I'm a fairly experienced system builder (I've built about a dozen so far), but the latest one can't enter POST. I need help guessing whether the fault lies in the motherboard or the CPU, because it could very easily be either one (but almost certainly is not both). I want to return for RMA / replace whichever is most likely to be at fault.
The motherboard in question is an ASUS Z87-A, and the CPU in question is an Intel i7-4770K (LGA 1150).
To avoid jumping to conclusions, please follow this history: I purchased them both brand new Feb 2014. The system I built with them worked fine, but a couple of months ago I decided to upgrade to an ASUS Z97-A mobo. So I removed the CPU from the former to insert into the latter, which also worked fine.
Although I didn't realize it at the time, as I was attempting to replace the plastic CPU cover back on the Z87 mobo to protect the socket pins, extremely ironically I apparently damaged some of those very same pins! Did they design those stupid plastic caps intentionally to be almost impossible to replace? What a racket!
Anyway, a week or so ago, I decided that I shouldn't waste the Z87-A mobo, so I purchased a brand new intel i7-4970K CPU for the Z97 and started to return the i7-4770K back to the Z87. Everything was proceeding normally until I found the damage to the socket pins on the Z87 that had occurred quite some time ago. Yes, the dreaded bent socket pin disaster had reared its ugly head!
However, I knew that quite a few people had managed to repair "bent" socket pins, so after reading and watching several videos on the subject, I spent about 6 extremely patient hours trying to repair them (only one pin needed literal straitening, but several needed to be properly bent to the correct angle). I wasn't sure I had succeeded, but the visual pattern looked good enough to try, so I installed the CPU and the cooling system, etc. and powered it up.
Alas, it didn't POST. Clearly, the socket pin repair did not succeed.
I knew I couldn't return the mobo for an RMA because ASUS would (properly) consider this CID (customer induced damage). But I still needed a mobo, and I liked the Z87's card slot arrangement, but since it was Christmas time I couldn't afford a new board, so I purchased a refurbished Z87-A from NewEgg.
The socket pins on the refurb board were visually perfect (as I would have expected), so I inserted the i7-4770K and finished building the new system.
Alas again, it didn't POST! The red LED on the mobo indicating a CPU problem remained lit, so there's definitely a problem there. The question which has me utterly stumped is: Which is at fault? The motherboard or the CPU?
Argument for the mobo being at fault: It is a refurbished board, after all. However, there's nothing visibly wrong (for whatever that's worth) with the socket pins or the caps or anything else at all.
Argument for the CPU being at fault: This depends on the answer to this question - How likely is it that powering up a mobo that has damaged socket pins would damage a CPU? Again, there's no visible damage to the CPU. But if this scenario is reasonably likely, then I would guess that the CPU is damaged.
What's your view?
The motherboard in question is an ASUS Z87-A, and the CPU in question is an Intel i7-4770K (LGA 1150).
To avoid jumping to conclusions, please follow this history: I purchased them both brand new Feb 2014. The system I built with them worked fine, but a couple of months ago I decided to upgrade to an ASUS Z97-A mobo. So I removed the CPU from the former to insert into the latter, which also worked fine.
Although I didn't realize it at the time, as I was attempting to replace the plastic CPU cover back on the Z87 mobo to protect the socket pins, extremely ironically I apparently damaged some of those very same pins! Did they design those stupid plastic caps intentionally to be almost impossible to replace? What a racket!
Anyway, a week or so ago, I decided that I shouldn't waste the Z87-A mobo, so I purchased a brand new intel i7-4970K CPU for the Z97 and started to return the i7-4770K back to the Z87. Everything was proceeding normally until I found the damage to the socket pins on the Z87 that had occurred quite some time ago. Yes, the dreaded bent socket pin disaster had reared its ugly head!
However, I knew that quite a few people had managed to repair "bent" socket pins, so after reading and watching several videos on the subject, I spent about 6 extremely patient hours trying to repair them (only one pin needed literal straitening, but several needed to be properly bent to the correct angle). I wasn't sure I had succeeded, but the visual pattern looked good enough to try, so I installed the CPU and the cooling system, etc. and powered it up.
Alas, it didn't POST. Clearly, the socket pin repair did not succeed.
I knew I couldn't return the mobo for an RMA because ASUS would (properly) consider this CID (customer induced damage). But I still needed a mobo, and I liked the Z87's card slot arrangement, but since it was Christmas time I couldn't afford a new board, so I purchased a refurbished Z87-A from NewEgg.
The socket pins on the refurb board were visually perfect (as I would have expected), so I inserted the i7-4770K and finished building the new system.
Alas again, it didn't POST! The red LED on the mobo indicating a CPU problem remained lit, so there's definitely a problem there. The question which has me utterly stumped is: Which is at fault? The motherboard or the CPU?
Argument for the mobo being at fault: It is a refurbished board, after all. However, there's nothing visibly wrong (for whatever that's worth) with the socket pins or the caps or anything else at all.
Argument for the CPU being at fault: This depends on the answer to this question - How likely is it that powering up a mobo that has damaged socket pins would damage a CPU? Again, there's no visible damage to the CPU. But if this scenario is reasonably likely, then I would guess that the CPU is damaged.
What's your view?
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