CPU fried?

[benzylic]

So my grandma's computer displayed a message stating thermal event and was shutting down. Then the computer refused to boot up. She called Dell and somehow they determined that it was a heatsink and fan causing all this trouble. Dell sent out a tech guy to install it. But the computer still refused to boot. So the tech guy decided it was the motherboard. They sent out a motherboard and my grandma asked me to install it. I did and the computer still refused to boot. When I say refuses to boot I mean the computer powers on, all devices are receiving power motherboard lights are on, but I see nothing on the monitor not even a BIOS screen. The HDD activity light does not get lit up though.

I started troubleshooting. Tried each stick of ram by itself in each slot, still nothing. Tried booting without cd drive, floppy, hard drive, and without the single PCI card. I still got nothing. I'm convinced that the CPU is fried, which is what I would have determined to begin with. Given the error message it originally displayed.

So before I tell her she needs a processor, do you guys think I am right in my assumption, the the processor is toast? She already bought a new computer (Dell said it would take them a month to get the motherboard out to her, because they "had to get permission," it took a week). But she would like to get it fixed and give it to one of us grandkids or use as a backup.

Thanks in advance

 

[GFORCE100]

Originally posted by: mxrider
So my grandma's computer displayed a message stating thermal event and was shutting down. Then the computer refused to boot up. She called Dell and somehow they determined that it was a heatsink and fan causing all this trouble. Dell sent out a tech guy to install it. But the computer still refused to boot. So the tech guy decided it was the motherboard. They sent out a motherboard and my grandma asked me to install it. I did and the computer still refused to boot. When I say refuses to boot I mean the computer powers on, all devices are receiving power motherboard lights are on, but I see nothing on the monitor not even a BIOS screen. The HDD activity light does not get lit up though.

I started troubleshooting. Tried each stick of ram by itself in each slot, still nothing. Tried booting without cd drive, floppy, hard drive, and without the single PCI card. I still got nothing. I'm convinced that the CPU is fried, which is what I would have determined to begin with. Given the error message it originally displayed.

So before I tell her she needs a processor, do you guys think I am right in my assumption, the the processor is toast? She already bought a new computer (Dell said it would take them a month to get the motherboard out to her, because they "had to get permission," it took a week). But she would like to get it fixed and give it to one of us grandkids or use as a backup.

Thanks in advance

Well why isn't the graphics card being taken under consideration? Does the machine actually POST and you can hear the HDD loading the OS?

 

[CDC Mail Guy]

Originally posted by: GFORCE100Well why isn't the graphics card being taken under consideration? Does the machine actually POST and you can hear the HDD loading the OS?

Probably integrated graphics though?

 

[GFORCE100]

Originally posted by: CDC Mail Guy

Originally posted by: GFORCE100Well why isn't the graphics card being taken under consideration? Does the machine actually POST and you can hear the HDD loading the OS?

Probably integrated graphics though?

Well he makes no reference to the model of his Dell PC so one must assume all options.

 

[benzylic]

Yeah its integrated graphics. No, it does not POST, nothings gets shown up on the screen either.

 

[JimiP]

Now, I'm not saying this to be harsh or anything but have you tested the monitor on another machine? I can't even remember how many times I've seen this happen to people and they think the PC is messed up when it's just the monitor.

 

[benzylic]

Originally posted by: JimiP
Now, I'm not saying this to be harsh or anything but have you tested the monitor on another machine? I can't even remember how many times I've seen this happen to people and they think the PC is messed up when it's just the monitor.

Yes actually I did, monitor is perfectly fine. When I unhook it the monitor says no signal or signal lost I forgot what it said word for word. But when I hook it back into the graphics it knows it got plugged back in.....

 

[myocardia]

Since the motherboard has already been replaced, the next thing to replace is that proprietary Dell power supply, not the cpu.

 

[soccerballtux]

You plugged in the monitor to that machine right?