attilathehun1 said:
I'm fed up. Newegg.com sent me a new CPU chip, more than 30 days, or more
like 50 days, after the purchase. That's a positive thing now that has been
done. So, I have a mobo and a CPU chip that have both been sent back to
newegg.com and now I have replaced both of them. Anotherwords, there
shouldn't be a problem now with the CPU chip and motherboard. I'm thinking
about trashing it. I haven't even taken the CPU chip out of the box yet.
Ok, I'm going to get beyond this bad feeling and give it another shot. You
know, and I know we've been through this process a number of times already.
Alrighty, I'm going to give it another shot.
Ok, I just put the CPU chip in, and I'm thinking about keeping the Zalman
CPNS9700 LED cooler off until I know it's going to start up or fire up. Would
you agree with that procedure? I don't want to install it again, and then
have it not fire up.
Ok, I'm about to install the motherboard, but I'll wait for a response on
the cooler installation.
One more thing, I have the bottom plate and top plate in place already for
the CPU cooler, but I think the plate is in the wrong position. The cut out
should be where the lever arm comes up, when it's in the removable position.
When the lever are is up, not clipped in yet, and that's where the cut out
should be?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks, attilathehun1
Another thing, I think the mobo and CPU were fine, even though I sent them
back to newegg.com and then were cool enough to honor the return even though
I was past due on returning them. The PC Tech at PC Club in Hawthorne said
everything was fine when he placed the mobo tester on the power supply. He
said it was the motherboard, which is what I told my brother and friend that
they always say, when you bring your PC that isn't working into a tech store.
Isn't that easy, sure, I'll replace your mobo and it will start working.
Ok, I think it's the tower that's the problem. Is there a way I can find
out if it's the tower? Like trying to fire it up without the front panel
start-up connector, maybe? How would I check that or how would I go about
finding out it's the tower that is the problem?
Thanks, attilathehun1
You should install a cooler on the CPU, even for a test. If you don't
put cooling on it, the whole computer will switch off in under five
seconds. You cannot do a lot of testing if the CPU overheats in
five seconds...
Regarding the retention frame for the CNPS9700, just fit it so that
the lever can move properly without binding. One orientation of that
piece, should work better than the others.
Part of the fun of a DIY build, is the satisfaction when it works.
The hair pulling part, is when a defective component prevents it
from working. In some cases, you'll need a good supply of spare
parts, in order to figure out what is defective. You also need
good reasoning powers, to run test cases, observe the results,
and reach the right conclusions.
Not all test results, are going to show the exactly busted component.
For example, I might be having a problem with RAM. I get some
BSODs on my screen. I run a memory test program, and sure enough,
it shows errors. But in terms of what affects the memory, it
could be a bad stick of RAM, or it could be a bad motherboard.
At that point, I'd need to do some component substitution
(a spare stick of RAM), to do another test. If the spare
stick works, then I know the original RAM is bad. If the spare
stick doesn't work, and I tested the spare stick before and it
is OK, then I've probably got a bad motherboard on my hands.
That is an example of where some spare parts come in handy.
When you refer to a "bad tower", the tower has only a few electrical
components in it. It has perhaps, a case speaker for beep codes.
It has a power switch, and a reset switch, and a few other bits and
pieces like that. It has the power supply as well. Of those,
the least reliable is the power supply, and depending on the
brand, a power supply bundled with a case can be junk. If you
bought a power supply separately, then you have more control of
what brand and quality level is used.
If I was having as much trouble as you are right now, I'd dig out
my spare (known working) power supply, connect that to the motherboard,
use my screwdriver tip to operate the two power switch pins on the
PANEL header, and attempt to switch the motherboard on. I'd install
the CPU, the heatsink/fan, and connect a computer case speaker.
(On my computer case, I can remove the speaker and just rest it
on the table. It snaps into place.) I can do some basic tests,
without the bother of screwing the motherboard down into the
computer case. If the tests are looking good, then I can
assemble the thing and do more tests. Since you've had poor luck
so far, I'd want to do enough testing, to get at least one positive
result, before wasting more time with the screwdriver.
In a previous posting, I made a list of test cases, and the components
I might use, for each test. The tests are "onion skin" style, meaning
each test builds on the success of the previous test. I like to do
the tests in order (and in that post I wrote, I didn't list all the
tests, just to keep the post to a reasonable length). By methodically
adding stuff, and noting the beep codes or other symptoms, you can
figure out whether the thing just added, is working or not.
Good luck,
Paul
