XP 1700+ dead - but why?

tonysee

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Apr 18, 2000
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Received my Abit NF7-S 2.0, Athlon XP 1700+, and PC2700 RAM from NewEgg the other day, along with a Vantec Aeroflow. The first two or three times I booted (with no peripherals) things looked good, went into the PC health status screen and temps stayed steady below 50 degrees. So I attached my drives, cards, etc. and when I booted again, no display, no BIOS beeps. Took all the peripherals out and tried again, still no display, no beeps. This is with no overclock of any kind.

So I figured either the mobo or CPU is dead. To test my theory, I swapped in my trusty old Duron 800 CPU and I got display, BIOS beep, and it POSTed properly. This leads me to believe my brand new Athlon XP 1700+ is dead. Tried clearing CMOS with the jumper, holding Insert key down... Nothing. Temp was well within limits, I didn't crack the core (used a copper shim to be safe), and in between the time the CPU was working and not, I didn't even touch the thing. I didn't cross any power wires, either. CPU's get burn-in tests before they leave the factory, don't they? Has anyone ever had an Athlon/Duron just fail on them like this?

Guess I'm sending it back to NewEgg. I hope they send me a B core in return... I'd hate to send back a defective B core and get an A core in return.
 

BG4533

Golden Member
Oct 15, 2001
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Sometimes CPUs do just fail, but it is rare. Do you have a quality PSU that can handle the load? I would take the battery out of the board for a while and reset the CMOS and try it again. Another thing you may want to try is to put the Duron in and flash the bios. I have seen corrupted bios cause problems before.

Brian
 

tonysee

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Apr 18, 2000
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Yeah, I will definitely do a BIOS upgrade and try again... But it's not looking good for the home team. Even with corrupt BIOS, I'd expect at least some funny beeps and some video unless the CPU is screwed. The PSU is a brand new 400W, it's definitely got enough juice.

Could BIOS problems really cause it to not work with a 1700XP but work with a Duron 800? Sounds fishy to me...
 

tonysee

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Apr 18, 2000
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Originally posted by: m1ke101
check the bottom for burn marks?
Absolutely no evidence of any burning or overheating. Though that doesn't mean it *didn't* overheat, as it's possible for a CPU to overheat and show now outside-visible damage.

But since temps were never over 50, I don't understand how it happened. Guess I'm sending 'er back to Newegg.