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I think I killed my Phenom II 955 BE

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CottonTheMoth

CottonTheMoth

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Joined
Apr 14, 2010
My problem started when I started up Dishonored and my desktop flat out turned off. Now when I start it up, nothing will come on the display, and the only way to turn it off is by unplugging the power cord or by flipping the PSU switch.

Here's my setup:
GA-MA790X-UD4P Motherboard
(But not anymore. I already swapped this out for a new one, but to no avail, along with new DDR3 RAM sticks).

The power LED's and fans all spin up, including the fans of the GPU (GTX 460).

I run everything fan-cooled, and had my Phenom II 955 BE overlocked to 3.9GHz for a couple of years. I believed I'd killed my mobo since I thought that the powering down issue was controlled by it, but I just invested in a $118 MSI board that's really nice and still nothing. I have no spare CPU's to test with, so buying a new FX CPU off of Newegg may be my only solution.

I have tried unplugging the power cord and cycling the power by holding down the power button, but this didn't work for me, likely because I can't actually turn the computer off by the switch...

I also tried removing the Mobo batteries on both my Gigabyte mobo and new MSI board.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. My room is in disarray and I'm pulling out my hair :V.


Edit: Also, I have been running the CPU with a Noctua NH-D14 with both 120/140mm fans, as well as one rear and one top exhaust fans, and two intake fans in front of my HDD trays. Temps have never gone above 50C (or was it 55C), but maybe this CPU has lived its life...
 
I would first check out the powersupply before you point your finger at your cpu. I mean it can be your cpu but would put my money on your powersupply being the culprit.
 
I have a multimeter. Can I test the voltage with it? It's an OCZ 600w psu that's never given me any problems.
 
Any post codes displayed on the boards, lights to indicate what part of POST its hanging at, or a case speaker connected to get beep codes?

I wouldn't start diagnosing anything without having done one of those... Without that information, it realistically could be the PSU going wonky, the motherboard having failed, RAM going bad, the GPU no longer outputting video, or the CPU being dead. So ya, pretty much anything, except you've already eliminated the mobo and ram as possible variables.

Get some beep codes or other POST troubleshooting information, and we'll have a better idea of whats up!

Short of that, you could pull the whole thing out of the case, and set it up on the desk to see if it still doesn't boot - could be the case got bumped and something in there is shorting.

Of anything, I would bet against the CPU being dead - but its possible.
 
If the only way to turn off the PC is by unplugging or with the rocker switch on the PSU, the motherboard may be dead as well...

Buut if with both motherboards, you can't turn it off normally then there's more to the problem than the CPU or memory...or HDD for that matter, I would make sure to swap the PSU.
 
I.M.O.G. said:
Any post codes displayed on the boards, lights to indicate what part of POST its hanging at, or a case speaker connected to get beep codes?

I wouldn't start diagnosing anything without having done one of those... Without that information, it realistically could be the PSU going wonky, the motherboard having failed, RAM going bad, the GPU no longer outputting video, or the CPU being dead. So ya, pretty much anything, except you've already eliminated the mobo and ram as possible variables.

Get some beep codes or other POST troubleshooting information, and we'll have a better idea of whats up!

Short of that, you could pull the whole thing out of the case, and set it up on the desk to see if it still doesn't boot - could be the case got bumped and something in there is shorting.

Of anything, I would bet against the CPU being dead - but its possible.
Click to expand...
u8C6M.jpg
When I start up the power these are the only LED's that light up aside from front case LED's. Here's the full size, although my board doesn't have the lettering above the LED's, but this is the image MSI uses and everything else looks right. It's an MSI 990FXA-GD65. The DDR RAM LEDs never light up.
 
CottonTheMoth said:
I have a multimeter. Can I test the voltage with it? It's an OCZ 600w psu that's never given me any problems.
Click to expand...
Yes, you can, but you should first check for any error codes, as I.M.O.G suggested.

EDIT: Check your motherboard's manual and see how your mobo indicates problems.
 
Mario1 said:
Yes, you can, but you should first check for any error codes, as I.M.O.G suggested.

EDIT: Check your motherboard's manual and see how your mobo indicates problems.
Click to expand...

Of course, the manual never goes into details about the 8-line LED system, just the fact that it has it.
It doesn't appear that there's any information online on their LED's other than the first two lights saying "SB_PHASE" in the image which I assume is southbridge, but this is a brand spanking new high quality motherboard, and I couldn't get my Gigabyte mobo to work either, although it worked perfectly fine prior to my incident.
 
Last edited:
CottonTheMoth said:
Of course, the manual never goes into details about the 8-line LED system, just the fact that it has it.
Click to expand...

"Next to the RAM slots, we can find eight (8) blue LEDs in line that let us know the phase power number that the CPU is using in that moment." - a random review I found on google.
My guess is that its not used for error signaling, but I'm totally not familiar with MSI boards, so I could be wrong.
Try getting a code off the Gigabyte motherboard, it's all pretty much standard beeping there unless your motherboard is top of the line.
 
Mario1 said:
"Next to the RAM slots, we can find eight (8) blue LEDs in line that let us know the phase power number that the CPU is using in that moment." - a random review I found on google.
My guess is that its not used for error signaling, but I'm totally not familiar with MSI boards, so I could be wrong.
Try getting a code off the Gigabyte motherboard, it's all pretty much standard beeping there unless your motherboard is top of the line.
Click to expand...

How do I retrieve beep codes if there's no internal speaker? Everything is already set up on the MSI board and I really don't want to dismount the heatsink, CPU, swap out the board etc...
 
CottonTheMoth said:
How do I retrieve beep codes if there's no internal speaker? Everything is already set up on the MSI board and I really don't want to dismount the heatsink, CPU, swap out the board etc...
Click to expand...
The GD65 should display the code here; (ref video)
.
Just post the code here and we'll try to find a solution or at least guide you in the right direction.
 
Mario1 said:
The GD65 should display the code here; (ref video)
.
Just post the code here and we'll try to find a solution or at least guide you in the right direction.
Click to expand...

There's nothing at all like that on my motherboard. He must have some accessory. It's also in Russian.
 
CottonTheMoth said:
There's nothing at all like that on my motherboard. He must have some accessory. It's also in Russian.
Click to expand...
Oh yeah, just noticed its a PCI diagnostic card.
Google time again.
P.S Turns out the 2 LEDS indicated that the CPU was in phase 2 power mode.
 
Last edited:
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