Can a CPU socket burn a CPU?

[vyder]

Hi guys, been having a little problem.

Firstly, I have a dual athlon MP system for about 4.5 years. I was playing some BF2 and the cpu locked up on me twice. After that happened I decided that the computer needed a clean, something that I have done numerous times. I removed and cleaned both processors, cleaned the case etc. I put everything together and start up the machine. After a little while the computer will not post and the lights on my hard drive sleds start to flicker. I remove all the components and then realize that there is a slight burnt smell. It would seem that one on of the chips, the heatsink was on the chip, but not centred on the chip 100%. I can understand that the older athlon chips were not designed with good thermal dissipation and thus, the chip burnt.

I then removed the burnt chip and decided that I would try to run the computer with the other chip. I placed all the components in and I know that the heatsink was situated properly. When the computer was turned on, everything was going good. the computer posted and was starting to load up windows. All of a sudden the screen goes blank and i start smell that burnt smell again. I immediately turn off the machine and check the chip. sure enough it had burnt.

Can cpu sockets burn chips? Would a burnt chip in one socket affect the power distribution in another? I have a tyan tiger 2460 and its a great board. however, I do not know what wrecked the second chip.

Would it be a cracked/scratched core? After pulling off and putting back on the heatsink (on those older models its a hassle to remove and so sometimes my pliers slipped off the clamp) i saw that there were some chips of the core on the chip. nothing out of the ordinary tho.

One point i must make though is that I did not place any thermal compound after remove the heatsink from the chip. the amd chips do not come with thermal compound so my habit has been to just place the heatsink back on the chip as it was. (originally it had thermal grease on it from the cpu builder that i purchased the system from).

thanks for you help.

 

[SidVicious]

Either a spec of dust (from you cleaning your 'rig) lodged itself inside the socket and burned (fusing/shorting some pins in the process), the lack of a proper thermal interface overheated the CPU or you mishandling your tools and chipping the core could have caused this failure.

Unfortunately, you're the only one to blame for this mishap, STBU :?

 

[vyder]

appreciate the response, but my question still was not answered unfortunately. I didn't chip the core personally. It is an older chip and from what I have been reading, they are susceptible to cracks from the weight of the heatsink/fan. Does the core get brittle after awhile so that reseating the heatsink might chip the core?

would really appreciate it if you knew the answer to the socket question though, that still remains unanswered and I would still like to know if it is possible or not, even if it was not the cause of the chip failure.

and...doesnt really suck to be me . the cpu is 4.5 years old and i cant get upgrades for them anyways (before they fried), so I have to upgrade in any case.

 

[vyder]

they just cost me a fortune? how so?

 

[sailer]

He was being sarcastic. Since your tools slipped while removing the heatsinks, I presume while the chip is still attached to the board, you may have damaged the board and caused an overvoltage to the chips, burning them one at a time. The chips may also have gotten damaged by careless handling.

As Sid said, you are the one to blame, but don't worry, most of us had made some dumb mistake more than once. It could be said that the only person who never made a mistake while working on computers is the person who never worked on a computer. And as you said, you're going to be stuck for upgrades. After all, a 4.5 year old system isn't all that useful anymore.

 

[vyder]

I have read somewhere that the mobo that I have (tyan 2460) has an issue with certain chips. the power connector apparently cannot handle the extra power and tends to burn out.

I checked ebay and I saw i could buy a single chip for $35-$45 bucks. I saw some paired ones (not 1.2 ghz) selling for about $200-215 bucks. I dont sell stuff on ebay and I didnt think anyone out here would by chips that old. But i guess if I sold them with the board I could get a fairly decent amount of money to sponsor my new system.

Just as a precaution, how can i tell if the board is still good? I could possibly try and sell the board but I dont know if any of the sockets would have been ruined from a burnt chip.

take care and thanks!

 

[SidVicious]

To clearly answer your question (I tought it was clear enough in my previous post) yes, a major hardware failure such as a fried CPU can permanently damage the socket due to the heat, causing the motherboard to become a deathtrap.

Salvage what you can from that 'rig of yours but don't bother with the mobo and CPUs, they're most likely FUBAR.

Be carefull with the memory, PSU and GPU from your current computer, they might have been damaged and could take out to the next mobo you plug them into, your best bet would be to test them on a sacrificial computer.

It's sad but you just forced yourself into buying a new system...

 

[Scout]

Hey, you've got my old "Dualie" board. Mine died too and I also read about the faulty power connector. I could never find any sign of the power connector melting or anything on mine, but it just became unstable one day and soon quit working altogether. Didn't fry my chips though... and I never got the burned smell...

If you've cooked two CPU's, I'd cut my losses as everyone here has said. Time to upgrade! I ripped my stuff out and put it all in a newer KT333 board which actually performed better that that old dual CPU rig.

 

[vyder]

thanks for the responses guys. I knew for sometime that I would have to upgrade sooner or later. I am going to upgrade to dual opterons and an SLI board, thinking of getting the tyan thunder k8we and some 246's.

I will get a proper thermal paste like arctic silver and apply it to the new chips. how often do you replace thermal grease? Are the standard fans on the opterons easy to remove, clean & reseat?

thanks for the help!

 

[Scout]

You know, I don't believe there is a time limit on thermal grease. I've seen really old grease dry out and look cracked when you eventually remove a processor, but with AC or the like, I think that stuff will last for a long time. As long as you keep the dust blown out, you should be OK. And of course, with the heat-spreader caps on most of todays processors, the problem of cracked chips goes way down.

Yes, the clip mechanisms on AMD chips are very easy to release, much easier to work with than the Intel socket 775 stuff.