Computer not booting - is the CPU dead?

[alfolini]

I'm having some trouble with my self-built computer, which started after I installed my brother's old hard drive because he wanted to get some pictures off it. When I tried booting it, the fans would spin for half a second and then nothing, too quick to get an error number from the motherboard.

I figured it was the PSU and switched it with one I had lying around. Still nothing. My next guess was that the motherboard was the problem, so I bought a new ASUS Z97-A - and guess what, still nothing...

Tried it without the graphics card, tried the DIMMs one at a time with no success.

So it has to be the CPU, right?

 

[Karsten75]

Did you take your brother's old hard drive out?

Usually the best way to access old hard drives is to buy a cheap external enclosure (dock) and put the hard drive in it.

http://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-External-Lay-Flat-Docking-EC-DFLT/dp/B00LS5NFQ2/

 

[alfolini]

Yes, I've taken it out and actually bought one of these: http://www.amazon.com/iDsonix%C2%AE-SuperSpeed-Docking-Station-Design/dp/B00FDLCTQO

 

[ceresia]

I have only seen 1 CPU die in 20 years, unless you cooked the older AMD procs until they smoked....

I digress, this has been a common symptom from many machines I have built.

I have fixed it by swapping the reset/power button cables on the mobo and using the reset button to start the PC.

Find any point where your motherboard, memory, cpu cooler could be touching another part or directly touching your case, it could be sensing a ground loop and turning itself off for protection.

Have you tested the memory or any other parts in other computers?

 

[alfolini]

Yeah, I've never experienced a CPU dying on me, but both memory modules ceasing to function seemed more weird to me for some reason. I have a great cooler and have never seen temps above 60 Celsius.

I'll look over the front panel connectors and try using the restart as power switch. Thanks for the tip

I thought it could be a short circuit issue, something touching into each other, but I'll have another look.

Have not tested the memory, not other than trying one at a time (have no other system to test them on).

 

[alfolini]

So I got the thing working... But I've no idea what actually did it. Did some cable managing and some "tidying up" and now it works. There might have been a short-out, like you were suggesting, ceresia.

Though I am experiencing higher CPU temps, at idle (50-ish, used to 35-ish on idle). Could it have something to do with me enabling XMP? The motherboard is ASUS Z97-A and the processor is 4790K.

 

[ceresia]

Doesn't XMP up the voltage on the memory? It might also adjust the CPU voltage or modifiers, you might want to dig into your BIOS and see.

You running a stock cooler?

 

[alfolini]

Reset BIOS to default now, and the XMP profile had no effect on the CPU voltage. No stock cooler, running a Noctua NH-U14S with the supplied thermal paste NT-H1.

But now the temps have dropped to around 28 Celsius. I'm using HWMonitor to read temps by the way, is there a better alternative? This is confusing... It's idling stable at around 30C, I've no idea what the hell's happening. 😛

 

[ceresia]

Could have been a bad read. I typically sit in bios for 15-20 minutes and watch the temps there, then boot to an idle windows and use

http://openhardwaremonitor.org/

 

[alfolini]

Well, everything is fine now. Just wish I knew why and how.. Anyway, thank you for your help, ceresia

Will try OpenHWMonitor