well in my never ending search to find out whats wrong with my comp i think i found it. i pulled off the fan and heat sink to the cpu, and turned on the comp, cold to the touch, ran it for 5 min straight (amd 3200+) and nothing. so what could be the prob, the mobo is either not getting power to the cpu or the cpu is dead, i have no other machine to test this on, how can i find out what one (or both) it is?

So does your system boot up at all or do you just get beeps. What PSU are you using? Has this always happened or just recently?

Quote: Originally Posted by mousek801 well in my never ending search to find out whats wrong with my comp i think i found it. i pulled off the fan and heat sink to the cpu, and turned on the comp, cold to the touch, ran it for 5 min straight (amd 3200+) and nothing. so what could be the prob, the mobo is either not getting power to the cpu or the cpu is dead, i have no other machine to test this on, how can i find out what one (or both) it is?

Without a HSF the rig would not boot anyway, I dought that you could get a glimps of the BIOS.
A CPU generates entirly too much heat to run bare.

How often do you run your CPU with out a HSF?

Some background on the problem and any other troubleshooting you may have done
would help.

With this limited description it is still too tough to call a CPU or MOBO problem.

i never run the cpu with out proper cooling, but when i first built it nothing happed, i got no bios screen, my psu is good everything elese fires up, and my cusion said to check the cpu so i took the HSF off and turned the comp on and it never got even the slighest bit warm.

edit: on the motheboard the POST codes come up as LEDS and all it says is fail to boot/

Quote: Originally Posted by mousek801 i never run the cpu with out proper cooling, but when i first built it nothing happed, i got no bios screen, my psu is good everything elese fires up, and my cusion said to check the cpu so i took the HSF off and turned the comp on and it never got even the slighest bit warm. edit: on the motheboard the POST codes come up as LEDS and all it says is fail to boot/

So you're getting the POST screen or just having the LED's come on on your mobo/case?
Also, try plugging in your fan on the heatsink - some mobo's won't boot if there's no fan attached

nothing would boot when it was hooked up, i just have some LEDS on my mobo that you look in the manual and they mean something, like it says FF and that means fail to boot.

but the cpu is cold is what im trying to figure out. i imagine it would be at least like 80*F after 3 min of being on. but its just cold.

This sounds like a brand new build........

Here's my advice to try.....
1. Remove the motherboard from the case.
2. Place motherboard on the cardboard box it came in. Not the anti-static bag.
3. Remove and reseat the cpu.....check to be sure its all the way down then lock it down. Also check for bent or missing pins.
4. Reapply your thermal compound and install the heatsink.
5. Attach only the video card and plug your monitor to it. Leave the memory sticks out.
6. Plug in your power connectors.
7. If you set the cardboard box up or near the top case you can attach the wires for the reset, pwr led, pwr switch from the case. Otherwise you can grab a screwdriver and short the two pins across the power switch to fire up the system.

Does the system beep continuously?

If the system does beep continuously that's a good sign the mb could be good, since its detecting the memory is missing. You can also try it without video but with the memory installed. It should give you a beep code of 1long 3 short beeps. meaning it cannot detect video.

Give this a shot and let us know what happens.....

I hope this helps......
Good luck & TC
rockin'male

its a custom built and ive re attached everything a thousand times, im positive something is bad, i just dont know what.

It's not that 4 pin mobo connector from the PSU is it?

EXCELLENT IDEA...TRY IT

Quote: Originally Posted by Rockin'male This sounds like a brand new build........ Here's my advice to try..... 1. Remove the motherboard from the case. 2. Place motherboard on the cardboard box it came in. Not the anti-static bag. 3. Remove and reseat the cpu.....check to be sure its all the way down then lock it down. Also check for bent or missing pins. 4. Reapply your thermal compound and install the heatsink. 5. Attach only the video card and plug your monitor to it. Leave the memory sticks out. 6. Plug in your power connectors. 7. If you set the cardboard box up or near the top case you can attach the wires for the reset, pwr led, pwr switch from the case. Otherwise you can grab a screwdriver and short the two pins across the power switch to fire up the system. Does the system beep continuously? If the system does beep continuously that's a good sign the mb could be good, since its detecting the memory is missing. You can also try it without video but with the memory installed. It should give you a beep code of 1long 3 short beeps. meaning it cannot detect video. Give this a shot and let us know what happens..... I hope this helps...... Good luck & TC rockin'male

Quote: Originally Posted by z0mbi3 It's not that 4 pin mobo connector from the PSU is it?

That sound's about right.

are you positive the supplemental 4 pin 12volt power connector is properly attached.
Because if not it'll act just as you described...

Recheck all connections on the board and make sure you have eveything connected that is need to power the system.

but does anyone know what it means when the cpu is cold to the touch when running?>

Obviously, that means that it isn't running at all.... your processor would warm up instantly if it were
working... and it would not be warm to the 'touch without a heatsink attached... it would be hot!!!

TDR

actualy it would hit over 400C in a instance

My abit fatalty has an led display for errors, and FF means its running fine, idk your baord though.

i got an asus

Does it have that gay 'speech post reporter? I've got two ASUS boards who have it... in your case
the womans voice would repeat "system failed cpu test, system failed cpu test......"....

TDR

It's pretty obvious, everyone here including myself is just taking a swing in the air with your system. You can tell just by reading the reply's.

We dont have that much information to go on.......
All we know is it wont boot up and you using an asus mb with a amd 3200.....

That doesnt tell us much at all.....there's too many variables to narrow down the problem to a specific piece of hardware....

First off......Give us some system specs to go on.....and not just an asus motherboard.

Here's some questions to answer......
1.What happens when you fire up the system?
2.What test did you perform to validate the psu is good?
3.What's the psu rating......How many watts? Plus who makes the psu?
4.Did you try booting the motherboard outside the case?
5. What steps did you try already to resolve the problem?

In my own personal opinion with the information you provided. Id have to say either......
1. The mb is shorting out somewhere inside the case.
2. A bad motherboard
3. cpu
4. psu

Troubleshooting a bad cpu or motherboard isnt easy when you dont have any parts to swap out to isolate the problem. Without being able to do that, It could be either one. Both parts need to work together in order to complete the electrical circuit.

If you can answer all the questions i have posted. Im sure everyone will have a better understanding and we can help you narrow down the problem.

i place my money on a dead cpu...

try a diffrent cpu.. or try the proc in a diffrent system