I think I burned out my CPU. First time computer builder. Please help.

[Jim Campbell]

Hi all,

I think my CPU may have fried out on me, and am writing to see if
anyone can offer some advice on what I may need to do.

Here's the specs on my system:

Soyo SY-K7VMP Motherboard
AMD XP 2600+ Processor (with AMD in-box heat sink and fan)
300 Watt power supply
Seagate Baracude 80GB hard drive
512 MB 2700 DDR RAM
Onboard video, sound, and LAN card

This is the first time I've built a PC on my own.

I had everything set up, made sure things were seated correctly,
plugged in the power cord, and went to start the system up for the
first time. It beeped, I smelled a faint tinge of smoke, and it shut
down. The mobo continued to beep until I unplugged the system... I
think that the Anti Burn Regulator kicked in, as the mobo manual says,
"Once the heat accumulated in the CPU is over the set limit, ABR will
automatically shut down the system power and warn you with a beeping
sound. To de-activete the beeping sound, un-plug the AC Power
cord..." This is exactly what happened. The CPU fan IS plugged into
the mobo, and it does spin at boot.

Now, when I go to turn on the PC, I get no video at all. In fact, I
never got any video (not even on the first boot attempt that lasted
all of 1 second). I did smell a brief wiff of smoke after attempting
that first boot. I have a green light on the motherboard... The
monitor remains in standby mode.

Is the CPU toast? Unplugging the HD and CD drive produce no different
results.

If the CPU is toast, is there anything I can do under warranty, or is
it my fault somehow, and I'm just screwed out of the money....

Thanks for your help, everyone.

 

[ToolPackinMama]

Is the CPU toast?

Gee, are you sure it's not the power supply? 300 w. doesn't seem like
enough.

 

[Mac Cool]

Jim Campbell:

AMD XP 2600+ Processor (with AMD in-box heat sink and fan)

I had everything set up, made sure things were seated correctly,
plugged in the power cord, and went to start the system up for the
first time. It beeped, I smelled a faint tinge of smoke, and it shut
down.

Ok, pull the CPU and inspect it. Did you remove the plastic from the
bottom of the heatsink? Does the heatsink look like it was making good
contact? Are there any discolorations on the CPU?

I've never burned a processor so I don't know exactly what to look for,
but I've seen pictures of burned processors on the web and they had
discoloration or burn marks.

think that the Anti Burn Regulator kicked in, as the mobo manual says,
"Once the heat accumulated in the CPU is over the set limit, ABR will
automatically shut down the system power and warn you with a beeping

I have had this happen and after cleaning and reinstalling the CPU, it
worked fine.

If the CPU is toast, is there anything I can do under warranty, or is
it my fault somehow, and I'm just screwed out of the money....

Contact the people you bought it from and ask for an RMA. Unless there
are obvious signs of abuse, they should replace it.

 

[Dave C.]

Gee, are you sure it's not the power supply? 300 w. doesn't seem like
enough.

300W is plenty. But if it's generic, it's likely to die an early, smoky
death. -Dave

 

[Avid Gamer]

Did you put any thermal paste on the cpu ???

Or connect the cpu fan to the header on the mobo ?

Did you put the heatsink on the right way ?

Don't feel bad, one of my first builds i turned the pc on without a
cpu, heatsink and cooler on the cpu and WAS IT &@&@&&@ing smokey ,
the smell kept arround for weeks


That XP1800 i still have it don't look to well now

 

[Avid Gamer]

I recently knocked my cpu cooler power plug out and my pc was shutting
down for some reason i did not know why ?

Though i had another virus, then it struck me i checked and i pluged
it back in and all was right, my cpu was going to 60c and shuttting
down, like it should do with a decent mobo, but thats witha c cpu
heatsinkcooler on it, not sure if it would work without it on it.

Don't dispear, read up on the web about building a pc, plenty their
just read and learn and see what mistakes you have made and learn, not
that hard.

Bye.

 

[GTS]

Hi all,

I think my CPU may have fried out on me, and am writing to see if
anyone can offer some advice on what I may need to do.

Here's the specs on my system:

Soyo SY-K7VMP Motherboard
AMD XP 2600+ Processor (with AMD in-box heat sink and fan)
300 Watt power supply
Seagate Baracude 80GB hard drive
512 MB 2700 DDR RAM
Onboard video, sound, and LAN card

This is the first time I've built a PC on my own.

I had everything set up, made sure things were seated correctly,
plugged in the power cord, and went to start the system up for the
first time. It beeped, I smelled a faint tinge of smoke, and it shut
down. The mobo continued to beep until I unplugged the system... I
think that the Anti Burn Regulator kicked in, as the mobo manual says,
"Once the heat accumulated in the CPU is over the set limit, ABR will
automatically shut down the system power and warn you with a beeping
sound. To de-activete the beeping sound, un-plug the AC Power
cord..." This is exactly what happened. The CPU fan IS plugged into
the mobo, and it does spin at boot.

Now, when I go to turn on the PC, I get no video at all. In fact, I
never got any video (not even on the first boot attempt that lasted
all of 1 second). I did smell a brief wiff of smoke after attempting
that first boot. I have a green light on the motherboard... The
monitor remains in standby mode.

Is the CPU toast? Unplugging the HD and CD drive produce no different
results.

If the CPU is toast, is there anything I can do under warranty, or is
it my fault somehow, and I'm just screwed out of the money....

Thanks for your help, everyone.

You need to strip everything out and try and ascertain what happened. If the
fan & heatsink were installed correctly, I don't see any way the CPU could
have burnt out. The AMD in-box heatsink and fan comes with a thermal pad, so
you don't need thermal paste.
Also check the memory - I have seen a burnt memory socket where the DIMM was
not pushed in properly. The green light usually just indicates there is
power going to the memory socket. The fact that the fans are spinning and
the RAM LED is on indicates it's unlikely that the PSU has blown - they tend
to make a loud bang too! But could not do any harm to try another. With the
motherboard stripped look for any signs of overheating in the sockets...

 

[Gary Hendricks]

Hi Jim

Smell of Smoke = Bad News.
My feel is that either the motherboard or CPU conked out. Check the
warranty on these 2 items. If they're not covered, you're really plain
out of luck.

Gary Hendricks
www.build-your-own-computers.com

 

[Jim Campbell]

Ok, pull the CPU and inspect it. Did you remove the plastic from the
bottom of the heatsink? Does the heatsink look like it was making good
contact? Are there any discolorations on the CPU?

Ok, I did this, and there are no discolorations or burn marks.
However, I have a question... is it bad if there is thermal paste on
the die of the CPU? I'm _not_ talking about the side of the CPU that
has all of the pins on it... I would know better than that. I'm
talking about the side that has the rubber pads. There is some
thermal paste on the green top portion of the CPU itself. There
appears to be some kind of circuitry just below (or at??) the surface
of this, so I'm wondering if I may have messed this up.

I have had this happen and after cleaning and reinstalling the CPU, it
worked fine.

How did you clean your CPU? I'm wondering if I should try removing
this thermal paste from the CPU. Chances are that it wouldn't help

Contact the people you bought it from and ask for an RMA. Unless there
are obvious signs of abuse, they should replace it.

I may check this out... Thanks.

 

[Jim Campbell]

Did you put any thermal paste on the cpu ???

I did put thermal paste on the CPU, but even the AMD instructions
don't call for it. I think that it may be helpful, but apparently AMD
doesn't think it's absolutely essential.

Or connect the cpu fan to the header on the mobo ?

Yes. The fan's power cord is connected to the motherboard, and it is
operating correctly.

Did you put the heatsink on the right way ?

Yes, it appears to be seated correctly. I also removed and checked
the CPU, and there are no burn marks or discolorations.

Don't feel bad, one of my first builds i turned the pc on without a
cpu, heatsink and cooler on the cpu and WAS IT &@&@&&@ing smokey ,
the smell kept arround for weeks

The smoke smell that I got was very faint and brief... ?? Thanks for
your tips... I wish I could get to some kind of a screen to have some
kind of an idea of what the problem is.

 

[Papa]

Hi Jim:

Try a "bare bones" test. That is, do NOT remove the CPU and fan/heat sink
from the motherboard, LEAVE the CPU fan circuit connected to the
motherboard, unplug the keyboard, mouse, monitor, and power supply from the
motherboard, disconnect any other cables that are connected to the
motherboard, remove everything else from the motherboard except one memory
chip and the video card, disconnect all case circuits (reset switch, power
led, speaker, etc.) from the motherboard, remove the motherboard from the
case and lay it on nonconducting material such as a cardboard box,
re-connect the power supply to the motherboard, re-connect the monitor cable
to the motherboard, short across the case power switch pins on the
motherboard in order to start the system.

If you see the BIOS screen on your monitor, the CPU is OK. If nothing
happens, the problem could be your video card, your memory chip, your power
supply, or your CPU. But you would have at least eliminated a whole bunch of
other possibilities.

Good luck!

 

[Monster]

did you apply thermal paste before you seated everything? if the mobo
complains the cpu is too hot and you smell burning then yea you fried it

 

[David Besack]

Did you put any thermal paste on the cpu ???

I did put thermal paste on the CPU, but even the AMD instructions
don't call for it. I think that it may be helpful, but apparently AMD
doesn't think it's absolutely essential.

You can actually run without thermal paste, it just won't be as
efficient, but... you need EITHER thermal paste OR a thermal pad, but
using both is no good. There's too much material to transfer heat
through and it could lead to overheating a CPU. I hope that's not what
happened.

 

[pudj]

I did put thermal paste on the CPU, but even the AMD instructions
don't call for it. I think that it may be helpful, but apparently AMD
doesn't think it's absolutely essential.


Yes. The fan's power cord is connected to the motherboard, and it is
operating correctly.


Yes, it appears to be seated correctly. I also removed and checked
the CPU, and there are no burn marks or discolorations.


The smoke smell that I got was very faint and brief... ?? Thanks for
your tips... I wish I could get to some kind of a screen to have some
kind of an idea of what the problem is.

just an idea but have you plugged all the cables in from the power suply ie
the funny shaped one as well if you havent plugged that in you will get no
screen there should be 2 leads going to the main board.

 

[!Allen Lasting]

I read somewhere that if the light flashes on the kepyboard when you
turn the power on, then the mobo and cpu are ok.

Al

 

[Matt]

Hi Jim:

Try a "bare bones" test. That is, do NOT remove the CPU and fan/heat sink
from the motherboard, LEAVE the CPU fan circuit connected to the
motherboard, unplug the keyboard, mouse, monitor, and power supply from the
motherboard, disconnect any other cables that are connected to the
motherboard, remove everything else from the motherboard except one memory
chip and the video card, disconnect all case circuits (reset switch, power
led, speaker, etc.) from the motherboard, remove the motherboard from the
case and lay it on nonconducting material such as a cardboard box,
re-connect the power supply to the motherboard, re-connect the monitor cable
to the motherboard, short across the case power switch pins on the
motherboard in order to start the system.

If you see the BIOS screen on your monitor, the CPU is OK. If nothing
happens, the problem could be your video card, your memory chip, your power
supply, or your CPU.

Or the motherboard.

 

[Matt]

Ok, I did this, and there are no discolorations or burn marks.
However, I have a question... is it bad if there is thermal paste on
the die of the CPU? I'm _not_ talking about the side of the CPU that
has all of the pins on it... I would know better than that. I'm
talking about the side that has the rubber pads. There is some
thermal paste on the green top portion of the CPU itself. There
appears to be some kind of circuitry just below (or at??) the surface
of this, so I'm wondering if I may have messed this up.

Your description is unclear, but thermal paste in the wrong place would
not cause smoke.

How did you clean your CPU? I'm wondering if I should try removing
this thermal paste from the CPU. Chances are that it wouldn't help

In case you need to clean it, use 91% isopropyl alcohol and coffee
filter paper.

I doubt your CPU is the problem. I'll guess the motherboard. Take the
other poster's advice: get the mobo out of the case and set up a minimal
system.

 

[Papa]

Or the motherboard.

Yes, of course.

 

[Mac Cool]

Jim Campbell:

However, I have a question... is it bad if there is thermal paste on
the die of the CPU?

Shouldn't matter, but clean it off with a Q-tip and rubbing alcohol.

How did you clean your CPU? I'm wondering if I should try removing
this thermal paste from the CPU.

Usually the heat sink will have a pad on the bottom, there are web sites
with excellent instructions and pictures on installing heat sinks, search
a few out.

one to get you started
http://www.pcguide.com/proc/physinst/sink-c.html

I may check this out... Thanks.

Try some troubleshooting first. Let us know what the problem was.

 

[Guest]

I read somewhere that if the light flashes on the kepyboard
when you turn the power on, then the mobo and cpu are ok.

How does it now that the CPU is OK when the CPU isn't connected? Some
motherboards will blink the keyboard lights even without the CPU in
place.