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my friends system is completely dead

C

computerABUSER

Senior member
So my friend hands me over is computer (AMD 2600+) which some fly-by-night people set up for him.

The computer does absolutly nothing, you power it up and nothing, well, the on-board fans energize but that it!

No on-board beeps, no video output, no sound, nothing. So here is what I have done and have got the same end results, El-Nothing 🙂


What are the symptoms of a dead CPU? I am starting to think that it is and I have never seen that before so I'm not sure what to look for ????

Thanks guys.


 
List the full system specs. Did the computer ever work? I would start by trying to boot with the bare minimums. CPU/heatsink and fan, 1 stick of memory, video card. Disconnect all other PCI cards, hard drive, cd/dvd drive, etc. If you still get the same results, take the motherboard out of the case, place it on a non-conductive surface, and again try to boot with the bare minimums. You can use a screwdriver to short together the 2 pins where the power button connects to if it doesn't reach outside of the case.
 
Check the PSU first to see if it works. I am not sure how to do this, maybe someone else can help with that.

Perform the minimal hardware component configuration test:
1) remove or disconnect all hardware components except for the PSU, CPU, RAM, and video card,
2) start the system and run memtest for 2 passes minimum and preferably longer than 12 hours,
3) connect the system hard drive and run diagnostic tests on the hard drive,
4) start windows and see if error occurs,
5) shutdown the system and add one hardware component,
6) start windows and see if error occurs.

Read through this link for useful resources.
Hard Drive, Partition, Data Recovery and Diagnostic Resources

Specifically for links to memtest and hard drive diagnostic utilities.
 
Oops, I'm sorry guys I guess I'm kinda stressed out over this as I didn't complete my original post. The system worked well for a few weeks and the he goes to stsrt it up one night and he got absolutely nothing. SO I'm guessing the PS was good for the system as it worked for sometime.

Here is what I have done:
1) changed out PS with my good spare
2) swapped the two memory modules out and the reinserted one by one (I don't have a spare so I thought what are the odds of both going out)
3) just put in a new mobo and got the same results

As I write this it only seems that it would be the CPU but WOW! how could it go out just like that??

 
If you want to check for something that sometimes crops up sometimes... did he have the heatsink installed teh backwards (third & fourth photos) or without fresh, high-quality thermal-interface material of some type? Backwards installation of a stock AMD heatsink might work for a while since the thermal-interface material could partially melt to fit the gap between the CPU and heatsink.

So now you have new mobo and known-working PSU. Full specs?
 
If you want to check for something that sometimes crops up sometimes... did he have the heatsink installed teh backwards (third & fourth photos) or without fresh, high-quality thermal-interface material of some type? Backwards installation of a stock AMD heatsink might work for a while since the thermal-interface material could partially melt to fit the gap between the CPU and heatsink.

Well, I don't think its on backwards as this one doesn't really have a front or rear at least as what I can tell. Its one of those run-of-the-mill generic HSFs,

So now you have new mobo and known-working PSU. Full specs?

new mobo: MSI KT6V with the original case's PS: 430W (generic PS)

 
SocketA is not symmetrical, the CPU core is off to one side. Thus, the heatsink's clip and the heatsink itself are not symmetrical either. The clip's got a short leg and a long leg, and its pressure point must be over the CPU core. The heatsink has to have a cutout to clear the raised solid-plastic end of the CPU socket too. Check the heatsink orientation.

When I say full specs, ideally I mean something like what you see below. The mobo and PSU is a start, now what about the CPU, core revision and other parts?
  • CORE HARDWARE
    • Power supply Antec TruePower 430
    • Motherboard Asus K8N-E Deluxe
      • Revision 1.03
      • BIOS 1005
    • CPU Athlon64 3000+
      • Core 130nm Clawhammer
    • Memory (2) 512MB Corsair XMS 3200C2 modules
      • Voltage Manually set to 2.7 volts
      • Timings AUTO, results in 2-3-2-6 @ 200MHz
  • CARDS
    • Primary video card ATI Radeon 9800Pro AGP 8x
    • PCI slot #1 (top) empty
    • PCI slot #2 empty
    • PCI slot #3 LeadTek Winfast TV/FM tuner card
    • PCI slot #4 Creative Audigy 2 ZS
    • PCI slot #5 LSI Logic Ultra160 SCSI
    • PCI slot #6 N/A (this board only has five PCI slots)
  • DRIVES
    • Boot drive 160GB Seagate 7200.7
      • Interface Serial ATA
      • Controller hosting this drive nForce3 SATA controller
      • Jumper setting not applicable (SATA)
    • Additional hard drive 40GB Seagate 7200.7
      • Interface Parallel ATA
      • Controller hosting this drive nForce3 standard ATA controller, primary channel
      • Jumper setting Master
    • Additional hard drive 18GB Seagate Cheetah 15k.3
      • Interface SCSI
      • Controller hosting this drive LSI Logic U160 card
      • Jumper setting SCSI ID 01
    • Optical drive #1 NEC 3500A DVD burner
      • Interface Parallel ATA
      • Controller hosting this drive nForce3 standard ATA controller, secondary channel
      • Jumper setting Master
    • Optical drive #2 Lite-On combo DVD-ROM/CD-RW
      • Interface Parallel ATA
      • Controller hosting this drive nForce3 standard ATA controller, secondary channel
      • Jumper setting Slave
  • OS AND SECURITY
    • Operating System WindowsXP Professional
    • Service Pack SP2
    • Internet connection Cable
    • Hardware firewall Netgear RP614 router
    • Software firewall WindowsXP firewall
    • Antivirus Norton Antivirus 2004
 
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