CPU or Motherboard Failure?

V

Veyron786

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 25, 2009
Messages
138
Reaction score
4
Location
Port Elizabeth
Hi,

After a good few years looks my PC's finally given in, after a sudden flash of the screen and a restart.
After power on nothing displays onscreen monitor flashes but does not display "no signal". All fans are running and all power phases are active on CPU according to phase led's.

I changed out the VGA card for a known working unit but no luck, tried reseatting the ram and also tested all the voltages on the PSU.

The only thing left is the CPU or M/B, but how do I know which one failed?

Pc specs are as follows:

Core i5 750 (overclocked with X.M.P profile)
MSI P55-GD65 Motherboard
Corsair dominator DDR3 1600 RAM
OCZ 700W PSU
G skill SSD
 
Last edited:
First thing that normally goes first is the PSU. It's almost unheard of (5+- cases a year), of a CPU dying. So I would guess in your case that it's the most likely the PSU, then maybe the motherboard.

A little trick I like to do is take out the ram and make sure the motherboard has a speaker on it looks like this:

Image removed


Then switch the Pc on, if it doesn't beep, it's usually a good sign that the motherboard is gone.


Another thing you can try is take out the motherboard and look at all the capacitors and see if you can find any bulging ones, dead give away, looks like this:

Image removed


I do see however that your motherboard has solid capacitors, so I'm not particularly sure if it's even possible for those to bulge.

If the motherboard is not older than 3 years, you should be able to take it back on warranty if you can't find anything wrong with it, then they will test it for you and let you know if anything is wrong with it.


Otherwise the most obvious thing you could try is put your CPU in someone else's motherboard to test it, but like I said, a CPU dying is almost unheard of.
 
Last edited:
Try another PSU first. It might give you correct voltages but does not mean it delivers sufficient current.
 
Thanks I'll try PSU in another case actually this evening to rule it out for good, I like the RAM test will try that.
 
Hi Veyron,
Try NomNom's suggestion first in removing the RAM.
Then do the PSU In trying another PSU make sure that it is the same output at least as the existing one.
After that it is likely to be the motherboard and then the processor.

Good Luck TIm

Follow TIm on TechXperTim
 
Tried removing the RAM, no beeps at all. Just all fans running at full speed and all CPU phase LEDs on. PSU checks out ok.
Looks like my mobo is fried.
 
Veyron786 said:
Tried removing the RAM, no beeps at all. Just all fans running at full speed and all CPU phase LEDs on. PSU checks out ok.
Looks like my mobo is fried.
Click to expand...

Sorry to hear that. Wouldn't have mattered which one goes anyhow, you have to replace both in any case. Some shops still stock LGA1156 boards, but they're very hard to get hold of. Otherwise, you can look for a second hand one.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X