Did my CPU just die out of nowhere? How can I tell if it's burned?

[Quiksilver]

Is your PSU making any kind of strange noises? If you look into it carefully do any of the capacitors look like they are bulging or anything? I honestly, have not heard of a corsair PSU killing two boards, because to me it just sounds like a bad motherboard, especially if the capacitors are bursting around the CPU socket; which reminds me wasn't their an AT review done where they were talking about not having enought mosfets or something to handle the cpu correctly and it would cause something like this?

I personally don't think your PSU is the cause of this failure; I mean if it was a whole lot more would be damaged, this just sounds like your mobo just went up.

Also, if your capacitors blew up, that just tells me you didn't go over that motherboard with a fine comb because you would have seen the capacitors bulging about ready to pop. Look more carefully next time.

 

[lektrix]

Originally posted by: Quiksilver
Is your PSU making any kind of strange noises? If you look into it carefully do any of the capacitors look like they are bulging or anything? I honestly, have not heard of a corsair PSU killing two boards, because to me it just sounds like a bad motherboard, especially if the capacitors are bursting around the CPU socket; which reminds me wasn't their an AT review done where they were talking about not having enought mosfets or something to handle the cpu correctly and it would cause something like this?


I don't think so. It sounds fine when I run fans on it. I've tried looking inside it but it's hard without unscrewing the cover off and voiding warranty.

I personally don't think your PSU is the cause of this failure; I mean if it was a whole lot more would be damaged, this just sounds like your mobo just went up.

I don't either, but everyone seems to be fixated on the fact that because two boards died, it must be the PSU contributing to the whole disaster. Once I find my receipt, I will know for sure if I had the Corsair when my first motherboard died.

Also, if your capacitors blew up, that just tells me you didn't go over that motherboard with a fine comb because you would have seen the capacitors bulging about ready to pop. Look more carefully next time.

It didn't really "blow up". I just heard a loud POP and tons of smoke coming from the right middle cap. Before the incident, I had touched everything around the CPU socket to make sure nothing is loose. Nothing was "bulging". Everything was upright, stable, and secure. Then as soon as I powered it on it went POP. I'm looking at it right now and I still don't see anything wrong with it. Strange huh?

 

[ch33zw1z]

Originally posted by: VirtualLarry
I have been told that attempting to power-on a motherboard without a CPU inserted can, in some cases, damage the mobo.

This is not true with a good functional system. Pulling the CPU out will only cause the mobo to send out the POST error, or in other words the mobo is saying "hey, wtf, I'm missing a critical component if order to function"

 

[Martimus]

Originally posted by: lektrix

Originally posted by: Quiksilver
Is your PSU making any kind of strange noises? If you look into it carefully do any of the capacitors look like they are bulging or anything? I honestly, have not heard of a corsair PSU killing two boards, because to me it just sounds like a bad motherboard, especially if the capacitors are bursting around the CPU socket; which reminds me wasn't their an AT review done where they were talking about not having enought mosfets or something to handle the cpu correctly and it would cause something like this?


I don't think so. It sounds fine when I run fans on it. I've tried looking inside it but it's hard without unscrewing the cover off and voiding warranty.

I personally don't think your PSU is the cause of this failure; I mean if it was a whole lot more would be damaged, this just sounds like your mobo just went up.

I don't either, but everyone seems to be fixated on the fact that because two boards died, it must be the PSU contributing to the whole disaster. Once I find my receipt, I will know for sure if I had the Corsair when my first motherboard died.

Also, if your capacitors blew up, that just tells me you didn't go over that motherboard with a fine comb because you would have seen the capacitors bulging about ready to pop. Look more carefully next time.

It didn't really "blow up". I just heard a loud POP and tons of smoke coming from the right middle cap. Before the incident, I had touched everything around the CPU socket to make sure nothing is loose. Nothing was "bulging". Everything was upright, stable, and secure. Then as soon as I powered it on it went POP. I'm looking at it right now and I still don't see anything wrong with it. Strange huh?

Input Power can cause a whole slew of things to fail, but does not mean that everything will automatically fail. Some components have better input filters than others, and to be honest, "luck" is really a big part of whether that power surge was enough to kill the component or not. Trust me, I have tested thousands of the "same" parts under extreme current, and each died at its own time (they were by no means consistant with their respective "deaths"). So just because only a few things died, does not tell you that your input power is clean enough for the system you have.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: ch33zw1z

Originally posted by: VirtualLarry
I have been told that attempting to power-on a motherboard without a CPU inserted can, in some cases, damage the mobo.

This is not true with a good functional system. Pulling the CPU out will only cause the mobo to send out the POST error, or in other words the mobo is saying "hey, wtf, I'm missing a critical component if order to function"

Motherboards require CPUs installed in order to give off POST beeps.

 

[ch33zw1z]

Originally posted by: VirtualLarry

Originally posted by: ch33zw1z

Originally posted by: VirtualLarry
I have been told that attempting to power-on a motherboard without a CPU inserted can, in some cases, damage the mobo.

This is not true with a good functional system. Pulling the CPU out will only cause the mobo to send out the POST error, or in other words the mobo is saying "hey, wtf, I'm missing a critical component if order to function"

Motherboards require CPUs installed in order to give off POST beeps.

Yea? I challenge you to prove that statement

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: VirtualLarry

Originally posted by: ch33zw1z

Originally posted by: VirtualLarry
I have been told that attempting to power-on a motherboard without a CPU inserted can, in some cases, damage the mobo.

This is not true with a good functional system. Pulling the CPU out will only cause the mobo to send out the POST error, or in other words the mobo is saying "hey, wtf, I'm missing a critical component if order to function"

Motherboards require CPUs installed in order to give off POST beeps.

not always 100% true larry.

Some boards will post BEEP a error code if CPU is bad, as well as the RAM and Video.

The boards will BEEP if its not happy. They were designed that way.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: aigomorla

Originally posted by: VirtualLarry

Originally posted by: ch33zw1z

Originally posted by: VirtualLarry
I have been told that attempting to power-on a motherboard without a CPU inserted can, in some cases, damage the mobo.

This is not true with a good functional system. Pulling the CPU out will only cause the mobo to send out the POST error, or in other words the mobo is saying "hey, wtf, I'm missing a critical component if order to function"

Motherboards require CPUs installed in order to give off POST beeps.

not always 100% true larry.

Some boards will post BEEP a error code if CPU is bad, as well as the RAM and Video.

The boards will BEEP if its not happy. They were designed that way.

Normally, those beep codes for the RAM and video are given off by the BIOS. The CPU is required to run that BIOS code. So without a CPU, no beeps.

Perhaps there are boards with microcontrollers (uGuru?), that will also signal a BEEP code without or with a bad CPU, but I've never run across one.

Edit: Technically I am right, because beeps given off at that level would be pre-POST, so therefore they are not a POST beep code. POST is BIOS code, and BIOS code requires a CPU to execute it.

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: VirtualLarry

Edit: Technically I am right, because beeps given off at that level would be pre-POST, so therefore they are not a POST beep code. POST is BIOS code, and BIOS code requires a CPU to execute it.

mmm... yes you are.

But it still beeps without the cpu. So what would you call it then?

 

[BlueAcolyte]

I thought the DS3L used solid capacitors? Aww man, I still love my board. Sorry for your loss. Check the PSU again... You can use the paper clip trick to power it up without a motherboard.

 

[Rubycon]

Originally posted by: VirtualLarry


Motherboards require CPUs installed in order to give off POST beeps.

Yes the standard 945 cps sinus tone classic in the Morse days for those inclined to know.

All others are shrill, short lived piezolescent screams of horror when something is one hundred eighty five degrees eccentric. :laugh:

 

[lektrix]

Ok, so I brought my PSU, CPU, RAM, VIDEO, and HDDs to my friend's house and plugged it into his DS3L. A bit risky on my part for testing the PSU on his board but he didn't care. We ran everything all stock and played Mass Effect for 15 minutes without a hitch. Played some TF2 as well and no problems. We didn't Orthos or OC because of time but everything seems to run smoothly. Looks like it's only my motherboard that's dead thankfully .

 

[lektrix]

Looks like I'm going to buy my third DS3L.

just got the new EP-DS3L used from someone for a very good price

 

[lektrix]

I brought it into the store today to RMA and under closer inspection they found a mosfet near the CPU socket with burn marks....it might not be the capacitor after all....they said Gigabyte may or may not replace it because of the burn marks but they'd do everything they can to get me a RMA...