Two seeming DOA CPUs in a row. Am I unlucky or...

[MrElbowz]

Hi all!

So I've had this super old (built in 2009-ish with some parts predating) machine in my living room that I've been using as a media center. This is all well and good but it's just too slow so I decided to upgrade some parts to make it a smidge faster. Mainly, I grabbed a new CPU (and appropriate mobo), an SSD, and some new RAM to boot. I'm recycling the DVD optical drive, the PSU, an old GPU, and case.

Everything went well: build was easy, parts clicked into place no problem, up until I went to turn the darn thing on: 5 short beeps and then it powers off, only to power back on and beep 5 more times before turning off etc etc. Well according the mobo's doccumentation, that means a problem with the CPU. I went through a long list of trouble shooting only to determine it must have been DOA.

I sent the CPU back to newegg, they confirmed it was faulty, and then mailed me a new one which I just put into the build, powered up.... same thing! I'm not sure if I send back for ANOTHER cpu or if perhaps it's the mobo and/ or the old PSU is shorting/ frying something?

Things I've tried:
-Checking/ double checking there are no spacers shorting the board
-Checking to make sure there's no wires shoring the board
-Checking the make sure everything is plugged in securely
-Ensuring the heatsync is firmly in place
-Checking the back of the CPU to ensure no blemishes/ issues with the chip
-Checking the pins on the mobo for any bent pins
-Pulling out each extra component (RAm, GPU, SATA cables) to check if one of them is shorting the board
-Pulling out the CPU power cable (this was interesting: no beeps, just solid quiet runtime. nothing showed up on the monitor)

My thoughts so far:
-Powering on the machine, everything that has power spins, case fans, CPU fan, GPU, optical drive, so I feel like the PSU is fine
-The PSU is old, from my first ever build. Is there a chance there isn't enough (or too much) power going to the 4-pin CPU power? (Calls for 12V)
-Mobo is very clearly indicating there's something up with the CPU, leading me to believe the mobo is good to go
-Also when pulling the CPU power and running the machine, there are no beeps so it looks like the mobo is all gravey until it tries to talk to the powered CPU
-DOA CPUs are rare, but not unheard of, so I get getting one, but two in a row??? There has to be something else at work here...
-I very meticulously made sure I was grounded before cracking the case/ touching the chip, so I don't think I carelessly fried it
-The parts that I recycled (case, GPU, PSU) were all working fine before getting the new parts in there so the issue must be with one of the new parts

Build components:
Intel i3 6100 3M
GIGABYTE GA-H110M-A
NVIDIA GTX 260 GPU
HyperX FURY 8GB (2 x 4GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM
Kingston SSD V300 120gb
Fatal1ty 550W PSU

Any suggestions/ help would be awesome. At this point, I'm really at a loss for what to do. Thanks!!

 

[greens]

Reading your post, some things you didn't mention so i'm going to make sure:

You tried booting using the onboard graphics by plugging into the motherboard?
If yes... You tried booting using the dedicated graphics by plugging into the GPU?
Could be as simple as having your video out plugged into the wrong slot!

Two DOA skylakes... If that ends up being true i'd like to PM you the line up for the races at Del Mar - thats some crazy luck.

 

[MrElbowz]

Reading your post, some things you didn't mention so i'm going to make sure:

You tried booting using the onboard graphics by plugging into the motherboard?
If yes... You tried booting using the dedicated graphics by plugging into the GPU?
Could be as simple as having your video out plugged into the wrong slot!

Two DOA skylakes... If that ends up being true i'd like to PM you the line up for the races at Del Mar - thats some crazy luck.

I've only booted with the video-out connected once, which was using the onboard graphics from the CPU. All other attempts were just me at the work station turning on the build and listening to the beeps. At this point, I want to hear it run sans beeps.

The motherboard is brand new, but cheap (~$50). Could there be an issue there? I don't have another LGA 1151 mobo to try out the CPU with, so I can't be sure.

 

[panathas]

It could be the motherboard being faulty thus frying the CPUs but the real issue in my opinion is the PSU. It is a very old unit that doesn't have official support for Intel haswell+ CPUs which means that it doesn't also support your current skylake CPU. Those specific PSU's were good for their time but not by today's standards and if you try using a modern system with them, issues could arise or worse they may fry something especially if the PSU is very old unit and in bad condition. Get a new PSU first but I'm afraid it may already be too late for your current board/CPU so you may have to RMA both of them one last time.

 

[MrElbowz]

It could be the motherboard being faulty thus frying the CPUs but the real issue in my opinion is the PSU. It is a very old unit that doesn't have official support for Intel haswell+ CPUs which means that it doesn't also support your current skylake CPU. Those specific PSU's were good for their time but not by today's standards and if you try using a modern system with them, issues could arise or worse they may fry something especially if the PSU is very old unit and in bad condition. Get a new PSU first but I'm afraid it may already be too late for your current board/CPU so you may have to RMA both of them one last time.

Aw heck... I mean you're right. The PSU is mad old, close to a decade. I'll run out tomorrow and grab a new one from microcenter and test it, but I think you may be right, it'll likely be another trip back to FedEx.

Anything I should look for? Just Haswell+ support?

 

[panathas]

All relatively modern PSUs have haswell+ support. Just make sure you don't buy a very cheap one. Your system's total lifetime and reliability relies on the PSU and how clean power it provides. Check this thread for good PSU's and make sure you choose one from tier 1 or 2, http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/id-2547993/psu-tier-list.html. For your system and usage scenario I'd go for the cheapest 500W that I can find from tier 2.Good luck.

EDIT: Check this new PSU also http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/corsair-cx650m-psu,4770.html. You don't need the 650W model but if you can find the 550W at a good price, it's a very good match for your system.

 

[MrElbowz]

All relatively modern PSUs have haswell+ support. Just make sure you don't buy a very cheap one. Your system's total lifetime and reliability relies on the PSU and how clean power it provides. Check this thread for good PSU's and make sure you choose one from tier 1 or 2, http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/id-2547993/psu-tier-list.html. For your system and usage scenario I'd go for the cheapest 500W that I can find from tier 2.Good luck.

EDIT: Check this new PSU also http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/corsair-cx650m-psu,4770.html. You don't need the 650W model but if you can find the 550W at a good price, it's a very good match for your system.

Browsing newegg with the Haswell Support filter on, looks like the Fatal1ty is on there? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA4H81E87157

looks just like my current PSU, you think it's safe to just rebuy the same unit and trust the've added in supposrt for Haswell and simply kept the packaging/ look/ general build the same? (if it ain't broke...)

 

[panathas]

Are you sure that it's Haswell ready? There are some reviews that mention that it has problems meeting some Haswell specifications. Also is this your current PSU? I thought yours was an OCZ fatal1ty and not a PC Power & Cooling one. Haswell ready or not, the fact is that even this newer fatal1ty PSU is really an old model and there are much better and more modern PSUs out there at the same price point, such as
1) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139147 and
2) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139146

 

[synphul]

Haswell ready psu's mean that they support the extreme low power states when a pc goes into deep sleep mode. Disabling the extended c states in the bios like c6/c7 will solve that. Otherwise if the psu is known to be working it should boot up just fine, the 'haswell' issues won't crop up on initial boot so unlikely to be the cause of the 5 beeps. Running extended sleep states of haswell or skylake with a non compliant/ready psu just means if it enters sleep it won't recover and you'll have to cold boot the pc to fire it back up.

Sounds like something else is the issue and the motherboard could be part of the problem. Unlikely (though not entirely impossible) to get 2 bad cpu's in a row. It's not to say the psu may not be in need of replacing given how old it is, just that not being 'haswell ready' isn't the cause of the initial boot issues. I've been running a non haswell-ready psu with both of my 4690k for 2yrs and no issues.

 

[panathas]

Haswell ready psu's mean that they support the extreme low power states when a pc goes into deep sleep mode. Disabling the extended c states in the bios like c6/c7 will solve that. Otherwise if the psu is known to be working it should boot up just fine, the 'haswell' issues won't crop up on initial boot so unlikely to be the cause of the 5 beeps. Running extended sleep states of haswell or skylake with a non compliant/ready psu just means if it enters sleep it won't recover and you'll have to cold boot the pc to fire it back up.

Sounds like something else is the issue and the motherboard could be part of the problem. Unlikely (though not entirely impossible) to get 2 bad cpu's in a row. It's not to say the psu may not be in need of replacing given how old it is, just that not being 'haswell ready' isn't the cause of the initial boot issues. I've been running a non haswell-ready psu with both of my 4690k for 2yrs and no issues.

Yes I agree with you but he has to start again building his system from a solid base.I wouldn't trust that PSU, haswell ready or not, with a new system. Also over the last 3 years I've heard a lot of stories about not haswell ready PSUs, on systems with disabled power states, that had their other rails (+5v, +3,3v) go wild in some cases.