Hi all.

I've been having some odd power issues with my computer recently. I came to turn the computer on one day and nothing would happen. It had worked not long before and I hadn't changed any hardware for a good while.

I immediately thought the power supply had gone so I opened it up, but the light on the motherboard was still on. I then thought maybe the power button had gone. The weird thing is, if I remove the power supply connection to the motherboard and then put it back in, pressing the power button gives the computer power for about 1/4 second. It then does nothing on pressing it again, until I repeat the same procedure, removing the power supply connection to the motherboard and putting it back in. Some motherboard capacitor issue?

More worrying is that I gave 2 hard disks to a friend who says that they are both dead. Has my power supply destroyed my computer!? I've tried using another one and it worked for a while but then the same problem returned. I then returned to the original power supply and that then worked for a while but then the problem returned. Weird...

I don't know if there's a lot that can be done apart from just trying a new motherboard. My intention was to sell this computer so I don't want to throw too much money at the problem until I have a good idea of what is wrong. I've only had the power supply for a year or two. I built the rest of the computer about 2 and a half years ago. Any ideas? It's odd that the motherboard light comes on; are there any parts that I could probe with a voltmeter?

Thanks