I am having an issue, my computer which has run flawlessly for 2 years suddenly decided not to post. I can hold the power button to shut it down, after I do that and power up again everything is fine, any ideas where to start? I am thinking ram or power supply.

any ideas where to start? I am thinking ram or power supply.

That depends on where in the boot process it fails. It is odd that you are able to boot properly by pushing the button. I would shutdown, unplug from the wall outlet, open the case, touch bare metal to discharge any static and make sure every cable, card, module, is securely fastened and the interior is clean of heat trapping dust. Then using a strong thumbnail or similar non-conductive, not-too-hard prying device, note the polarity and pop out the battery. Take it to your local camera/watch/battery counter and get a new battery - they are a couple bucks/quid/euros. Most counters recycle so that is good.

Do not touch the new battery with bare skin as oils promote corrosion and attract dust. I put a clean sock over my hand. Insert the battery, connect, power up the computer and boot directly into the BIOS Setup Menu. Set date and time, check drives to ensure identified, then Save and Exit to boot normally and see what happens.

If you still have the problem, you are only out a couple bucks, and eliminated something easy - and you (hopefully) have a clean interior.

Do you have reason to suspect your PSU? Bad PSUs usually don't work, or there is no pattern to them failing. Yours seems to work, and there is a pattern to the failure.

You can test your RAM using one of the following programs. Both require you to create and boot to a bootable floppy disk or CD to run the diagnostics. Using the floppy method is generally easier and yet another reason I still include floppy drives in my new PC builds. However, the CD method is just as effective at detecting RAM problems. Allow the diagnostics to run for several passes or even overnight. You should have no reported errors.

Windows Memory Diagnostic - see the easy to follow instructions under Quick Start Information.
or
MemTest86+ (for more advanced users) - an excellent how-to guide is available here.

Thanks so much for the reply, I will give it a go with a new battery, I thought it was odd also that when it doesn't post manually turning it off the powering back up fixes it.

Keep us posted.

Sometimes after a few years of use computers just start to go bad. Mine has gotten to the point that if I shut it down it freezes at the IRQ detection on boot up. It takes several frustrating tries to get it to work so I don't turn it off anymore than necessary. I have a feeling that mine is going bad. They don't last forever & I think that those of the late 90s are designed to last longer than those of today, or is it just that more powerful they are the shorter they last? There are numerous reasons why computers might start acting up but at least your does eventually run.

I think manufacturers in the old days had better quality control.

But there are other factors - motherboards used to have everything plugged into them, now many devices are integrated on the boards. Computers did not generate that much heat, the bane to all electronics, either - often the only fan was in the power supply.

But still, with careful planning, if you are into building your own, you build one, then it just evolves.

But you are right - even electronics, with no moving parts, wear out. If those darn electrons would quit banging into things.

OK here is what is going on, I changed out the battery on the mobo and now it won't post at all, even after powering down manually and restarting (holding power for 4 seconds) I don't get any hard drive lights at all on start up, but I think I hear them spin up. I am beginning to think it's my mobo thats crapped out.I hope I can get this fixed I was going to give it to my dad for a gift. Here are my specs.
Asus A8n sli deluxe
opteron 185 dual core processor
2 evga 7900 GT KO graphics
4 gig Kingston hyper x pc 3200
2 320 gb WD caviar sata drives
Hyper rs 580 watt power supply
Windows XP 32 x86
Any recommendations would be really appreciated...
Thanks in advance

Changing the battery should not have done that - did you go straight into the BIOS menu?

Originally Posted by Digerati

Changing the battery should not have done that - did you go straight into the BIOS menu?

it wouldn't even get to the bios at first. Now I got it to start and reset all the bios settings. It's running now but who knows what will happen when it gets restarted. After resetting bios it did restart ok , but the problem seems to be when it is started from being being powered down.

Did you "Save" and Exit?