Question Are my CPUs dead or am I doing something wrong?

[Arturas Kulickis]

Hi all!
I'm at a complete loss for what to do. Here's the situation:

I wanted to build myself a little NAS from a spare PC I had lying around. This PC's motherboard was a HP Odense2-K and the CPU was an Intel i5-7400.
I ordered an MSI Z370-A Pro so that I can have more expansion slots available to me.
Board arrives, I slap the PC together, doesn't power on. The CPU debug LED flashed for half a second once, but that was it.
I start panicking and make a Reddit post asking what was wrong, someone pointed out to me that the CPU and motherboard were not compatible. Whoops.

Today I went and picked up an Intel i5-8600k from someone in my area. This was an 8th series CPU, which I had been advised should work.
Put it together, press the power button and... nothing. Another LED flash, thats it.
I start to think maybe the CPUs are cooked now.
I put together the original system, with the Odense2-K and the i5-4700. No longer powers on. The CPU fan and PSU fan spin for half a second (not the case fans), then shut off completely.
Funnily enough it'll power on without the CPU, but not with it.

I'm very scared that I may have lost a ton of money with all of my mistakes.
I have no one to blame but myself, but I would like some closure on the situation from anyone here who knows whats going on.

Many thanks.

 

[COLGeek]

With the new motherboard and CPU, try resetting the BIOS before powering on.

Remove all power sources (power cable, video cable, powered speakers). Remove motherboard battery. Press power button ( to discharge residual power). Wait a couple minutes.

Reinsert battery and reconnect anything previously attached. Try powering on again.

While making these changes, double check all connections to motherboard and that memory is fully seated.

 

[Vikko151]

Hello Arturas Kulickis,

I am @Vikko151, and I'll try helping you since, yes, I am not informatician nor mechanic. Whatever, I can help you without any problem. 😉

So, first of all, I can't find anything about a i5-4700. But thankfully, it's just a small detail that doesn't concern your actual situation. Whatever, I don't think the problem concerns the hardware for now. The build you did with the i5-8600k should normally work, and you haven't got any POST nor beeps.

I would be interested to know the whole specifications of your NAS to know if the problem is otherwhere, but I don't think this would be the problem like I mentionned before. Plus, try doing the manipulations advised by @COLGeek and make sure your cables are correctly plugged in and you didn't forgot one. Else, it could be else a problem with the motherboard or a problem with the PSU cables (I doubt that's the problem).

I hope this answer helps, and I wish you a good day/night.

@Vikko151

 

[Arturas Kulickis]

With the new motherboard and CPU, try resetting the BIOS before powering on.

Remove all power sources (power cable, video cable, powered speakers). Remove motherboard battery. Press power button ( to discharge residual power). Wait a couple minutes.

Reinsert battery and reconnect anything previously attached. Try powering on again.

While making these changes, double check all connections to motherboard and that memory is fully seated.

Did all of that. Again, a single flahs from the CPU debug LED. After that nothing.

 

[COLGeek]

Both the 24-pin and 8-pin power cables firmly attached to both the motherboard and the PSU?

 

[Arturas Kulickis]

Both the 24-pin and 8-pin power cables firmly attached to both the motherboard and the PSU?

Correct, I've triple checked. I've tested the PSU with a dedicated tester which, came back perfectly fine, if that matters at all.

 

[Arturas Kulickis]

Hello Arturas Kulickis,

I am @Vikko151, and I'll try helping you since, yes, I am not informatician nor mechanic. Whatever, I can help you without any problem. 😉

So, first of all, I can't find anything about a i5-4700. But thankfully, it's just a small detail that doesn't concern your actual situation. Whatever, I don't think the problem concerns the hardware for now. The build you did with the i5-8600k should normally work, and you haven't got any POST nor beeps.

I would be interested to know the whole specifications of your NAS to know if the problem is otherwhere, but I don't think this would be the problem like I mentionned before. Plus, try doing the manipulations advised by @COLGeek and make sure your cables are correctly plugged in and you didn't forgot one. Else, it could be else a problem with the motherboard or a problem with the PSU cables (I doubt that's the problem).

I hope this answer helps, and I wish you a good day/night.

@Vikko151

Hi, the full specs of the NAS are:

• CPU - Intel i5-8600k
• M/B - MSI Z370-A Pro
• GPU - HP Nvidia GTX 1050
• RAM: G.Skill Trident Z DDR4 (2 x 8GB)
• PSU: EVGA 750 GQ
• Storage: Nothing at the moment, just want it to boot into BIOS to make sure it works.

More than happy to provide any other details you require.

 

[COLGeek]

Remove the 1050 and just use integrated video. Any change?

 

[Arturas Kulickis]

Remove the 1050 and just use integrated video. Any change?

No change.

 

[COLGeek]

Have you tried booting the system with all the components removed from the case? Referred to as breadboarding.

 

[Vikko151]

Hello again,

Actually, the issue is just there:

https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c05355651

If you go in the "Processor Upgrade Informations", the only eligible upgrades are:

• The Intel Core i7-7700 (Kabylake) 3.6 GHz Quad Core
• Intel Core i5-7400 (Kabylake) 3.0 GHz Quad Core
• Intel Core i3-7100 (Kabylake) 3.9 GHz Dual Core (only with Twister chassis)

Well... You are pretty unlucky, my friend... The BIOS of the Odense2-K doesn't support i5-8600K, despite it is a LGA1151 socket. Due to this, your NAS is unable to boot. That's the big problem of those motherboards which are integrated in those official HP builds. It's that they only support the CPUs which are supported by the different versions of the computer. It means the Odense2-K.

I am really sorry for that. I hope this helps, and that you can end your project without any other problem...

@Vikko151

 

[COLGeek]

Hello again,

Actually, the issue is just there:

https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c05355651

If you go in the "Processor Upgrade Informations", the only eligible upgrades are:

• The Intel Core i7-7700 (Kabylake) 3.6 GHz Quad Core
• Intel Core i5-7400 (Kabylake) 3.0 GHz Quad Core
• Intel Core i3-7100 (Kabylake) 3.9 GHz Dual Core (only with Twister chassis)

Well... You are pretty unlucky, my friend... The BIOS of the Odense2-K doesn't support i5-8600K, despite it is a LGA1151 socket. Due to this, your NAS is unable to boot. That's the big problem of those motherboards which are integrated in those official HP builds. It's that they only support the CPUs which are supported by the different versions of the computer. It means the Odense2-K.

I am really sorry for that. I hope this helps, and that you can end your project without any other problem...

@Vikko151

The 8th generation CPU is compatible with the MSI motherboard being used. Your wires are crossed here.

 

[Arturas Kulickis]

Have you tried booting the system with all the components removed from the case? Referred to as breadboarding.

I've just tried this. I unscrewed the motherboard from the case and placed it onto the anti-static bag it came in. Only the CPU, case fan, 2 sticks of ram, and the 24-pin and 8-pin power connectors were plugged in.
I shorted the power on pins, just another flash from the debug LED.

 

[COLGeek]

Do you have access to another compatible CPU?

 

[Arturas Kulickis]

Do you have access to another compatible CPU?

I do not sadly. If its the last option I would be able to get one but it would take a while.

 

[COLGeek]

I do not sadly. If its the last option I would be able to get one but it would take a while.

At this point, seems either the CPU or the motherboard is the issue.

 

[Arturas Kulickis]

At this point, seems either the CPU or the motherboard is the issue.

That is what I've suspected too. From your knowledge which of the two is most likely?

 

[COLGeek]

That is what I've suspected too. From your knowledge which of the two is most likely?

The should work comment you made earlier makes me suspect the CPU.

 

[Arturas Kulickis]

The should work comment you made earlier makes me suspect the CPU.

Alright well, thank you very much for your help! I'll get both tested sometime this week at a local computer shop and post the findings in this thread.

 

[COLGeek]

Alright well, thank you very much for your help! I'll get both tested sometime this week at a local computer shop and post the findings in this thread.

Good luck. Please follow up.

 

[Arturas Kulickis]

Hello all! I'm here for the follow-up.
Apologies for not adhereing to "sometime this week".

I gave the motherboard and CPU in to a PC store to have them tested.
Turns out there was just a short somewhere on the motherboard (Z370-A Pro).
While he did not manage to test the CPU (i5-8600k), he said that the likelyhood of a CPU fault is very low.

I will make a further follow-up once I get a replacement board, as then I will know if the CPU is borked or not.

Many thanks for the help!