Is it just my Processor??

spartacus93

Hi everyone, ill try and keep it short.

Basically I have a computer, used as a Media Centre living under my TV. It was on, probably for a day and night. The next day when I went to turn it on, it wouldnt budge. It powered on, fans started. Hard drives spun (i think!) but nothing appeared on screen.

I have an MSI mobo, that came with a little diagnostic card that test components during POST. 4 red lights came on, according to the manual this means "processor is damaged or not installed properly". So i popped open the case, pressed the power button, same noises etc. but the fan on the processor was not spinning. I replaced it with a working one, that now spins when I power on, however the system will still not boot up.

My question is. First of all, has anyone had a similar experience? Is it likely that the fan stopped working and the heat damaged the processor. If this did happen what are the chance that it also damaged the mobo etc.? I dont have any spare parts around, and dont know anyone still using Socket A gear so I cant test, im just trying to get a better grasp of the problem before I commit to buying another processor.

Thanks very much

SouperComputer

oh dear, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but if the CPU fan failed, then either the CPU, Mobo or both are toast

SCT A's dont have thermal throttling, some mobos did, but the chips still died.

spartacus93

SouperComputer wrote:

oh dear, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but if the CPU fan failed, then either the CPU, Mobo or both are toast

SCT A's dont have thermal throttling, some mobos did, but the chips still died.

Hmmm, I suppose there's no real way of me telling what or which got damaged.

I can stretch to a new processor, but if the mobo was gone I wouldnt see the point in going socket A, so id have to get all new gear. That (probably) means new graphics card (current one's AGP), RAM, mobo and processor. Cant afford that at all, im only a poor student.

Thanks Souper, i've always found you helpful

conzy

Well you can just buy a s754 board and a sempron 3100 for ~€160

And it would be compatable with all your current parts and would perform better;)

SeanW

Go for a Socket 939 mobo, as some of these are AGP boards.

You don't have to replace your graphics card.

SouperComputer

maybe someone can lend you a SCT A CPU? I havent used SCT A in a while, good and all as it is, ive been falling over S478 stuff in recent times so im using it!

Strip it down and look for signs of burning. If the board looks and smells okay theres a good chance that only the chip died.

8T8

spartacus93 your problem sounds similar to something that happened to me, I'd check your PSU just in case that is the culprit as I had a HTPC die on me and at first I though it was the CPU or motherboard but it was actually the PSU that had given up.

spartacus93

8T8, I will indeed check that. Although i'm not very hopeful to be honest!

I was just playing around with it again this morning. Turned it on, and again the CPU fan didnt spin. Other fans and hard drives and stuff did. Would this suggest a dodgy motherboard. Its a different fan.

conzy

I have an Athlon 1600 if you want it;)

Donated by TonyM:D

Its probably a bit slow for your needs, but at least you will know its working......

PM me your address if you want it

andy1249

Ok the way I see it here is that you definitely have a bad motherboard or a bad processor , or both.

The catch is , if its the motherboard , it may have a fault that will kill any processor that goes into it , and if its the processor then likewise it may have a fault that will kill any motherboard it goes into !

Being the unfortunate victim of the kind of problem above , I would strongly suggest going to komplett.ie ( or your supplier of choice ) and buy an upgrade pack , ( processor and motherboard ).

If you have spare parts or a spare computer of your own , then by all means go faultfinding , but dont make the same mistake I did and try your possibly dodgy components on a friends PC , or you may well end up shelling out for 2 expensive repair jobs !!

spartacus93

Thanks again lads,

decided to bite the bullet and bought some socket 939 gear. Managed to keep the same RAM and graphics card. Everything's working okay, so this system should do me a good few years.

Thanks again