Mobo fried? CPU fried??

Well, here's my set-up:

Athlon XP 2500+ Barton core
512mb DDR PC3200
(1) 120gig SATA maxtor
450W PSU


I built it myself, everything ran smoothly with the stock HSF. Of course I discovered watercooling, thought it was the coolest thing, read up on it for months, and finally decided to give it a whirl. Here's what i got:


Hydor L30 pump
Black Ice Extreme radiator
Innovatek X-flow CPU block
Swiftech MWC50 GPU block
Waterchill reservoir
Tygon tubing (www.USPlastics.com)

Let me first say that the waterchill reservoir doesn't get good reviews from me....I'm not a fan of the connections...just stick the tube in there, no clamping or anything. I like to clamp everything hardcore, esp. w/ water in my computer, lol.

Anways I got it all put together, ran so quiet i forgot it was on sometimes. So the real test....put the computer back together and fire it up.

UH-OH...nothing happened. The power came on for about a second, then shut off and the power led just blinked. To no avail I'm an idiot...i didn't take the cover off the CPU block. Try again...same thing.

I switched out the graphics card, no change.
I tried an Athon 1.0Gig CPU, the power stayed on, but the 80-port thing on my box stuck at CF.
I put the other CPU back on, same thing, power on w/ CF message. I only have 1 stick of ram, but i moved it to different spots, no change.

SOoo, I'm not sure if it's the mobo that's fried, or maye the CPU. I dunno. Anyone got any suggestions???? PLease help.

Im betting it was the motherboard. I was about to say the cpu, because it might have been chipped, but since you tested another one-that got shot down. Maybe the ram???? I doubt it, but a possibility. Im betting the motherboard though. Have a spare to test it on?

No, haven't got a spare mobo for testing. I am really hesistant of spending $130 to replace it. Yuck

Yes, dont spend anymore money if your not sure what your problem is. I know you said you dont have a spare but, You have to find some way to test what you have. Maybe an office computer or a friends?

Um, tried connecting a fan to it? so it aint just the "if no fan detected dont run" protection? (i might be stuppid, but sometimes the easy answer IS the right one)

Hard to tell, you dident mention the motherboard in question, so i cant find out if it even HAS this feature.. but go give it a try, connect the fan, try and boot, and see what it says? (unfamiliar with CF error messages, just trying to be helpfull)

I have done the same, more or less my self.. not to fun...

Best of luck!
B!

Sorry about that. I have the Chaintech Zenith 7NJS mobo. I built a similar computer for my sister, so I'll pay her a visit tomorrow to test my cpu and ram in hers, and her cpu on my mobo. we'll see what happens

i don't see why you would have fried anything... you said that right when you put it together it never worked... right? so if there was no real opertunity to fry something, why would you think its fried?

This kind of thing has happened to me a couple of times. I agree with stan03, and maybe you didnt fry anything so my suggestion to you is....Take apart everything and set it up outside of your case. I can not tell you how many times just rebuilding the computer has fixed the mystery problem. Good luck

I might might have the answer. I fried a mobo and thought I fried my cpu about a week ago so I went out and bought a new mobo hoping I could salvage the cpu. (BTW I shorted the red and the black to each other, not good). Anyway when I put the new system together I didn't bother to sock down the heatsink and fan on the cpu as I just wanted to see if it fired up. Plus I just didin't want to have the screwdriver slip off the clip into my mobo 75 times while I tried to get it clipped but thats another story.

Anyway the systme came up got a post beep and then shut down
did it about 5 times... The fan was shaking the heatsink around the cpu so I grabbed it and pushed it down on the cpu. Well wouldn't you know it the system fired right up. Until I let go of the heatsink and it immediately powered off again. So I'm not sure but maybe there is some pressure sensor on the mobo or the cpu that I am not aware of. I thought it might be possible that you are using an aftermarket heatsink and using the 4 screw holes around the cpu and just didn't apply enough torque? Just a thought hope it helps.

Dan

coolerbydesign said:

I might might have the answer. I fried a mobo and thought I fried my cpu about a week ago so I went out and bought a new mobo hoping I could salvage the cpu. (BTW I shorted the red and the black to each other, not good). Anyway when I put the new system together I didn't bother to sock down the heatsink and fan on the cpu as I just wanted to see if it fired up. Plus I just didin't want to have the screwdriver slip off the clip into my mobo 75 times while I tried to get it clipped but thats another story.

Anyway the systme came up got a post beep and then shut down
did it about 5 times... The fan was shaking the heatsink around the cpu so I grabbed it and pushed it down on the cpu. Well wouldn't you know it the system fired right up. Until I let go of the heatsink and it immediately powered off again. So I'm not sure but maybe there is some pressure sensor on the mobo or the cpu that I am not aware of. I thought it might be possible that you are using an aftermarket heatsink and using the 4 screw holes around the cpu and just didn't apply enough torque? Just a thought hope it helps.

Dan

Click to expand...

your problem was probably tat the temp go to high.... he says he has his watercooling thing going....

Temp was definitely not an issue this thing wouldn't come on for more then 2 seconds. Not time enough to get hot...

MuEagle05: Did you try connecting a fan with speed-sensor to the CPU1 outlet on the motherboard? Many motherboards refuse to boot if they think your cpu fan has failed (helpful thought, but annoying to watercoolers)

coolerbydesign: If the CPU is putting out 50watts of heat, and the core is 1cm^3 then it will heat up by roughly 50c per second, if I remember correctly...
2 seconds is enough time lol!

yea it took mine like one second to get up to 60C just in the bios when i disconnected the fan....

Well, heeding some of your guys good advice, I took everything out and started from the beginning. I must've been working on it in my sleep or something, b/c it turns out the CMOS jumper wasn't in the right spot. I checked that so many times, but I must've been reading the charts wrong. Man i hate when it's something so dumb like that!

Here are two pics of the new rig!

http://mueagle05.tripod.com/

Hey check the cmos jumper...

Because it is never the simplest thing (lol)

As far as a cpu getting smoking hot are you sure those times are right??? If I kill my fan and start pushing my cpu I can usually get a minute or so before I want to hear the wine of my fan again? I suppose the HS could be doing some of the work but probably not that much. Oh well I think the pressure sensitive socket sounds much cooler though in heingsight much dumber.

~Dan

And to think, i was just going to say to check the cmos jumper, since the post code you got was CF, which distinctly reads;
Test CMOS R/W functionality.

coolerbydesign & PoX Freak, he got it to work, he set the cmos jumper... please read all the replies before posting