Mobo and cpu question

[purplecatty]

Just today, My son came upstair and informed me that the desktop system just stopped working and want me to check it. I went down and smelled electronic "smoke" coming out from my 7 years old Giga-Byte GA7VAX system. The processor seem hot to the touch and it's fan isn't spinning. It was supposed to shut down automatically once temp reach 65 C. He said he was watching Youtube.com and it frozed and he rebooted twice. It stopped working afterward.

I unplugged the system and took a look at it. Oh man!! It's the main problem was the power supply jack to mobo nearly caught on fire!! That was the flash point (the jack was plugged in properly and firmly and never had problem). It seem the jack plugged to board's jack melted on two red wire part of power supply jack. Rest of them are okay. So I considered the board "DEAD" for good! It already had it's 2nd life tho (Had it's capacitor replaced years ago). I believe it's processor (AMD XP 1900) is shot too cuz it was stuck on with dead running board without fan running. (The LED status light on board shown it's still on while power is on.).

So I decided to move parts to ABIT AV8 that I previously mentioned it had BIOS problem but still works with BIOS reset (it won't reconize drives until I reset the BIOS to be able to reconize drives). I tested the AV8 and it powers on for 10 seconds and shut down itself Ugghh!! no! no!. I tried to reset BIOS and power on again. The monitor still doesn't show bootup screen but the BIOS LED display onboard show it's Hexdecimal code but shuts down after "9F". The owner manual doesn't say about it either.. I've swapped and test all 3 graphic cards, Swapped DDR1 512mb memory sticks but still won't show up. 450watt power supply works perfectly well. I realized that I have another system went shot. It's only 1 1/2 years old tho. I think BIOS in the board finally shot (I remember the monitor showed funny garble screen when I checked month ago, I shut it down and left it alone till now)...

I am planning to replace 939 mobo with another 939 mobo, I am not sure if the AMD64 939 3500 "Venice Core" processro working or not. I don't have another 939 board to test the processor. If it does work then I would proceed to buy another 939 board What do you suggest???

Catty

 

[Jiro]

Socket 939!! I thought I'm one of few who still have 939! What I can suggest is..... you can mail me the CPU. I have 2 comps - both 939 sockets. I had a similar problem as you. 2 years ago, my comp suddenly died. Fan was working but nothing's appearing on screen. I suspected my CPU was fried and I was right. What state are you from?? I'm in NJ

 

[purplecatty]

Socket 939!! I thought I'm one of few who still have 939! What I can suggest is..... you can mail me the CPU. I have 2 comps - both 939 sockets. I had a similar problem as you. 2 years ago, my comp suddenly died. Fan was working but nothing's appearing on screen. I suspected my CPU was fried and I was right. What state are you from?? I'm in NJ

LOL. Socket 939 now replaced by Socket AM2!! I live in Kansas. You can PM me and see what we can work out. I was thinking about taking it to local computer store that might have Socket 939 mobo which is easier tho. IF I don't find any computer store to test my processor then I would get back with you.

Catty

 

[Jiro]

LOL. Socket 939 now replaced by Socket AM2!! I live in Kansas. You can PM me and see what we can work out. I was thinking about taking it to local computer store that might have Socket 939 which is easier tho. IF I don't find any computer store to test my processor then I would get back with you.

Catty

kansas.... not too bad! Priority Mail via USPS takes about 2 days. But yea - good idea to test it out with local comp store... sometimes they can be an ass and won't let you test it out unless you cough up some bucks. PM me if no joy in your end... I can test it out and ship it back on same day. Don't worry about the cost... USPS shipping fee is mad cheap (only $5 or less) compared to ridiculous FedEX and UPS. watch out.... i might ship back 486.... oops!

 

[purplecatty]

kansas.... not too bad! Priority Mail via USPS takes about 2 days. But yea - good idea to test it out with local comp store... sometimes they can be an ass and won't let you test it out unless you cough up some bucks. PM me if no joy in your end... I can test it out and ship it back on same day. Don't worry about the cost... USPS shipping fee is mad cheap (only $5 or less) compared to ridiculous FedEX and UPS. watch out.... i might ship back 486.... oops!

LOL. I would find out. There are one Chinese owned computer store but I wouldn't bring CPU to test it. I was there years ago while purchasing ATI Radeon graphic card, I saw manager was standing by guilty co worker for frying a mobo (I smelled strong smoke coming from workshop oopsie!!). The manager was pretty grumpy and being a crybaby. I returned the graphic card cuz the TV out isn't working. He was at me and waving his arm slammed the box closed and shucked the box back to it's original place then walked away. The woman at cashier told me it's my hubby, don't worry, he'll get over with it. Oh man lol what a grumpy manager. I thought it was funny how Chinese people behaves

I uses USPS. I don't like UPS or FedEx.

Catty

 

[Remington]

LOL. I would find out. There are one Chinese owned computer store but I wouldn't bring CPU to test it. I was there years ago while purchasing ATI Radeon graphic card, I saw manager was standing by guilty co worker for frying a mobo (I smelled strong smoke coming from workshop oopsie!!). The manager was pretty grumpy and being a crybaby. I returned the graphic card cuz the TV out isn't working. He was at me and waving his arm slammed the box closed and shucked the box back to it's original place then walked away. The woman at cashier told me it's my hubby, don't worry, he'll get over with it. Oh man lol what a grumpy manager. I thought it was funny how Chinese people behaves

I uses USPS. I don't like UPS or FedEx.

Catty

I wouldn't put the supposedly 'dead' CPU on a new motherboard because that dead CPU could also damage the new motherboard too. The circuits inside the CPU could be fused due to overheating. IMHO... It's good idea to test it on a cheap motherboard. I don't know about your other hardwares but it looks like it's damaged as well.

 

[purplecatty]

I wouldn't put the supposedly 'dead' CPU on a new motherboard because that dead CPU could also damage the new motherboard too. The circuits inside the CPU could be fused due to overheating. IMHO... It's good idea to test it on a cheap motherboard. I don't know about your other hardwares but it looks like it's damaged as well.

The AMD64 processor never overheated because I have heatpipe w/ impeller fan in it. It stays 28c stable for very long time till the system went kaput (AV8 have Cool n Quiet turned on).. The only thing I know is BIOS problem. Because last December, winter time in my area, My cat was rubbing beside the opened case (She is always all over me while I'm working on Ubuntu). She zapped the 80 pin IDE cable and when I planned to click around, It won't do anything when I clicked. I realized my system was frozen.. I rebooted and Hdd was not reconized. It came to my mind that I FORGOTTEN to cover the case. It was too late. I was lucky enuf to reset BIOS and it finally work okay but last a week after 24/7 operation. I had to reset bios once a week. Then I stopped using my system for a while until my son begged for good graphic card for "Pirate of the Carribean" online game. SO I took it out and lent him graphic card to Gigabyte sytem. Then I use crappy graphic card for a while till my daughter booted up the AV8 system and it showed funny garbled screen. That's when I spotted it left running and I shut it down and planned to fix it later. Yesterday, It won't boot up on montior even I had best graphic card in and swapped memory stick from defunct Gigabyte GA7VAX.

So My guess the processor is okay but NEVER know that BIOS can screw the processor. Better safe than sorry that I would have processor tested before I buy another board. I saw on Ebay, Used MSI 939 mobo w/ PCI-E for $5 starting bid. It's a good board the seller said. I haven't bidded it yet so I'll wait later, I would like to try Asus 939 board.

If I had plenty of money, I would jump in Intel bandwagon and buy Quad core system LOL


Catty

 

[Remington]

Have you tried updating the BIOS on the motherboard?

 

[~SG~]

Gosh, that was pretty lucky it didn't cause fire, a very close one.

 

[Jiro]

I'm using Asus A8N32-SLI Deluxe. It is pretty sweet. My other one is Shuttle comp. Both are 939

 

[darkage]

If I had plenty of money, I would jump in Intel bandwagon and buy Quad core system LOL

Worth to visit at Slickdeals.net
Somepeople found lower price then posted at forum. You can search for CPU or MOBO. Please do not join member at forum. Just search to find good price.

Few weeks ago, Intel's Quad (retail) for under $200 but sold out.
Sometime, they will not send you due to typo on price.

Sometime, Core 2 Duo faster than quad. Just watch out what number like E9400 better than quad Q6600. My son and I discuss about CPU or other item before I order parts.

 

[purplecatty]

Have you tried updating the BIOS on the motherboard?

It was already updated to recent last year. I always update BIOS when mobo manufacter churns out updated bios (I check it monthly). I reflashed the BIOS few months ago. Problem was solved for short time then it went back to old way. BIOS is removeable but the problem is I suspect the IDE chipset is quirky so I don't want to fix BIOS by requesting ABIT to send me another BIOS chipset. Not worth trying. It's best for me to get another board.

Catty

 

[purplecatty]

Gosh, that was pretty lucky it didn't cause fire, a very close one.

If it caught on fire, It wouldn't burn down my house anyway. The melted coated wire will already cross each other thus shorting out the power supply. The process will stopped immedialy but fire will go out on it's own. I do not have carpet in basment, just cement floor LOL. I would have to open up the windows and door to let smoke and smell out LOL. Mobo fire is rare tho.

Thankyou

 

[purplecatty]

Worth to visit at Slickdeals.net
Somepeople found lower price then posted at forum. You can search for CPU or MOBO. Please do not join member at forum. Just search to find good price.

Few weeks ago, Intel's Quad (retail) for under $200 but sold out.
Sometime, they will not send you due to typo on price.

Sometime, Core 2 Duo faster than quad. Just watch out what number like E9400 better than quad Q6600. My son and I discuss about CPU or other item before I order parts.

Will check this out!!

 

[darkage]

Will check this out!!

Good luck for your search....
Most important keep open your eye on lists and Hot Topic (at right side).

-I got laptop's backpack for $8 better than $50.
-Got computer's Power Supply for under $20 better than $90
-About 4 years ago, I got 80 GB Hard Drive for under $20.
-Sometime, I got free like shave "Mach 4" or other items.

 

[The Highlander]

 

[Foxrac]

Go hardcore Intel user

I'm suggest you to add ATI card in it.

 

[The Highlander]

This is better.

 

[purplecatty]

ROFL!! Very funny.

Intel is my next goal to buy. I'm sure that AMD64 system (if processor works and have new board) will belongs to my kids use. They'll use it for gaming ect and let em burn it down like they did with 7 years old Athlon XP system LOL.

I don't like VIA processors, my friend have one board using VIA processor. It ran so-so. Had some bugs on XP and it was fixed with updated driver anyway. VIA ITX boards (1/4 size of regular mobo and it'll fit inside of your car radio) are sold with VIA processors. I would like to have the most recent ITX board with Intel processor and one AGP slot to build a tiny cpu tower LOL. (they came up new ITX board with PCI-E slot but with VIA processor, no thanks!) This would be perfect for normal use. I don't need any PCI slots because everything runs by USB 2.0 and wireless. Hopefully soon wireless USB (wifiUSB). Small is beautiful...

Most important of all, I would pick out Intel boards that is 100% compatible with Linux. It's a must for me LOL.

Catty

 

[purplecatty]

Go hardcore Intel user

I'm suggest you to add ATI card in it.

No, I'm jumping into Nvidia bandwagon!! I had enough ATIs for many years.

Catty