Power supply broken? or processor?

[robano]

Hi i was playing a game when suddenly my computer shut down, i felt on the side of the computer and it was very hot and my power led started to blink for a while before i pressed the power switch on the PSU behind the computer and tried starting it up.

This didnt work, nothing happened not even the fans started and not even the light on the power led on the frontside on my computer.

After that i opened it up and felt on the CPU fan and it was very hot it almost burned me and i also touched the GPU and it wasent even near the warmth of the CPU fan, because of this i thought it might me my CPU which is broken perhaps? i opened and looked at the cpu processor and picked it up but i didnt see any indication that it was broken didnt look burnt or anything (not that i know how a burnt processor looks like).

So, is my PSU or CPU broken? ive tried several times to start it but nothing happens, completely dead.

CPU = AMD Phenom2 X4 955 3,2GHz Black Edition
PSU = Fractal Design Integra 400W
GPU = Gigabyte GeForce GTX 460 1GB

 

[RyBest]

I don't know much about PSU issues and fried CPU's/Mobo's, but I'll try to help as best I can. Usually PC's show symptoms of over heating and shutdown before damage can be down to the rest of the computer. Do you know if your CPU and PSU fans were working beforehand? Also, this may seem rudimentary, you did have your computer plugged into a surge protector, correct?

To me it sounds like a power supply failure, but I don't think that explains the hot cpu, unless there was a power surge perhaps?

 

[RyBest]

On some PSUs there is an indicator light to show if there is power to the PSU. I'm not sure if yours has one or not, but I'm skeptical that your mobo and or CPU fried on their own and the power supply is fine. To me it seems more likely that your PSU blew and that, unfortunately, your mobo and or CPU may or may not have went with it.

 

[christop]

If you can try a different psu. When nothing lights up at all that is the first thing to test or replace.

 

[jsc]

The problem could be nearly anything.

Work systematically through our standard checklist and troubleshooting thread:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/261145-31-read-posting-boot-problems
I mean work through, not just read over it. We spent a lot of time on this. It should find most of the problems.

If not, continue.
The following is an expansion of my troubleshooting tips in the breadboarding link in the "Cannot boot" thread.

I have tested the following beep patterns on Gigabyte, eVGA, and ECS motherboards. Other BIOS' may be different, but they all use a single short beep for a successful POST.

Breadboard - that will help isolate any kind of case problem you might have.
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/262730-31-breadboarding

Breadboard with just motherboard, CPU & HSF, case speaker, and PSU.

Make sure you plug the CPU power cable in. The system will not boot without it.

I always breadboard a new build. It takes only a few minutes, and you know you are putting good parts in the case once you are finished.

You can turn on the PC by momentarily shorting the two pins that the case power switch goes to. You should hear a series of long, single beeps indicating memory problems. Silence indicates a problem with (in most likely order) the PSU, motherboard, or CPU. Remember, at this time, you do not have a graphics card installed so the load on your PSU will be reduced.

If no beeps:
Running fans and drives and motherboard LED's do not necessarily indicate a good PSU. In the absence of a single short beep, they also do not indicate that the system is booting.

At this point, you can sort of check the PSU. Try to borrow a known good PSU of around 550 - 600 watts. That will power just about any system with a single GPU. If you cannot do that, use a DMM to measure the voltages. Measure between the colored wires and either chassis ground or the black wires. Yellow wires should be 12 volts. Red wires: +5 volts, orange wires: +3.3 volts, blue wire : -12 volts, violet wire: 5 volts always on. Tolerances are +/- 5% except for the -12 volts which is +/- 10%.

The gray wire is really important. It should go from 0 to +5 volts when you turn the PSU on with the case switch. CPU needs this signal to boot.

You can turn on the PSU by completely disconnecting the PSU and using a paperclip or jumper wire to short the green wire to one of the neighboring black wires.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FWXgQSokF4&feature=youtube_gdata

A way that might be easier is to use the main power plug. Working from the back of the plug where the wires come out, use a bare paperclip to short between the green wire and one of the neighboring black wires. That will do the same thing with an installed PSU. It is also an easy way to bypass a questionable case power switch.

This checks the PSU under no load conditions, so it is not completely reliable. But if it can not pass this, it is dead. Then repeat the checks with the PSU plugged into the computer to put a load on the PSU.

If the system beeps:
If it looks like the PSU is good, install a memory stick. Boot. Beep pattern should change to one long and several short beeps indicating a missing graphics card.

Silence, long single beeps, or series of short beeps indicate a problem with the memory. If you get short beeps verify that the memory is in the appropriate motherboard slots.

Insert the video card and connect any necessary PCIe power connectors. Boot. At this point, the system should POST successfully (a single short beep). Notice that you do not need keyboard, mouse, monitor, or drives to successfully POST.
At this point, if the system doesn't work, it's either the video card or an inadequate PSU. Or rarely - the motherboard's PCIe interface.

Now start connecting the rest of the devices starting with the monitor, then keyboard and mouse, then the rest of the devices, testing after each step. It's possible that you can pass the POST with a defective video card. The POST routines can only check the video interface. It cannot check the internal parts of the video card.

 

[robano]

Hi so i started my computer again and saw that my fans actually started but only for like 0.5 second i tried the trick using a wire to connect the green wire to a black with a fan and it worked, so i guess my PSU works, i also looked again at my CPU and i think actually it might be burned. it looks like the thermalpaste had melted a bit and it looked very dry like it had burned a little but it wasent of a black color tho.

So how can i be sure it is my CPU that is broken?