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?

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?

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

"ck26" wrote in message
...
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?

Just a test to see if the mobo is working properly or if the CPU is stuffed.
If it had beeped with no CPU I'd say that pointed to the CPU being the
problem. As it didn't then it didn't really tell us anything one way or the
other.

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

Nothing obviously wrong there.
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"ck26" wrote in message
...
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?

No CPU = No beeps...

HOW can the BIOS run to make the beeps if there is no CPU to run the BIOS
code?

No video? Its BIOS is supposed to load so you can see the motherboard's
BIOS version, the result of a memory check, hardware info like CPU
speed, what drives were detected or hard configured in the mobo BIOS,
show the table of hardware devices (I forget what that table is called),
and eventually will beep once to let you know the POST has completed.
If you have no video at all, a defective video card whose BIOS won't
load will kill the POST right away. Yank out the video card and you
should get, I think, 1 long beep and 2 short beeps (for Award BIOS).

Do you have any memory installed?

You sure you have an onboard speaker or the external speaker is
connected to the 2-pin header on the motherboard so you can actually
hear the beeps?

See http://www.pcguide.com/ref/mbsys/bios/boot.htm for the boot
sequence.

Do you see the LEDs flash on the keyboard? That's due to the reset
signal.

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"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.

If you have no video at all, a defective video card whose BIOS won't
load will kill the POST right away. Yank out the video card and you
should get, I think, 1 long beep and 2 short beeps (for Award BIOS).

OK, I'll try that tonight. Thanks.

Do you have any memory installed?

Yes, and I'm sure the two modules are fine - I inspected them both for
scorch marks / smell.

You sure you have an onboard speaker or the external speaker is
connected to the 2-pin header on the motherboard so you can actually
hear the beeps?

Yup..

Do you see the LEDs flash on the keyboard? That's due to the reset
signal.

Hee hee, I have a cordless keyboard and mouse! I could try plugging a
"standard" one in though. Thanks for the tip.