SPCR

Ok, couldn't find any other subject area than this to post. I've posted in about 4 different forums, and have yet to recieve a decent reply/response. I need tech support. That's all i'm asking. Here is my situation *takes a deep breath*

Ok, so I bought a 6800 ultra OC from BFGTech. As i was excited to put it in, I decided also to do a Panaflo L1A fanswap on my power supply, a Seasonic Super Silencer 460W Revision 3. When i turned it on, it shut itself back off after a few seconds, and then the RAM power LED/Power LED went off. I tried again, same issue. From the diagnostic LEDs, all I could tell was that it was getting stuck at the "Testing extended memory" part. On screen, it would pass the POST, but wouldn't get anywhere after that. Usually what would happen after displaying IDE devices, it would say CMOS Checksum Error. Using default values. Then it also would say below it, CPU has changed. Please resetting information in CMOS setup, or something like that. I don't remember exactly. I had previously tried to reseat the waterblock on my Athlon 3200, and heard some grinding. I believed that perhaps I had CRUSHED or damaged my CPU. Well, I took off my waterblock, and it looked fine. Now here is the scary part - after leaving it off for a whole day, and then re-seating the CPU waterblock, I turn it on. Then I hear this weird kind of rapid tone, and it's, i believe, LEDs 2 and 3. 3 was on steady, but 2 was flashing pretty fast. I also noticed (I have corsair xms pro ram, with the activity LEDs) that the LEDs on my RAM were sort of garbled. I tried clearing the CMOS, turned it back on. Same thing. Note that now it just does that, and doesn't shut off by itself. After doing it twice, THEN I START TO SMELL SOMETHING BURNING. That's when I got really scared. I immediately shut it off, but couldn't find the source of the smell. Right now, I'm too scared to turn it back on, and can't figure out what's wrong. I believe it is either my motherboard, the CPU, or the power supply. I am thinking its the motherboard, because the CPU appears to be just fine, and my power supply I don't really think so because it has been very reliable in the past.


So, as you can see, i'm pretty screwed. It's either, as I said, the CPU, the motherboard, or the power supply. I highly doubt its the PSU, as it's Seasonic material, and my CPU does not look damaged. I am thinking its the mobo... it's always been a b|tch to deal with... -_-;;Any help/feedback would be greatly appreciated. If all else fails, I'm just going to dig REAL deep in my pockets for an A64.

Ugh acaurora, bad experience. I've had a similar experience myself. I fanswapped the Antec PSU, turned everything on, got memory errors and then a burning smell. It turned out that I somehow burned the pathways UNDER the mobo. Actually, the mobo would power on, CPU would draw power, fan headers would turn fans but it would stop at trying to read memory. Check your mobo. Hope it's the mobo.

Right now, I've got almost the same problem AGAIN with a new mobo. It stops at mem check reporting C1 (memory problem - I can see it but I can't understand it note. I love the Epox diagnostic LEDs) This time there's no burning smell though.

Well, trying to stay on teh bright side of things - if I do end up getting an A64... it'll be fast, and, i wont have to worry about this "situation" of mine. Although what I may do...(ponders buying a new board, then switching his old one and returning the old one in the new box... ). Even if I do that, i'm going to have problems with the registry/settings/whatnot. UGH. Such a bad way to start off the week, especially with school starting and all.

burcakb: was the damage to your mobo visible (the burnt out pathways)? That way, acaurora would have something to look for.

acaurora: do you have any spare machines/parts to test out the various parts? If you do I'd put the Corsairs in a box on a shelf just to keep them safe while you're testing everyting out. Since you modded the PSU I would assume that to be the most likely source of trouble, but IMO the symptoms do not match with a faulty PSU. A damaged CPU is more likely to represent itself as memory errors, but shouldn't give a burning smell.

Only time I had a burning smell was when I tin-snipped rather carelessly and dropped some metal fragments in my PSU. Have you done any modding lately?

How about doing a mobo swap? Beg or borrow another socket A board, put your CPU into it, and see what happens. Not exactly a convenient solution, but it would narrow it down.

That or swap CPU's in your current board.

Check the motherboard carefuly for physical damage. I smelled burning with my old 8rda+, turns out i burnt a couple of regulators.

griff

I am going to purchase a 2500 and another LanParty Ultra II B today from Fry's after my 1st class. When I get home, I will check the PSU/CPU, because after describing this to a DFI Tech Support person (that is pretty damn knowledgeable), he said that it may be the PSU that burnt out or that the underside of the CPU got burnt. By having both a new CPU/mobo i will be ready for if the CPU/Mobo is at fault. If the PSU is at fault, I have the Nexus NX-4090 to fall back on. Will post how it all goes later today.

Well I bought the 2500 and another LanParty... It was funny because I saw a price drop in the FX53, and so I decided oh hell why not, so I walk up to the register, and ask for the FX-53, and i guess fate was trying to tell me DONT GO FOR IT YET, becase they didn't have it in stock. They had teh Abit AV8 though, the 939 pin mobo. However, I just got the 2500 and the LanParty.

Turns out, when I got home, and looked at the mobo, I couldn't find anything *BURNED*. I saw some weird white smudges, but nothing else.


Then I took off the waterblock...





So, as the evidence clearly shown, the CPU burned up. What I want to know now is that, is my Zalman waterblock unusable now? I see some discolorations on the contact surface, but they seem to come off after rubbing a q-tip on it. Should I just use some alcohol just like how I normally do to remove the AS5?

I am asking for what steps I should do now to get my system back up and running, as well as what do you suppose went wrong that caused the CPU to burn. Do you think this was what was causing all the problems, and that if I put in the 2500 I just bought, will it work? I cannot do it right now, lots of hw to do, but I just need feedback/advice. Much thanks in advance.

PS> Yes I know my AS5 application is crap. I'm learning on how to do it properly a la Ed's "TIM" technique on his NgTechNik.com (i believe) site. Also sorry for the blurry pics. Kinda in a hurry, and was holding the camera too close to the mobo -_-

Looks and sounds to me like maybe the waterblock was not seated with even pressure on the CPU. Something changed somewhere along the way, maybe you nudged the waterblock just enough to make that uneven pressure tilt the wb so that it no longer made solid contact with the die... Hard to tell, but if you examine the wb and die carefully, you might be able to figure it out. It does seemm like it was a physical/mechanical problem.

I see. I will do that tomorrow, or maybe during the weekend. With school starting I have next to ZERO time to work on my computer. School, home, eat, homework, shower, work, home, sleep. Rinse. Repeat.

Well I cleaned off my Zalman waterblock, put in a 2500, and powered up. Everything's back to normal.... just a bit slower. I tried putting it to 3200+, with the 2.5-2-3-11 timings given to me by Edward Ng, and even increasing the voltage to 1.75 V, but it wasn't stable. So, I figured I can just return the CPU tomorrow for a 3200, because I"m lazy -_-;; Who knows, maybe the A64 FX-53 that was out of stock today may be in stock tomorrow

i just got some Ceramique to see how it is, works nice, almost too sticky though.
credit cards work well, except i don't know how it took me until now to find out alcohol will dissolve the stuff those signature strips are made out of.