Dead motherboard= dead CPU?

[velvetkevorkian]

Hey folks,
My homebuilt PC died unexpectedly last week- was rendering away happily when I smelled a faint burning; went to check it wasn't the kitchen and when I came back my machine had turned itself off and won't come back on- when the power button is pressed precisely nothing happens- no fans, no lights. Pulled the GPU and PCI soundcard to no effect. The machine had been perfectly stable until that point.

I assumed it was the PSU and managed to borrow another from a friend, but the same result. When I short circuit the green and black pins on my PSU it does spin up; shorting the power pins on the mobo has no effect. I presume therefore that this is a dead mobo- fair assessment?

Given that, what are the odds of the CPU surviving intact? I don't really have a lot of cash to throw at it right now, so a new mobo's not out the question but that + a CPU probably would be.

Any thoughts appreciated.

Specs: (these were all bought new in April 2011 except the soundcard which is from ~2005
AMD Phenom II X6 1090T (stock cooler and clock)
Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H AMD 880G motherboard
OCZ Platinum 2gb x4
Cooler Master Elite Power 500W Power Supply
Radeon HD 5770 1gb
M-Audio Audiophile 2496 PCI soundcard

Cheers!

 

[computernewb]

you probably have to check each hardware individually. i had a power supply blow up on me and I was told that it could potentially take out everything. luckily it only took out my motherboard. My cpu, ram and harddrive were fine.

good luck!

 

[Michael31]

You would have to check each piece. Good Luck I hoped everything survived, the CPU could of survived as long as the computer shut of in time.

I hope it all works out for you

 

[velvetkevorkian]

Hmm, I was afraid that might be the answer. Is there any way of checking each piece of hardware without buying a new one and plugging it in?

 

[littleleo]

Some local computer stores will check for you but they will charge a fee from $35 and up depending on the store. I had a system die and it was just the MB the CPU and RAM were fine.

 

[Michael31]

Hmm, I was afraid that might be the answer. Is there any way of checking each piece of hardware without buying a new one and plugging it in?

You can take it out of the case and look to see if its burnt or messed up, Also if the motherboard is fried, I dont know how you would check to see if your CPU is working, mabey take it to a shop

Good Luck!

 

[kingnoobe]

Well if you smelled something burning. You might be able to carefully look at the mobo to see if it has an discolored/burnt places. Obviously if it does you could just try and replace your mobo.

Really that's the only thing I could think of doing is to visually search each part. Anything else would require the use of some other tools and knowledge on how to use them.

 

[smorizio]

your mb and cpu and parts should still be under warranty most mb and cpu have 2-3 year warrantys. i would use the vendor online warranty checker to see if they are. your nose should be able to smell where there burnt part is. another trick is pull the video..sound and ram and see if the ps and mb power up and give you a cmos beep code. if not i would start with the mb.

 

[Michael31]

+1 for warranty's. You should have them

 

[velvetkevorkian]

I hadn't thought about the warranty, I'll look into that. Thanks!

 

[velvetkevorkian]

Just in case anyone was curious, I did eventually manage to get the mobo RMAd: got the new one (or possibly the same one, I'm not sure if they repaired it) and everything fired up fine. So thanks to those who suggested checking the warranty

Now, let's hope this new burning smell is just dust that's gathered while the machine was out of action... :/