How to know what component did burned?

[Ronhrin]

I have a PC from a friend that suddently stoped working properly, the PC is an Intel Celeron 1.7 Ghz Socket 478 and a ECS P4VMM2 Board with 2 DDR slots and 2 SDRAM slots (I'm using the SDRAM slot).

after testing the PC I found that the PC boots from DOS Prompt but then crashes before loading the OS or the Win XP boot CD.

I've already reseted the BIOS and loaded the default configs

I'm going to buy a new board and memory for the PC, but before I do I just want to make sure that the problem isn't with the processor, anything I can do to make sure the processor is fine? (Don't have another P4 board to test it)

 

[tcdude]

because of the title of your thread i would have replied "just smell around until you find the part..."

though not being neither creative nor funny today i suggest u run memtest86 (get the ultimate bootcd or similar) which, if it runs whithout error, lets u exclude the memory.

otherwise it's always convenient to have spare parts lying around to do the basic tests such as change cpu, then ram and finaly vga-card... but this only helps when u do have those things lying around...


hope that helps u a bit...

 

[Ronhrin]

but it isn't true that in 90% or more of the times a CPU burns, the system doens't even boot?

 

[tcdude]

yes but there's a slight difference between burned (fried) and damaged (or similar):

it might just be that it is getting too hot because lots of dust adds up in your case over the time and reduces that capacity of your HF. it's also possible that the ram got faulty.

there are lots of reasons that can cause your rig to crash...

 

[jap0nes]

but it isn't true that in 90% or more of the times a CPU burns, the system doens't even boot?

i think it's in 100% of the times
my bet is memory
it boots dos because it doesnt use much memory. when you boot windows it's using some damaged part of the memory, than it hangs.

 

[freeagent]

ive never had a cpu die on me, and ive thrashed my fair share, usually the mobo will give out long before the cpu wants to call it quits.. id try with a diff mobo if possible.

 

[m25]

I have a PC from a friend that suddently stoped working properly, the PC is an Intel Celeron 1.7 Ghz Socket 478 and a ECS P4VMM2 Board with 2 DDR slots and 2 SDRAM slots (I'm using the SDRAM slot).

after testing the PC I found that the PC boots from DOS Prompt but then crashes before loading the OS or the Win XP boot CD.

I've already reseted the BIOS and loaded the default configs

I'm going to buy a new board and memory for the PC, but before I do I just want to make sure that the problem isn't with the processor, anything I can do to make sure the processor is fine? (Don't have another P4 board to test it)

Try reinstalling windows, probably a HD corruption problem, surely not the CPU and if you want to upgrade to something cheap try a sempron or lower athlon: CPU and board may be cheaper and perform better than an old P4 2.4 or 2.6GHz.

 

[tcdude]

I have a PC from a friend that suddently stoped working properly, the PC is an Intel Celeron 1.7 Ghz Socket 478 and a ECS P4VMM2 Board with 2 DDR slots and 2 SDRAM slots (I'm using the SDRAM slot).

after testing the PC I found that the PC boots from DOS Prompt but then crashes before loading the OS or the Win XP boot CD.

I've already reseted the BIOS and loaded the default configs

I'm going to buy a new board and memory for the PC, but before I do I just want to make sure that the problem isn't with the processor, anything I can do to make sure the processor is fine? (Don't have another P4 board to test it)

Try reinstalling windows, probably a HD corruption problem, surely not the CPU and if you want to upgrade to something cheap try a sempron or lower athlon: CPU and board may be cheaper and perform better than an old P4 2.4 or 2.6GHz.


no way it is the hdd, he stated clearly that even with the win xp boot cd it crashes...

but i agree. instead of buying a new mobo and some old ram one would do better by buying cheap new mobo, cpu and ram...

 

[m25]

Can be, but if the HD is seriously damaged, the setup can't load. However, he may also check if he has REALLY reset th bios. It's not the same in all boards; some require you to take th battery off, others not etc.
Something like this happened to me recently: being used to the Asus board I took off the battery the battery of a PC CHIPS before moving the jumper and always failed until I forgot the battery

 

[gOJDO]

What about to try to repair Windows using Install CD.
Also, check out the cooling. It is summer and the chipset if overheated can make some physical errors, while maintaining HDD traffic.