CPU Something has died...but I dont know what!

I'm pretty certain I used a decent, clean layer. I used Arctic (same as I had when I built the machine) and had cleaned the chip properly during sending off the motherboard.

I'll go through the process of removing it, cleaning it, re-pasting it and re-seating the chip and the cooler and see if that works.

 

Thing is, it didn't turn on and off like this when I had my original psu in there. Surely if the chip were the issue, it would do that regardless of what PSU I had in there...? I have to say this is the most elusive issue I've had to deal with!

 

Perhaps it could have been a dodgy PSU before, but there's no reason to think you need a 900W PSU unless you've got some crazy Quad-SLI setup or something.

I only mention overheating because I had it happen to me before. PC wouldn't give any beep codes because it wasn't getting that far in its POST cycle. What had happened was the plastic lugs on the edge of the Socket A socket had sheared off, so the heatsink wasn't actually being pressed against the PCU, it was just resting there. I didn't even notice because of how small the Socket A mounting hardware is.

Are you sure the pushpins are all locked in properly?

 

Hello Twistedhero,
If you haven't done it yet, I'd suggest reseating/replugging all your components. If that doesn't fix it, it sounds like a motherboard issue - I had the same thing happen and took it to Best Buy, they diagnosed it and correctly identified the problem, which was indeed a dead motherboard.

Also, I'm jealous of your SLACR Q6600 - I got the B3 revision early on and I can't overclock it for beans =/

Good luck, hope it's not an expensive fix!

 

Thanks for the replies guys. Just as an update, I've not got around to doing much since I last posted. I can't be sure the power supply is the issue given what happened when I tried a new one, so I was planning on taking that back. Upon further investigation it appears that a couple of the cpu cooler pins were snapped (possibly in my haste to put it back together after getting the mobo back from repair) so I was going to return the psu and pick up a new cpu cooler, and give that a whirl. Once I've got to that, I'll let you guys know how I get on!

 

Halls, I've never overclocked anything in my life! I assume my CPU (providing it's not dead) is worthy of it it? Might have to create a thread asking how to do that after I get the thing working again!

 

if you've got a G0 stepping Q6600, then you can easily get another 30% out of it.

even going from a FSB of 266mhz to 333mhz will get you 3ghz, and it'll still be in the tollerance of cheap DDR2.

i had the 8800 GT as well when i first build my sig rig, the Q6600 has outlasted that

Currently running at 370mhz fsb, crucial tracer ram was playing up so had to drop my overclock, but i've swapped that for OCZ up so i'll have another bash at 400mhz fsb soon, or 50% overclock (should come out at 3.6ghz).
it booted with auto everything but blue screened, should just need to tweak voltages hopefully
(x9 multiplier on Q6600, when on speedstep it's x6)

 

i doubt the bios battery is at fault as they would have replaced it when it was rma'd if there was a problem with it

i would try power supply, if you can take it to a local pc repair shop, they maybe able to test it properly with psu tester

just because the mouse light comes on doesn't mean power supply is working as it should.

it could be that the 5v rail is working fine , but the other voltage rails aren't

does the board have onboard video that you can test, to make sure graphics card isn't at fault.

you will need to remove the graphics card for a difinitive test, as a faulty card could cause the machine to not boot.

disconnect all hard drives and optical drives, to see if you get anything on screen.

i would say its either video card, or psu, at a guess without actually seeing the machine

 

I've bought a new psu, and plumbed it in and the unit now turns on the same as it did before but then turns on and off every couple of seconds - so i think i might have also inadvertantly killed a pin on the cpu cooler so its not seated right. im gonna try and pick one up today. rather a drawn out repair but im somewhat limited by the £40 in my bank until pay day so im doing bits as and when i have the cash to! If I install a new cpu cooler and plumb in my old psu again and that doesnt work, then ill try the new psu. if that doesnt solve it then it looks like im buying a new chip! the system doesnt turn on without the gfx btw. it bleeps at me. so no onboard.

warmadmax - if I ever solve this issue and get my pc up and running again, i may have to call on you for some overclocking tips

 

Hello peeps.

Just got me a Gelid Tranquillo. Arrives on Monday, will keep you posted!

 

Remove the PSU and make a bridge with a paperclip between the pin 14 (Green) and a black wired Pin. You"ll know right now if your PSU is dead.

If your hear a little whisle, and your psu fan kick.

 

the OP has some power to some parts of the original power supply.

 

Or maybe he can go to a PC shop and make test it. A friend of mine had a problem few week ago with a corsair 650, Some abnormal fluctuation

 

I'm alive!!!!

Looks like a new PSU and cpu cooler did the trick people

Thanks so much for all of your support and ideas. Definitely helped me track down the problem.

Now - to overclock my SLACR! How on earth do I do that?

 

don't ask me i can't break 400 mhz FSB on my maximus forumula (though i am timid on voltages )

have a search for GA-P35-DS3L overclocking and take it steady

 

Googled "How to overclock Q6600" and found a neat Youtube video.

I changed CPU host clock control to enabled
CPU host frequency to 333 (9x333 = 3gb)
PCI express frequency to 100
System memory multiplier to 2.4 (800 and 800)
and CPU voltage control to 1.2700V

Running fine at 3gb chip now

I have a tonne of other options relating to things like 'turbo' and 'extreme' - not sure what they are though!

 

Oh, and realised I can OC my 8800GT as well, so as I'm not overly worried with how my pc runs I only knocked the Core bus up to 709mHz and the memory bus up to 1026mHz. About 15-20% higher. ramped the fan up to 80% as well, seems to be running at 53c atm... so alls well I guess.

Not sure whether I can do anything similar with my 4gb ram... They seem to hold a lot in cache. Is that just the way vista works?

 

Have a search for your motherboard as well, as it should explain if those modes are of any use.

you could either try tightening up the timings or push for a higher ddr speed, 1066 is the next "official" step, you might find there isn't much wiggle room though so don't worry about it too much.

p.s. it's running at 3Ghz