How to detect a dead CPU?
 

As I've got a pending problem that is being discussed in another thread that
may be related to the above, I wanted to ask more generally in this seperate
thread: how can you tell if a CPU has died?

In general - replace it with another and if your PC works , its dead.

Really?! - there's no guide other than to splash out on a new CPU, hoping
that its not a waste of money? Surely you jest...

You don't mention if it is by itself and you're just looking at it or if
it is inserted into a motherboard. If in your hand, you can't tell
unless, like for an AMD, it got burned up because the heatsink came off
it. If in a motherboard, the BIOS text and/or beep codes should
indicate a bad CPU; see http://www.bioscentral.com.

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"ck26" wrote in message
. ..
As I've got a pending problem that is being discussed in another
thread that
may be related to the above, I wanted to ask more generally in this
seperate
thread: how can you tell if a CPU has died?

ck26 wrote:
In general - replace it with another and if your PC works , its dead.


Really?! - there's no guide other than to splash out on a new CPU, hoping
that its not a waste of money? Surely you jest...


Really! Unless you have a scope so that you can check the address/data
buses and other points on the processor, it is difficult to ascertain if
the processor is even trying to work. As another poster stated, if you
get bios error indications (beeps) you can be assured that at least SOME
of the functions are working.

Ken

"FD" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 9 Oct 2003 15:59:53 +0100, "ck26" wrote:

As I've got a pending problem that is being discussed in another thread
that
may be related to the above, I wanted to ask more generally in this
seperate
thread: how can you tell if a CPU has died?

In general - replace it with another and if your PC works , its dead.

....or put the questionable CPU into another system to test it.

You don't mention if it is by itself and you're just looking at it or if
it is inserted into a motherboard. If in your hand, you can't tell
unless, like for an AMD, it got burned up because the heatsink came off
it. If in a motherboard, the BIOS text and/or beep codes should
indicate a bad CPU; see http://www.bioscentral.com.

OK, its in situ - but I'm not getting any beeps at all. What, if anything
does that mean for the CPU? I guess the bios beeps _after_ the CPU starts
working, so does an absence of bios beeps mean that the CPU is _not_
working - I'm getting no boot / no video.

"ck26" wrote in message
...
You don't mention if it is by itself and you're just looking at it or if
it is inserted into a motherboard. If in your hand, you can't tell
unless, like for an AMD, it got burned up because the heatsink came off
it. If in a motherboard, the BIOS text and/or beep codes should
indicate a bad CPU; see http://www.bioscentral.com.

OK, its in situ - but I'm not getting any beeps at all. What, if anything
does that mean for the CPU? I guess the bios beeps _after_ the CPU starts
working, so does an absence of bios beeps mean that the CPU is _not_
working - I'm getting no boot / no video.

Try taking the CPU out and see if you get error beeps when you attempt to
boot.
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Try taking the CPU out and see if you get error beeps when you attempt to
boot.

The same - no beeps. Is that indicative that the motherboard is faulty? Or
does it narrow it down to anything else?

As I'm so unsure - I've taken some images of the CPU itself as I'm really
not sure what it would look like if it had burned out. What is the general
consensus - are these burn marks or valid glue / discoloration marks?

CPU Top: http://www33.brinkster.com/ck26/cpu/DSC00001a.jpg
CPU Bottom: http://www33.brinkster.com/ck26/cpu/DSC00002a.jpg
Heatsink thing(don't actually know what its called - the thing that sits
directly on the CPU:
http://www33.brinkster.com/ck26/cpu/DSC00003a.jpg

Socket: http://www33.brinkster.com/ck26/cpu/DSC00004a.jpg

On Thu, 9 Oct 2003 22:38:25 +0100, "ck26"
wrote:

Try taking the CPU out and see if you get error beeps when you attempt to
boot.

The same - no beeps. Is that indicative that the motherboard is faulty? Or
does it narrow it down to anything else?

As I'm so unsure - I've taken some images of the CPU itself as I'm really
not sure what it would look like if it had burned out. What is the general
consensus - are these burn marks or valid glue / discoloration marks?

CPU Top: http://www33.brinkster.com/ck26/cpu/DSC00001a.jpg
CPU Bottom: http://www33.brinkster.com/ck26/cpu/DSC00002a.jpg
Heatsink thing(don't actually know what its called - the thing that sits
directly on the CPU:
http://www33.brinkster.com/ck26/cpu/DSC00003a.jpg

Socket: http://www33.brinkster.com/ck26/cpu/DSC00004a.jpg


The CPU may not be working, but that does NOT mean it's dead,
necessarily, or usually. As another poster mentioned it could easily
be the motherboard.

In the previous thread you mentioned a burning smell, right? If it
was the CPU getting THAT hot, it would have noticable, visual hints...
anywhere from significant discoloration to warpage, charring, peeling
of the top, or a dark spot underneith. When a CPU frys quickly
there's not necessarily as much visual damage, but from your account,
the smell, whatever happened didn't happen that quickly. The pictures
didn't show anything remarkable, out of the ordinary.

I still think it's the power supply, or next most-likely the
motherboard. If you examine the components under a strong light,
sometimes it can help to see what was burning.


Dave

Replace it with a different one and see if that fixes the computer. Process
of elimination.

--
DaveW



"ck26" wrote in message
. ..
As I've got a pending problem that is being discussed in another thread
that
may be related to the above, I wanted to ask more generally in this
seperate
thread: how can you tell if a CPU has died?