Author Topic: CPU Dead? (Read 1799 times)

Dead Man Flying · « **on:** November 07, 2003, 10:52:23 AM »

Heya, guys. I just bought an Athlon XP 3000+ (2.1Ghz Barton) last week, and now the system's dead. No POST, no beeps, nothing.

Since a couple of days ago, I began experiencing Windows errors -- corrupted files and the like -- and random lockups. Windows XP finally wouldn't boot yesterday due to all of the errors. No biggy, and a good excuse to grab some new harddrives and reinstall WinXP again. However, the installation process locked up several times, and today even when it was successful, the system locked up tight while doing something innocuous in a barebones new installation of Windows XP On attempted reboot, nothing would load... no POST, no beeps... just the sound of fans spinning up and a monitor without a signal.

I'm inclined to think that this is a defunct CPU, but I'd like the opinion of others before I RMA it back for a replacement. Just about everything in this system is new. My system components are:

A7N8X Deluxe motherboard (1.xx PCB, bought it about 6 months ago; was working flawlessly last week before the upgrade)
Corsair Twin-X XMS3200 matched pair (2x512MB)
Athlon XP 3000+ Barton (2.1Gz, 200Mhz frequency)
ATI Radeon 9700 Pro 128MB
2 Seagate 7200.7 120GB SATA harddrives (Striped RAID)
Plextor PlexWriter 8/4/32A CD-R/W
Sony floppy drive
Antec Sonata case w/ 380W TruPower power supply

Thanks for the input!

-- Todd/Leviathn

bloom25 · « **Reply #1 on:** November 07, 2003, 11:23:36 AM »

Is the ram new too? If so you might want to consider that as a possible culprit as well, but I think the CPU is more likely.

If you got the retail box 3000+ from a local AMD distributor you should be able to RMA through them. I've had to do this twice now (both tbred a 2200+ cpus) for the 100s of CPUs I've used and AMD has FedEx next day aired the replacements to me. (If you used Artic Silver heatsink compound, be sure to remove all visible traces of it.)

zmeg · « **Reply #2 on:** November 07, 2003, 11:28:52 AM »

Most likely you dont have the mobo jumpers(or switches) set to 166Mhz. If your Mobo doesn't support 166Mhz you''ll need to get one that does.

Roscoroo · « **Reply #3 on:** November 07, 2003, 11:47:06 AM »

id suspect that the cpu is defective .. if it was in the ram you should be getting multiable beeps during post.

"Most likely you dont have the mobo jumpers(or switches) set to 166Mhz. If your Mobo doesn't support 166Mhz you''ll need to get one that does." the MB has a 200/266 333/400 fbs jumper setting Lev should be fine were its currently at .(if its the ver 1.0 it may not have the 400 fsb though i think)

Dead Man Flying · « **Reply #4 on:** November 07, 2003, 11:52:01 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by bloom25
Is the ram new too? If so you might want to consider that as a possible culprit as well, but I think the CPU is more likely.

[/b]

The RAM is about two months old. I didn't have any problems with it on the same motherboard with my old (1700+) processor. Also, I tried booting using one stick one at a time without success, so it's probably not the RAM. It's probably not the motherboard because things seem to power up just fine before stalling before the POST.

Quote

If you got the retail box 3000+ from a local AMD distributor you should be able to RMA through them. I've had to do this twice now (both tbred a 2200+ cpus) for the 100s of CPUs I've used and AMD has FedEx next day aired the replacements to me. (If you used Artic Silver heatsink compound, be sure to remove all visible traces of it.)

It's OEM from NewEgg.com; I should be able to RMA for a replacement within 30 days of purchase (which was last Tuesday; it was delivered last Friday). Good advice on the Arctic Silver. In fact, I'm going to make sure that no thermal grease shorted out the CPU, though I made every effort to not overdo it.

-- Todd/Leviathn

Dead Man Flying · « **Reply #5 on:** November 07, 2003, 11:56:06 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by Roscoroo
"Most likely you dont have the mobo jumpers(or switches) set to 166Mhz. If your Mobo doesn't support 166Mhz you''ll need to get one that does." the MB has a 200/266 333/400 fbs jumper setting Lev should be fine were its currently at .(if its the ver 1.0 it may not have the 400 fsb though i think)

The 1.xx PCB doesn't come with native 400FSB support, but I believe later BIOS updates add it. I'd think that using the wrong jumper would immediately impact my system, but I was running 200Mhz frequency and 400FSB no problem for at least five days before things went haywire. Temperature was decent -- no more than 40 to 45 degrees Celsius under load. Then I began seeing blue screen lockups on booting WinXP and random lockups when it would load properly. Finally WinXP claimed system errors that required a complete reinstall, and the rest is history.

-- Todd/Leviathn

Dead Man Flying · « **Reply #6 on:** November 07, 2003, 12:22:52 PM »

I just removed the CPU/heatsink/fan and tried booting without anything in there at all. The result? Exactly the same... fans powering up, harddrives whirring, and a blank screen with no POST. The fact that no CPU yields the same result as a possibly dead one tells me that the chances are pretty good it's the processor that's gone bad on me.

-- Todd/Leviathn

Roscoroo · « **Reply #7 on:** November 07, 2003, 12:26:10 PM »

You did go back to your old cpu correct ?? and it boots fine ??

Dead Man Flying · « **Reply #8 on:** November 07, 2003, 12:33:25 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Roscoroo
You did go back to your old cpu correct ?? and it boots fine ??

Not yet, though that's the next step of course.

-- Todd/Leviathn

Dead Man Flying · « **Reply #9 on:** November 07, 2003, 01:06:35 PM »

Well, that's interesting. Old CPU doesn't work either; no POST, no nothing. Only this time everything powers up for five seconds and then shuts off.

Motherboard?

-- Todd/Leviathn

Skuzzy · « **Reply #10 on:** November 07, 2003, 01:13:40 PM »

Power supply?

214thCavalier · « **Reply #11 on:** November 07, 2003, 01:15:44 PM »

Spooky got exactly the same problem with 2nd computer which daughter uses for web etc.
Tried removing all cards one at a time, changed ram, diff vid card, ran board on desktop out of case, finally gave up and binned it after it was still dead with another cpu i got hold of.
Oh and i also tried a replacement power supply and was still the same.

I quizzed to find out if she downloaded any files etc which she denies but i begin to wonder if something killed the bios.

Roscoroo · « **Reply #12 on:** November 07, 2003, 01:49:58 PM »

Just a few more idea's

Ive had boards ground out funny after changing a cpu . (i ussually get a repeating beep code when this happens and it seams to be in the upper left ussually)

try losening the screws some and wiggle the board or "float it"
(you can slide an antistatic bag under it for this also)

or the power plug needs reset ? try switching power supplys ?

also did you try reseting the cmos/bios ?

Did you slip with the screwdiver and scratch/hit the mb ??

Another question ... was it acting funny befor the cpu switch ???
Os crashing or anything like that ??

Wife Ack ??? ( I burned a cpu once to that while overclocking)

WhiteHawk · « **Reply #13 on:** November 07, 2003, 01:53:28 PM »

wouldnt the bios display a bad cpu screen?

Dead Man Flying · « **Reply #14 on:** November 07, 2003, 02:18:58 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Roscoroo
Ive had boards ground out funny after changing a cpu . (i ussually get a repeating beep code when this happens and it seams to be in the upper left ussually)

[/b]

Possibly, but keep in mind that this has been kind of ongoing degenerative process ever since I put the system together five or six days ago. At fist everything was fine, and then the computer randomly started locking up. Then the blue screens on bootup followed along with corrupt WinXP files. When I swapped out harddrives and reinstalled WinXP (with some difficulty and multiple lockups), the system still ran until this morning when it locked up in XP and then rebooted to nothingness.

I had an old case that used to ground out the motherboard, and it was always an immediate thing. You'd pop the motherboard in and nothing would start. This doesn't strike me as something quite along those lines, though I'm open to anything at this point. Certainly if checking out the power supply fails, I'll wind up trying to boot the thing with the mobo sitting outside the case.

Quote

or the power plug needs reset ? try switching power supplys ?

[/B]

Not sure. I'm gonna take the power supply from the old case and plug it into the motherboard just to see if I can get ANYTHING.

Quote

also did you try reseting the cmos/bios ?

[/B]

Yep, after it failed to POST I reset the CMOS/BIOS. No go.

Quote

Did you slip with the screwdiver and scratch/hit the mb ??

[/B]

Not to my knowledge, and again that seems to me something that would immediately affect performance rather than degenerating over time.

Quote

Another question ... was it acting funny befor the cpu switch ???

[/B]

Nope, it was pretty stable. However, so many things changed along with the CPU switch that make it difficult to track down one change. I replaced the CPU/heatsink/fan and used Arctic Silver 5 thermal compound. Heatsink is a Thermalright SLK-900A with a 92mm Antec fan for CPU cooling. I also changed the case/power supply from an old Inwin with a generic 400W PSU to an Antec Sonata with 380W TruPower PSU. I just threw in a couple of Seagate SATA drives, but these problems were appearing before then, so I don't think they have anything to do with them.

Naturally tons of stuff could have happened along the way, which is why it's so frustrating trying to pin down the culprit.

Quote

Wife Ack ??? ( I burned a cpu once to that while overclocking)

hehe Nope. I overclocked the CPU briefly and it ran no hotter than when normally clocked (probably due to a variable speed CPU fan). I preferred running it at normal clock speed for the time being in order to ensure stability.

-- Todd/Leviathn