A sad computer story.. :(

rpwarwood

rpwarwood

rpwarwood

Associate
Joined
27 Jan 2004
Posts
115
Location
Birmingham
Hi all,

True story..., I come home from a hard days work and my computer won't turn on :eek:.

Background:

Had my computer 11 months, with not a problem since the day I built it.

Spec:

Intel Core2 E6600 with Freezer Pro 7 - Had been running comfortably @3GHz (approx 55degrees fully loaded after a long time, 43 idle)
P5W DH Deluxe
2Gb Geil PC6400
Antec 550W TruPower 2.0
Antec Titan Case


I tried to turn it on with my normal method of clicking a mouse button. (i had power on from USB enabled). That did nothing. I tried the DH remote control power button. Again nothing. Tried the power button on the front of my PC and still nothing.

The USB ports have power while the computer is off, as a feature of the motherboard, and my bluetooth dongle that was plugged in was lit up as always.

Confused, I turned the PSU off and back on again. All the fans started up and stopped after a second or two, as my computer seemed to do on the rare occasions when I turned off the PSU and then turned it back on. Tried the power button once more and again no luck.

Since then I have unplugged everything inside the case and plugged it back in, but the loose connection theory failed. Now, when I unplug the PSU and plug it back in, the fans don't start up as they used to when power was first applied to the mobo.

The power supply still emits power, because the motherboard LED light is green and the USB ports still have power.

Which leads me to conclude the CPU has died... The first time i completely powered it off and back on after the incident, was the first time i'd disconnected the power completely since it was last working. This may explain why the fans started and stopped as they did the first time round and never since.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I can try before jumping to the above conclusion and phoning Intel support? (to no doubt be told that the limited warranty doesn't cover a processor that uses an Artic Cooling Freezer Pro 7)

I have no access to a similar computer to test the individual component parts, but was wondering if anyone has had anything similar happen to a similar setup? And if anyone knows how useful Intel's support is? (i.e. will they test the processor if i send it to them?)

Thanks in advance!
 
I had a similar problem and it was the motherboard that failed, sorry i cant be much more help as im dont know that much about diagnostics but just becuase the light comes on on the motherbord doesnt mean that it hasnt failed :)

in experiance it seems that it is rare for processors to die and much more likly to be motherboard issues.
 
Intel won't cover that cpu if it was overclocked. Also the cooler would've voided the warranty. My belive is the motherboard, as the board should still power up. Re set the bios, disconnect everything except the power and cpu and memory and try turning it on. Also jumper the psu (short wires green and black) to see if it powers up.
 
Your warrenty is void if you dont use their heatsink? well thats crap tbh. But still, how do they know? id switch them over.

I gues they can tell if you overclocked by looking at your bios... but.. you only send the cpu off?
 
If you think it's the cpu that has died take it out and try to boot without the cpu in place. It should boot until it beeps Where's my cpu???

I had a non booting pc and it booted until it got to bios when I took out the duff cpu. Turned out motherboard was dead as well. If you can see if you can get the psu checked, I had one that lit up the motherboard and on the switch but when I checked it with my psu tester it was mostly red to idicate duff psu.
 
Ice On Fire said:
Intel won't cover that cpu if it was overclocked. Also the cooler would've voided the warranty. My belive is the motherboard, as the board should still power up. Re set the bios, disconnect everything except the power and cpu and memory and try turning it on. Also jumper the psu (short wires green and black) to see if it powers up.
Click to expand...
how would intel know? unless they secretly have it record the mhz it goes to.

might just be a bust motherboard, or something random...
 
mattyrigby00 said:
how would intel know? unless they secretly have it record the mhz it goes to.

might just be a bust motherboard, or something random...
Click to expand...


I'm not 100% sure how they would now, however I was just stating their warranty terms & cons ect. ;)
 
Might be wrong, but if any component connected/inserted to mobo fails won't it beep or display some error code? & fan spin-up then off makes me suspect mobo.

I'd try a CMOS reset :)

Do purple shirt place check self-bulit PCs?
 
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I do remember an article on Intel CPU's and dont quote me on this but it stated that there is a tiny silicon chip inside that once the cpu dies, it has the last recorded speed on it. A bit like a tacograph I suppose.

This was quite a while ago I remember this and like I say, dont quote me on it.
 
Wiggins said:
I do remember an article on Intel CPU's and dont quote me on this but it stated that there is a tiny silicon chip inside that once the cpu dies, it has the last recorded speed on it. A bit like a tacograph I suppose.

This was quite a while ago I remember this and like I say, dont quote me on it.
Click to expand...


For intrest sake, I'm going to look into this. :)

Thanks.
 
I dunno....Overclocking eh :rolleyes:

By the way, have you got a speaker on the motherboard or in the chassis. I presume this wasent emitting any error codes when the fans where spinning?
 
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Wiggins said:
I do remember an article on Intel CPU's and dont quote me on this but it stated that there is a tiny silicon chip inside that once the cpu dies, it has the last recorded speed on it. A bit like a tacograph I suppose.

This was quite a while ago I remember this and like I say, dont quote me on it.
Click to expand...
not saying its impossible or not true, but if it was people who are sponsored by intel or even more, intel staff who wrote the article they might be bluffing so if peoples overclocked cpu breaks, they just buy a new one. might do abit of googling and try to find out more though :)
 
Thanks for all the replies.

I didn't hear any beeps on the one occasion that all the fans started up. But I wasn't turning my computer on when that happened, i'd just turned on the PSU, so wouldn't expect any beeps.

When i press the power button on the front absolutely nothing happens, and nothing has happened after pressing the button since the last time i turned it off....

I'll experiment with your suggestions and let you know what i discover. No doubt i'll be back with more questions :). Thanks again!
 
Hi again,

Tried a few of the suggestions. Clearing the CMOS did not help.

I've checked that the power button on the case is actually doing what its supposed to.

I've placed a voltmeter on athe PSU outputs. The main plug reads 5.11v (fine). The 12V doesn't give a reading, but i'm not sure how you get the power supply to run within being plugged into a working mobo? Can anyone tell me what i need to short to get an output from the 12v plug.

I tried booting without the processor plugged in and got nothing still.

Its looking like the motherboard but not sure how i can test that as i don't have access to a spare socket 775 motherboard. Any more ideas would be great! Thanks
 
I've placed a voltmeter on athe PSU outputs. The main plug reads 5.11v (fine). The 12V doesn't give a reading, but i'm not sure how you get the power supply to run within being plugged into a working mobo? Can anyone tell me what i need to short to get an output from the 12v plug.
Click to expand...

You need to jump start the PSU..
See here.
I never cover my ATX plug in tape like he has, but take care.

Just get the below right..

9.jpg
 
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Ok, thanks for the link. Power supply is definitely ok.

I've taken a couple of photos of my cpu and heatsink. I put on the freezer pro 7 straight out of the box, but there appeared to be rather a lot of paste on it. Having taken it off i can see that there was loads of it inbetween. Can someone have a look at these pics and say whether they think there was an overly large amount of thermal paste?

http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/7379/rimg0117qj0.jpg
http://img106.imageshack.us/img106/4296/rimg0083vp8.jpg
 
looks ok

rpwarwood said:
Ok, thanks for the link. Power supply is definitely ok.

I've taken a couple of photos of my cpu and heatsink. I put on the freezer pro 7 straight out of the box, but there appeared to be rather a lot of paste on it. Having taken it off i can see that there was loads of it inbetween. Can someone have a look at these pics and say whether they think there was an overly large amount of thermal paste?

http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/7379/rimg0117qj0.jpg
http://img106.imageshack.us/img106/4296/rimg0083vp8.jpg
Click to expand...

Furst URL won't load for me. 2nd pic shows about the correct amount I think. Make sure you remove and clean that before putting it back on again.

I don't think your CPU has died, I think it's the board too. The only way to tell of course, is to get it into a new board, or a new CPU into the existing board.
 
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