Computer won't start up right away

[rhsunderground]

My computer was built for me by a good friend back in May. I haven't had a new PC in several years, so it was wonderful. I use the machine every couple days, so in order to save power I turn off the power strip when I'm not using it. A couple months ago, the computer wouldn't turn on immediately when I turned on the power strip - I had to wait about 30 seconds until the machine would power up. I timed it this morning and I had to wait six and a half minutes. Is it likely a power supply issue or is my machine possessed?

[Sup3rkirby]

I have to assume you of course shut down your PC before turning off the attached power strip, in which case, there really shouldn't be any problem.

As far as it being a PSU issue, I doubt it. A good PSU works fine and you won't ever notice anything unusual about it. A 'bad' PSU simply doesn't power your PC and thus it doesn't turn on and/or stay on. So if this seems to be some sort of boot issue, it's not the power supply.

And I can only assume any PC built in 2011 wouldn't have trouble with lower end parts that would inevitably increase a start up time, so it's hard to pin it on a specific piece of hardware. If all of the parts seem to check out fine once the PC is up and running(checked through any hardware information tool/app) then I'd be entirely at a loss for why it would take over 6 minutes to start up a PC...

[Declan1991]

What do you mean by power up actually? OS fully loaded and ready to use? If so, it must be a problem with something running at start-up, although I can't imagine what would take 6 minutes to run!

[rhsunderground]

The machine will not start (no lights, no buzzing, no nothing) for 6 and a half minutes.

[Sup3rkirby]

Well that certainly sounds like a hardware issue. Given there seem to be no lights(and I assume fan movement) then it would seem to be related to the PSU. I am curious about a few things though. My motherboard has a light or two that stays lit while the computer is off but still plugged in to a working power source. If your motherboard has anything of this sort, does it stay illuminated while the PC is powered off but plugged in to a working power source? If not what happens if you say, waited for 6 and a half minutes while plugged in to a working power source?

Even for computers that have dead parts such as a CPU or RAM, pressing the power button still initiates things from the BIOS and thus you'd you still get working fans and lights even if the computer couldn't boot. So no initial activity indicates the motherboard either isn't getting power or isn't being initiated when you turn it on and for some reason is delayed in to starting its BIOS.

If you have any spare parts, now would be a good time to start switching them out for a few hardware tests.