First Hardware Failure - CPU or MoBo?

[Dyck15]

I had my first ever hardware failure. Basically the computer wont boot. I already diagnosed the PSU and bought a new one, so thats fine and dandy, but, as I said, this is my first failure, lucky me, so Im not sure how to tell if its now the CPU or MoBo. My mobo, Gigabyte GA-7VAXP, has a RAM LED on it which does light up. When I hit the power button, the Northbridge and CPU fan make about a 1/2 of a rotation then it all shuts down yet again.

I have investigated the MoBo for any physical damage, and there is nothing that I can see. The processor (1700+) has a slight dark spot on the bottom in the middle of the pins. I did have it OCed, not by much though, just stuck the FSB up to 333 and totaled I think 1700MHz. Stock cooling, with little thermal paste. So basically, what happenes when your CPU fails? Do these symptoms sound correct, or is it the mobo? Ill be looking to replace whatever I need with something used that I can LAN with untill I get my new PC.

Anyways, thanks for any advice.

[metallicat666]

it sounds like you have burnt out hte CPU. if your unlucky the motherboard will have died aswell.

[kgburns]

Sounds like that you have probably fried a connection in the MB, since the PSU kills itself immediately after powerup.

[metallicat666]

Sounds like that you have probably fried a connection in the MB, since the PSU kills itself immediately after powerup.

i agree. something is probably shorting somewhere. if the motherboard is damaged it was probably caused by the cpu dieing. that dark spot doesnt sound too healthy

[maximus7001]

I was reformatting a friends machine a few days ago and the psu exploded. This happened because it was a cheapo 300w with no power switch. Well the mobo toasted as well. Lucky nothing else fried.

[Zaltec]

From my (reasonably extensive) experiences, if the fans spin at all, its not normally the PSU. If you've removed every external device (including IDE cables, RAM, PCI's, etc), and its still doing it, you're looking at the CPU or Motherboard (usually the mobo, but I agree, that CPU dosn't sound very healthy)... if you don't get any diagnostic error beeps when the vidcard and/or RAM is removed, ~95% of the time I found it to be the motherboard and not CPU.

Also, I had a capacitor (part of the CPU Voltage Regulator system) fry on my GA-7VAXP back around late January, which also fedback and toasted a stick of RAM.. I was not impressed :(

Even less impressive was the $200CDN it cost for a GA-7NNXP, because I still needed IDE RAID, altho I have been very happy with this mobo since then.

[amd_man2005]

Normally if the fans stop quick it's the mobo. If they don't stop normally its a CPU.

First, I'd make sure you have screws in every standoff and make sure they're tight to make sure it isn't shorting out against the case. If that doesn't work, try it without the HD, CD-ROM's and so on connected.
IF nothing works, you're going to have to get a new mobo