Question Weirdest CPU problem? Cross PC contamination?!

Mar 3, 2021
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A friend of mine and I both purchased and build PCs a couple of years ago using the exact same parts. Recently his died and would just power cycle. He thought it might be the CPU so asked me to pop mine in to see if it would start. Tried it, didn't work just continued to cycle.

The weird bit....when I put my CPU back into my rig....my rig starts power cycling and won't boot?! What!!

Any ideas what this could be because I'm stumped! I applied new thermal paste as a solution but no luck. Power is fine, everything lights up, fans whirl and then half a second later it cuts out and repeats.... exactly the same as his machine!? The only thing I could think of is his rig was damaged by static or something that's now broken my cpu?

Any ideas or tests etc?

Ps: if I need a new CPU...would I even be safe to put it in my machine or is there a chance my moby could also be comprised as I'm guessing that's what would have affected my CPU?
 
Sounds like whatever broke his broke yours too--it's the one danger in swapping known working components for suspect ones as a diagnostic method. :( I would say his motherboard is shot and kills cpus. I would get in touch with the motherboard manufacturer as they might be interested in the board since I'm sure they would generally make the failure mechanisms not destructive like this.

What I would do at this point is try his and your cpu in your setup and see if you have the same results. If so, you need a 3rd cpu to test in yours to determine if a bad cpu destroyed the board that destroyed the cpu or if only the board destroyed the cpu. If you take another known working cpu and put it in your system and it not boot like normal, then sadly your system is now in the same state as his.
 
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Mar 3, 2021
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Ok so I tried his is mine...power cycle.

Tried my old one again with all the other tricks I could think of (minimal start up etc) ...power cycle.

Brought a new CPU and put it into mine....doesn't power cycle...but doesn't start up either? Fans whirl, power stays on, no beeps etc but doesn't boot. Peripheral don't light up (tired without) tired unplugging GPU etc...same state. Anyone seen anything like this before ?