In the interest of completeness, this will be kind of long and rambly.
A computer that I had previously built upped and died with a nasty burning smell. Hitting the power switch would turn the CPU fan for a second, then nothing. I bought a new case and power supply and tried again. Within a few seconds the CPU is bubbling on top. I pop the CPU and it’s scorched on the bottom; that would explain the burning smell. New CPU ordered, delivered, installed, and I try again. Now everything seems to get power fine, all fans turning, motherboard power LED on, but nothing coming up on video, no POST beeps. Same thing with a different video card. Okay, so the motherboard must be bad, too. Order new one, etc. (including moving the CMOS jumper to normal from reset/powersave), try again. Power up, fans turn (no LED on this mobo), but still no video (both cards) and no POST beeps.
Which is where I am now, thinking, “What the hell?” Thinking it might be a ground problem, I tried setting the new mobo on a phone book for insulation, but still no go. Also, of course, no other devices are hooked up but the video card. I could have gotten a bad mobo, but that it displays the exact same problem as the previous one troubles me. I can’t help but wonder if there’s just something I’m missing. Any ideas?
Did you replace the CPU fan when you replaced the CPU?
The CPU bubbling on top thing sacres me a bit. What kind of CPU is this? Did you run it without a fan attached, or did you notice the bubbling after you took the fan off?
Depending on the motherboard, some motherboards (maybe all now?) will shut down if the CPU fan speed is not at a minimum level. On my motherboard, the result was very similar to what you’re getting now.
I did not replace the CPU fan, it is the same one. The old CPU that was bubbling was an Athlon and, yes, I noticed the bubbling after I removed the CPU fan. Or rather, hadn’t yet re-installed it with the new setup. The new CPU is an Athlon XP and doesn’t have the bubbling problem.
The CPU fan definitely spins up, but maybe not enough and that might explain the previous meltdown. If nothing else, I suppose it’s cheap to try. Thanks for the tip.
Did you make sure the CPU was compatible with your motherboard?
Same goes for RAM. Your best bet, though, is to take everything out except the CPU, power supply, and mobo. If you get POST beeps, add memory, and try again. Keep doing that until something fails, and then chances are that’s the faulty component.
Swapped the CPU fan with a new one and still no go. Pulled memory, video card, everything, still no POST. With both the old and new motherboards. Very frustrating.
The CPU is definitely compatible with the motherboard (Athlon XP 2000+ on a PCChips M811).
I’ll try borrowing another power supply from work; if that doesn’t work and no one has any better ideas, I guess I’ll have to send the motherboard back.