine, (reset and power ATX style switch
>>does
> >not work.)  Once I re-introduce power the dang thing works fine no
>>matter
> >how many times I boot, shut-down and re-boot.  Any suggestions on >>how
to
> >diagnose, or isolate this little quirk?

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