I think my CPU is dead (for real this time).

[King_of_Connacht]

I know I had a similar inquiry back in August of 2017, and it ended up just being some rubbing alcohol needing to evaporate from the socket after using a bit too much to remove some old thermal paste. But now I did something really idiotic. The whole situation stemmed from me recently purchasing a pair of memory sticks because, at the time, I thought one of the sticks I bought previously was faulty and I was receiving only 4gb instead of the usual 8gb. So when the new memory was delivered to me, I promptly situatuted it into my mobo and booted my PC. To my dismay, the sticks I had just installed did not boost my memory to 12gb, and still read 4gb. I went into BIOS and perused the "hardware monitor." Low and behold, my mobo was not detecting the new RAM in slots DIMM3 and DIMM4. I quickly inferred that none of the RAM was faulty and I actually had 16gb at my disposal. I also realized that I must've installed the RAM in the wrong order and quickly rearranged the sticks into what I thought was the correct grouping. So I go to boot up my PC again, and it sounds 3 long beeps, meaning the there's a memory issue. Beyond frustrated, I opened up the side panel, this time plugging my PC into the wall, and tried switching each stick out trying every combination possible. To do this more efficiently, I detached the CPU fan from its heat sink, which was a tight fit with all 4 sticks in. Finally I pulled 3 sticks out, leaving one in. My PC booted, but this time I got 5 beeps, warning me of a problem with the CPU. Despite this, I placed all 4 ram sticks onto the mobo and it somehow successfully booted again, even after the 5 beeps. For good measure I tried to boot the PC for a third time, and it booted for like 2 seconds and then the display flat out shut off. It took me a few mintues to realize the magnitude of the f*** up I had just commited. By detaching the CPU fan I had left the heatsink bare, without any cooling each time I had turned on my PC trying different RAM arrangements. You would think the CPU would not have allowed me to boot detecting the absence of the fan. But the f*** up is I did not actually unplug the fan from my mobo at all, and it was running isolated from its heatsink the whole time. It takes around 5 minutes for a CPU to fry without a cooler; I had booted my PC multiple times in 30-60 second intervals. I gave it the night to hopefully cool down and reassess the damage in the morning. I booted it up, and the fans spun but there was no display or even any BIOS beeps. Luckily no physical signs of damage from what I can see though.

Tl;DR: Detached my CPU fan from its heatsink while the PC was on to better situate my RAM sticks. Potentially fried my processor.

Specs:

Case: NXTZ H440

Motherboard: MSI 970 Gaming

RAM: G. Skill Ripjaws series 8gb (2 pairs)

CPU: AMD FX- 8350 Black Edition Vishera 8-core

GPU: Radeon R9 390

PSU: Rosewill Glacier 700W

Monitor: ASUS VE228H 21.5" Full HD

Keyboard: Corsair K65 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard, Cherry MX Red

Mouse: Corsair Gaming KATAR Gaming Mouse

HDD: 2 TB Seagate Desktop

SSD: SanDisk Z400s 256 GB

 

[gingerrankin]

It is possible that your processor has been damaged, but it is worth making sure before replacing it and, above all, not breaking anything else. Therefore, try to proceed calmly and step by step.

If you removed the heatsink it is very likely that it is damaged because the processor heats up very quickly without allowing time for its brake / protection mechanism to act. If you just removed the fan, there is more chance that the processor will still work.

It is recommended to wear an electrostatic discharge (ESD) wrist strap whenhandling the motherboard to prevent electrostatic damage. If an ESD wrist strap is not available, discharge yourself of static electricity by touching another metal object before handling the motherboard.

With the computer fully disconnected, press the power-on to eliminate any energy.

Make a clear CMOS in your mobo. (See mobo manual).

Check all connections. With the nervousness may have touched some. Especially the power cables 24pins 8pins and the graphic card. Make sure your cpu heatsink and fan are properly positioned.

Disconnect all peripherals that are not absolutely necessary and remove all memory sticks. Power on to check the beep signal of lack of memory.

Turn off the PC completely and connect a single memory stick. If you give a memory error try another stick or another position.

Every time you change something, be very careful and unhurried: download your static electricity, turn off the PC ...

Good luck!

 

[King_of_Connacht]

It is possible that your processor has been damaged, but it is worth making sure before replacing it and, above all, not breaking anything else. Therefore, try to proceed calmly and step by step.

If you removed the heatsink it is very likely that it is damaged because the processor heats up very quickly without allowing time for its brake / protection mechanism to act. If you just removed the fan, there is more chance that the processor will still work.

It is recommended to wear an electrostatic discharge (ESD) wrist strap whenhandling the motherboard to prevent electrostatic damage. If an ESD wrist strap is not available, discharge yourself of static electricity by touching another metal object before handling the motherboard.

With the computer fully disconnected, press the power-on to eliminate any energy.

Make a clear CMOS in your mobo. (See mobo manual).

Check all connections. With the nervousness may have touched some. Especially the power cables 24pins 8pins and the graphic card. Make sure your cpu heatsink and fan are properly positioned.

Disconnect all peripherals that are not absolutely necessary and remove all memory sticks. Power on to check the beep signal of lack of memory.

Turn off the PC completely and connect a single memory stick. If you give a memory error try another stick or another position.

Every time you change something, be very careful and unhurried: download your static electricity, turn off the PC ...

Good luck!

The heatsink was never removed, only the fan was. I have also been wearing an ESD wrist strap while tinkering with the internal components of my PC as you recommended. So no chance any of my problems are caused by electrostatic discharge.

I forgot to mention in my original post that I all ready cleared the CMOS after first hearing the 3 beeps, then proceeded to mess with the RAM again.

I definitely did not misplace the 24 pin or the 8 pin connectors since they are securely plugged into the mobo and GPU. Everything seems to be in its proper position, but I can always upload pics if you need them.

I removed all of the RAM sticks just now, and I was given the 3 beep code again. No 5 beeps though, so the CPU may not be damaged. The display is still dormant though.

I will notify you if something works! Thanks for the well-thought-out response!

Edit: It turns out that the RAM just needed be better situated, which took an arduous effort, but eventually my mobo was able to utilize all 16gb.

 

[acecoolcompany]

I just wanted to post something in case someone comes looking...

If you have a heatsink on a cpu, but the fan is disconnected, the heatsink will still draw heat away from the processor, as designed, the fan helps speed up removing heat from the heatsink by continuously cycling cooler air through it.

Next, there is something called TJunction - a Temperature Junction / controller for the processor... If the temperature reaches 105c ( typically this is the temperature ), the cpu throttles to prevent damage. If the temperature doesn't come down when the processor throttles, the computer is turned off to prevent damage.


Processor damage is rare, but it can happen - and the symptoms can be bizarre because of incorrect values being computed, etc.. I have come across a handful of bad cpus at the shop where I worked over several years and a ton of computers coming through and during each bootup, the symptoms would change, but I don't recall never being able to boot with one...


Now, as you have answered your own question regarding the ram needing to be 'better' situated it is more likely - if you heard and / or felt the click or clicks depending on the socket when inserting the memory - the metal wire-springs had debris blocking a few contacts or the memory contacts weren't clean with a film of non-conductive whatever blocking a few contacts... Since you also mentioned the ram sockets weren't used because you 'added more' memory, it is likely this was the issue which was solved after you kept re-seating memory until it worked.

Next time, it doesn't hurt to use compressed air to blow out the sockets with a small brush - I use the brushes you get with hair clippers ( when they turn out to be ESD safe, and most of them I've come across are ) - both the long 'neck' brushes, and the small blade brushes work wonders for heatsinks, and sockets.

I'd also recommend using the highest alcohol concentration you can find you clean memory contacts and waiting an adequate time after the fluid has visibly vanished before attempting to add power through the system.


Another issue could be that the memory types were not compatible in a certain order and by cycling through several you came to the proper order ( likely slow, fast, slow, fast in the sockets since they typically alternate in terms of channels )..

It would help to know the exact order from left to right you inserted the memory, their brands and speeds per socket.