When you plug it in, the green LED on the PSU flickers as well as the front LED's around the power button.
It does not turn on at all. I immediately figured it was bad capacitors on the motherboard (as many HP's have this problem). Visually, there are no bulging or leaking capacitors. I've tested all the components one by one and have basically confirmed something is wrong on the motherboard (I've already tried a new PSU and RAM).
Here's the important part (and my question):
When I have the PC plugged in and it's getting power, the LED flickers. While still receiving power, I disconnect the connector from the motherboard, then re-connect it. BOOM... just like that the PC works great. I can turn it on, shut it down & repeat this process continuously. The PC works just as it should for as long as I want.
It stays like this UNTIL I disconnect the power cord from the outlet and the residual juice drains from the PC.
I plug it back into the outlet and we're back to square one.
Can anyone explain to me why the PC won't work UNTIL I manually disconnect and re-connect the PSU to the motherboard while it's still plugged in to an outlet? Is it one particular wire on the PSU that's causing the problem (3.3v, +5v, +12v)?. If it's ONE particular wire giving me problems, can I cut the wire, then add a SPST or momentary push button and mount it on the rear of the PC to simulate disconnecting/reconnecting the power to the motherboard?
I'd like to go as low budget on this repair as possible. Any suggestions?
I realize if this is indeed a capacitor problem, this may just be a temporary fix.
