Have I fried the CPU? Please help!

[xsquared_uk]

I think I toasted my CPU.

It was running fine, all the burn in tests in Sandra worked spot on. RAM was running stable at HCLK + 33 (as it's DDR333 and the CPU is 266FSB) 2-2-3-5. Then I decided to see if it would handle upping the FSB to 166. I dropped the memory back down to HCLK, upped FSB and rebooted.

Or rather didn't, as it won't POST now. The fans and lights come on, but there's no activity, no beeps or drive churnings, no VGA signal, nothing.

I reset the CMOS (I think), but it's still the same. I think the problem could be that I left the multiplier on Auto instead of setting it to the minimum. Ah well, you live and learn.

So what do you guys think, dead CPU? It was only on for a few moments, there was no smoke or smell or sound. Surely it wouldn't fry that easily, the cooling is good and the fan was on high? I've never done this before, so I've no experience of what a dead CPU will do!

Anyone got any ideas to confirm it for sure, as I don't have another to test it with? Or does this sound familiar to someone? I'd be really grateful for any help!

 

[XJ]

read your manual about resetting bios. on the 8rda+ its just a jumper you move across for a few seconds. someone said to NOT turn the pc on but i do and have had no problems what so ever. plus then i know that an actual current has travelled through it.
anyway, that is all you need to do, i am pretty sure the cpu is fine, you just need to reset cmos properly on that mobo because when you up something it doesn't like it will spin up and everything but no video signal. Hope this helped (a little :/)

 

[I.M.O.G.]

Your cpu is fine. Upping the FSB and rebooting will not cause your chip to die before you even post.

Get the bios back to defaults (clear cmos). Make sure you cleared it the first time.

@tio: When you use that jumper, a current does travel across. That is what clears cmos. They tell you not to turn on your pc in my mobo manual and you shouldn't, and you don't need to turn it on in order to have a current pass through the jumper. just move the jumper and move it back with the pc off and it clears every time.

 

[xsquared_uk]

Thanks guys!

I'll just clarify - what I meant when I said I 'think' I've cleared it is that it's a new board (to me) and I found a jumper labelled 'JBAT' which I presume is the CMOS. When I swapped it across and tried to power on it did nothing, which some do when you reset CMOS of course. I swapped it back but it was still the same, hence my worries. I took the battery out and left it overnight so I'm going to give it another try in a few minutes!

 

[xsquared_uk]

I just put the battery back in and it's working, so I must have got the CMOS clear wrong somehow. How stupid do I feel...!

To be fair though, it's amazing how much panic can set in when you think you've just blown your new CPU! Lesson learned - think logically before worrying about the credit card bill...

 

[I.M.O.G.]

You may damage the mainboard if clearing the cmos with POWER ON

Jbat is the jumper you want to move over, there will be three prongs and the jumper will be connecting two of them. You want to move the jumper so that it connects the unconnected one with the jumper in the middle. Then just move it back. Cmos is reset. Now turn the PC on and notice that the bios is at defaults. Don't turn your PC on until the jumper is in it's original position, unless you don't mind taking the chance at frying your MOBO.

I know some people turn it on and say it doesn't cause a problem, but there is no point in turning the PC on and doing so could cause a problem. It reminds me of the people who hit buttons to make windows load faster.

 

[xsquared_uk]

It's bizarre - that IS what I'm doing and it's not clearing, but leaving the battery out overnight did the trick. I wonder if this jumper is faulty maybe? I'll dig another one off an old HD and see if that works.

 

[xsquared_uk]

How odd - I cannot get it to reset using the jumper at all! I have to remove the battery and power cable, wait 10 secs then power on without the battery in, then power off again and replace the battery! On top of all that, I still can't get it to raise the FSB and POST - I've tried default BIOS settings and 152 or 166 FSB using different multipliers and it's all the same. It couldn't be anything to do with my CPU being locked could it?