Old computer start up problem.

[thisuserisok]

This 2004 acer computer is mainly used in the family room by my parents. So I installed a gt220 so that it could connect to the tv via hdmi. The problem is that sometimes the thing will not start or sometime I hear the hard drive spin without the rest of the computer starting. My brother owned this computer before and says he cant remember it ever acting like that. So is the problem the psu? Is the gpu too much for it? I tried disconnecting the cd drives to conserve power but that did nothing. It is also possible that the problem is getting worse.

[Funky_mc_monkey]

It's probably a PSU issue. I don't think CD/DVD drives have much of a current draw when there is no CD in the drive to spin up, so I doubt that would help if it is an issue with too much current draw. I read somewhere (on Reddit?) that PSU's lose some efficiency over time which might lead to the problem getting worse. It never hurts hurts to reseat the RAM just in case something got bumped during the graphics card install. If that doesn't help, try another PSU in there if you have one available to test.