Will motherboard POST with faulty/unrecognized CPU?

[thilanliyan]

I have 2 different Athlon XP CPUs that I've tried in 2 different motherboards (DFI AD75, MSI KT3 Ultra2) and nothing seems to work. One CPU is a XP-2700 Thoroughbred, and the other is a Athlon XP-M 2800.

All fans spin up, heatsink gets hot but I get no POST error codes or anything. I've tried taking out the video card and ram and POSTing but still no beeps. At first I thought it was the DFI AD75 since it was sold as-is and figured it was DOA so I got the KT3 Ultra2 (and was told by the seller that it DID POST) but I get the exact same thing with both motherboards...no POST at all. Would the m/b give any POST error codes with no CPU present?

Could it be that the CPUs are too new and not recognized? Wouldn't it still POST if that were the case?

Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks.

 

[o1die]

See if you can find a cpu support section on the manufacturer's website. Some older boards won't support newer cpus. You can also try removing the motherboard battery to clear the cmos. I doubt both cpus are bad. Be careful and don't apply too much thermal paste. I had a turion 64 die on me when some excess paste got into the leads around the core and fried the cpu.

 

[thilanliyan]

For the 2700 the MSI website says it IS supported but for the XP-M there is no mention of it. Would it be very obvious physically if the CPU were fried? I can't see any obvious burn marks or anything.

 

[myocardia]

Start by clearing both CMOS's, then installing new batteries in both boards. The batteries are dirt cheap, and I've seen a bad battery lead to a no-post situation, with a good motherboard. Usually, a dead battery only makes it impossible to unplug without losing BIOS settings, but for some reason, some boards don't like having a dead/almost dead battery.

 

[Mondoman]

Doublecheck that the MB actually has a piezo speaker or that you've connected a real speaker to the speaker header pins; otherwise, you won't hear any post beep code!

 

[thilanliyan]

I tested the motherboard with another older CPU and it works. I also updated the BIOS to the latest one and it is supposed to support the 2700 but I tried it and it doesn't seem to work. I also tried the XP-M 2800 but that doesn't work either. No POST code beeps (yes speaker is definitely connected).

Any ideas? Could both CPUs be dead? I don't see any burn marks or anything obvious.

 

[VulcanX]

Hmm that is certainly very strange, and btw is that HSF made for that particular CPU or is it aftermarket? maybe that heatsink isnt sitting flush, but if its getting hot like you said then i dunno what to tell you, and maybe you have overclocked it too far, so just pull batt out and secondly you should see a clearRTC jumper or summin, try that too, otherwise just the battery out for 10 secs will do

 

[thilanliyan]

Haven't OCed anything unfortunately. Lol I haven't even got any of those 2 CPUs to POST. The heatsink is stock and is making good contact by looking at the thermal paste (AS5).