Hello,

Lately I have been having some problems turning my computer on. Sometimes it comes only halfway up and I have to shut it off (with the power button) and start over. By this I mean that my taskbar will come up but none of my desktop icons and if I hover down there it is just spooling (or whatever you call it). I cannot click on anything like the start button etc.

It seems if I don't hold the power button down long enough, the computer doesn't come all the way up but if I hold it down just a little longer, it shuts off before even starting to come on. Hope I'm making sense. I'm having trouble finding just the right length of time for it to catch and I never had to pay attention to it before.

What do you think is breaking down?

Thank you.

I don't understand why the power button would have an effect. If it was just that the computer didn't fully boot and the icons never came up, I'd suspect a bad driver or a hard drive problem. But you say if you hold the button down a little longer, the computer boots normally.

I've had computers not fully boot when their power supplies were starting to fail, but they never got as far as the desktop. In those cases, letting the computer fail the first attempt, sit there stuck but still running for 10 or 15 minutes , then rebooting would often result in a successful boot. Of course the real solution was to replace the power supply.

Do you have any peripherals connected by USB that might be trying to power up after you get to the desktop?

Sounds like the hard drive isn't loading the entire program which could be some component or the hard drive itself.Here is what I would try:
1).Turn off the computer and open the side panel.Pull out and re-seat all the memory cards and any Pci cards.
2).Turn computer back on and boot into Safe mode.In safe mode run malwarebytes.If there is some virus this should catch it.
3).Try booting normal and see if there is an improvement.

As a quick stab at the problem, I'd say a failing power supply. It might not be providing enough power to let the computer finish booting up.

If you look in the event logs you should see the culprit. Expand the Windows section and review both the Application and System events for errors.

How to view and manage event logs in Event Viewer in Windows XP

Open Event Viewer Windows 7

Well, my thought is the power supply also. When I first set up this computer I had to have the power supply replaced (straight out of the box the computer didn't work) and Dell replaced it with a refurbished power supply. That was 2-1/2 years ago.

Inland, I looked at those logs but didn't see anything I could understand.

Jenny, it just seems like it is having something to do with the power button and how long I hold it down. It may not really have anything to do with that.

Geo, I'll probably end up buying a new computer before attempting to open it up and move anything around.

My step-son had a Dell and after the power supply croaked the 4th time in 3 years, they gave up. This was a top of the line Dell gaming computer at that time. For Christmas that year they had me assemble components for my grandson and me to build a new computer together. It's been almost 3 years and this one is still running like brand new. I don't know if they had a bad run of power supplies for awhile or what, but the aggravation was just not worth it for them.

I wish you lived near me Draclvr. I'd love for you to work on my computers for me.

The Dell Dimensions I had was a pretty good computer but I don't care for this XPS too much.

I had the same dang thing happen with my windows 98 years ago.....It to was a Dell...

The power button would start up sometimes, and other times no good....Finally I never shut the computer off....UNTIL I had a power failure in my home so I needed to use the power button....Then it wouldn't start at all...

I had a tech guy look at it..He told me my mother board was fried....

So I had to trash it...

Funny, oldbroad, that their's was an XPS too.

Consider a Cyberpower for your next computer.You can select your power supply,(along with all componants), and put a 1000 watt PS in there if you want.

This computer is too new to dump, especially just because of a power supply. If it does go out on me I'll have to fix it or have it fixed, however, I have still been thinking about a new computer lately. What for - I don't know. I really don't have any room for another one.

Replacing a power supply shouldn't cost that much. And if you're able to have one installed with higher wattage, the new one will be able to support a faster video card.

I had that happen and it was the power button broke.. it is plastic and the back end split.. when I opened the computer I was able to pull it out.. glue it and it has worked for the last 5 years.

Hopefully if oldbroad does have to replace the power supply, it won't be as much of a nightmare as my step-son had. The power supplies were proprietary to the Dell motherboard! So they couldn't just pop in a new power supply. At least that's what Dell told them.