Johnny 5 is not alive! My PC is dead...

I think my CPU has died. Hit the power button, no POST, no fans, no
nothing! I have a couple of spare PC's knocking around at home so
tried swapping the PSU. It's working fine. Went to computer shop and
bought a new motherboard to test. Swapped all of my kit into it,
still nothing. Even tested the power button on the front of the case,
and it's okay. So really I think it can only be the CPU that's causing
the problem as the PSU is okay and it's not the mobo, cos a brand new
one wouldn't work either. None of the other parts could cause this
failure could they? The CPU is an Athlon64 3200+, socket 939. I built
the system myself and it's worked fine for 18 months. Just got up one
day and the computer refused to switch on. No matter how or when I
tried to switch on, nothing happened for about 2 weeks, then one day
I randomly tried it, I switched it on and it worked fine for several
hours, then I switched it off and it's never switched on again.
Question is does that sound to you like a faulty CPU? Is that very
likely?

Boudreaux <no@spam.invalid> wrote

> I think my CPU has died.

Unlikely but possible.

> Hit the power button, no POST, no fans, no nothing!

> I have a couple of spare PC's knocking around at
> home so tried swapping the PSU. It's working fine.

Presumably you mean swapping the PSU makes no difference.

> Went to computer shop and bought a new motherboard to
> test. Swapped all of my kit into it, still nothing. Even tested
> the power button on the front of the case, and it's okay.

How did you test it ? The best test is to carefully short
the pins on the motherboard that the power switch
connects to with a screwdriver or ezhook if you have one.

> So really I think it can only be the CPU that's causing
> the problem as the PSU is okay and it's not the mobo,
> cos a brand new one wouldn't work either. None of
> the other parts could cause this failure could they?

A short to case can produce that effect. Best test for
that is to try the motherboard loose on the desktop.

Best to test with an absolute minimum of hardware too,
not even any ram, in case its that thats stopping the
PSU from starting due to too much load on the PSU.

Worth trying with no cpu too, the PSU fan should come on.

> The CPU is an Athlon64 3200+, socket 939. I built the system
> myself and it's worked fine for 18 months. Just got up one day
> and the computer refused to switch on. No matter how or when I
> tried to switch on, nothing happened for about 2 weeks, then one
> day I randomly tried it, I switched it on and it worked fine for several
> hours, then I switched it off and it's never switched on again.

That makes it sound like a short to case. You shouldnt
get that effect with a cpu, if it dies it should stay dead.

Might be that you didnt test the power switch itself properly too.

> Question is does that sound to you like a faulty CPU?

Nope, nothing like.

> Is that very likely?

Nope, impossible with the symptoms you are seeing,
particularly with it returning from the dead for a day etc.

Bet its a bad power switch.

Boudreaux wrote:
> I think my CPU has died. Hit the power button, no POST, no fans, no
> nothing! I have a couple of spare PC's knocking around at home so
> tried swapping the PSU. It's working fine. Went to computer shop and
> bought a new motherboard to test. Swapped all of my kit into it,
> still nothing. Even tested the power button on the front of the case,
> and it's okay. So really I think it can only be the CPU that's causing
> the problem as the PSU is okay and it's not the mobo, cos a brand new
> one wouldn't work either. None of the other parts could cause this
> failure could they? The CPU is an Athlon64 3200+, socket 939. I built
> the system myself and it's worked fine for 18 months. Just got up one
> day and the computer refused to switch on. No matter how or when I
> tried to switch on, nothing happened for about 2 weeks, then one day
> I randomly tried it, I switched it on and it worked fine for several
> hours, then I switched it off and it's never switched on again.
> Question is does that sound to you like a faulty CPU? Is that very
> likely?

New CPU+ old PSU = possible mismatch. Does your motherboard have a 4
prong square connector? If so, an old PSU might not have it. Just
because the PSU works does not mean it's adequite to the task given to
it. Also, it's entirely possible the MB is toast.