Any way to check if a CPU is fried?

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Explotography

Commendable
Oct 17, 2016
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1,510
I was working on an old computer that I'm going to sell to my friend and I wanted to take the heatsink off the CPU and apply new thermal paste. Long story short the strength of the old thermal paste caused the heatsink to rip the CPU out of the socket while the lever was still in the secured position. None of the pins bent and as far as I can tell the socket is just fine, but I did get thermal grease around the base of 2 outer pins and possibly on the tips of several others.

I spent the next few days going over the pins lightly with a small paint brush and 91% isopropyl alcohol. I did this about 2x a day for 3 days to make sure there was no paste left. I put everything back together exactly as it was before and now I'm not getting any sort of video output. All of the fans are spinning and the only indicator I have is that the DIMM light keeps flashing red, but that only relates to the RAM as far as I know.

Is there any way to check to see if the CPU is fried? The mobo is a bit low quality (ASUS M5A97 R2.0) and there are no lights other than the power light and the DIMM light where I can get an idea of what's happening. The processor is an AMD FX-6300 if that's relevant at all.

Thanks in advance for any help.
 
Solution
synphul
It would be worth checking the cpu in another known good working motherboard. It may have damaged the socket with the cpu being pulled out like that.
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Explotography

Commendable
Oct 17, 2016
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1,510


If I come across one I'll give it a go, but doesn't this run the risk of ruining the 2nd mobo if there is any thermal paste left on the cpu pins?

 
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Ecky

Ecky

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Feb 3, 2013
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It's actually very common to pull AMD CPUs out of their sockets when you remove the heatsink, even if you twist the heatsink to break the seal before lifting. I've done this many times and never killed one.

I assume you tested it and it worked before pulling the heatsink?
 
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E

Explotography

Commendable
Oct 17, 2016
7
0
1,510


Do you mean before I accidentally ripped it out? It was working prior to that. I just built a new rig and the AMD one is the one I used just before my new one. Never had any issues with the CPU, MoBo, or heatsink prior to this incident.

Have you ever inspected the socket after ripping one out to see if it was damaged or do you know of a way to inspect it?
 
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Pimpom

Pimpom

Distinguished
May 11, 2008
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I agree with Ecky in that it's unlikely you damaged the CPU or the socket with the act of forcible removal. It's happened to me quite a few times.

Have you tried removing and reinserting the RAMs? I've known many instances in which power and the fans come on but no video and the RAMs just needed reseating. This is especially common with computers that have been used for a while. In my experience, just pressing on the RAMs seldom work. You need to take them out and reinsert them. In a smaller number of cases, you have to do the same thing with the ATX and/or CPU power connectors.
 
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