Serious Startup Snags - Please Help

I had some related issues.
Occasionally (approx. every 7 times) when I press the power button, my computer will go silent, then i head a small buzzing sound in the computer, then a minute later it starts booting up.
*nothing appears on monitor*

Do you guys think it's the PSU?
 
ACES,

It usually freezes before anything appears on the monitor at all. Occasionally though it will get part way into the booting process and then freeze. But usually it's just fans buzzing and absolutely nothing happening. But 20-30 tries is not unusual for me, either. As I said it's gotten progressively worse over these last weeks.

Early in this mess I re-installed windows vista from the disc, hoping that would fix it and it didn't.

I don't know much (read anything) about how computers are assembled so when you say "unplug and reseat everything" I don't really understand. Anyone else think I should just take a whack at disassembling the whole thing and putting it back together? Sounds kind of risky.

Oh and btw I live within about 20 minutes of 2 different Fry's :D
 
Hmm. . .
Does it make any beeps at startup?

Another thing to check is the capacitors on the motherboard. Look for any bulging or leaky ones.

This is what bulging, leaky capacitors look like:
capacitorslh5.jpg
 
Hi. I'm still here with my messed up PC that is a pain in the ass to start.

Nothing has worked so far, including replacing the power supply. And to answer the last question - no, nothing is bulging or leaking on the motherboard.

Here's a new symptom: now when I finally get it started it is only a matter of time before it freezes up completely - usually a day or so - and then I have no choice but to manually shut the power off and start all over again.

My not-too-educated guess now is that the motherboard is going bad and needs to be replaced. Sound like a good guess to you guys?

I've been hoping that isn't it all this time because a) I don't want to waste the money replacing it if it's not the problem and b) I find the prospect of swapping it out a little daunting since that's the one part that's intrinsically tied to everything else and I've never done it before.

But I feel like I've ruled out most everything else by now.
 
One of my HP's had that exact same problem. It wasn't the PSU though. Hp replaced my motherboard and everything was fine.

But I don't trust HP so I would just get the Antec for future security, I would.
 
Ya, I'm just going to try swapping out the motherboard. NO clue how to do it or how to know I'm buying a proper replacement. Any tips on either count?
 
Just did some more research and came across this idea:

Do you think my BIOS is corrupted and needs to be flashed?

I don't know what I just said.
 
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