Might Have Fried My i7 - Please Help!

[jacksonwalters]

Just bought a new HTPC and got everything up and running beautifully. I went into the BIOS to tweak some settings and tried out an OC profile that ASUS had in there and it immediately shut off and will not boot at all despite every trick I've tried.

- Reseated proc, checked for bent pins, thermal grease is well applied, CPU fan is plugged in, unplugged and replugged ATX, made sure graphics card is well seated, cleared CMOS multiple times, left out CMOS battery and put back in an hour later, tried booting with one stick of RAM in multiple slots.

This is what I think happened: You're not supposed to go over 1.65v on the DRAM apparently or you will fry the mem controller on your CPU. I guess the OC profile in the ASUS BIOS had the DRAM over that limit and I may have fried either my CPU, RAM, or motherboard, but nothing looks physically damaged at all.

On a separate note it's really insane if I didn't overclock the processor at all and it's being fried. What does the warranty say about that.

Anyways I'm pretty scared because I think I may have just taken 300 dollars, soaked it in lighter fluid and burned it so any help would be much appreciated. Ugh..

Specs:

430W Apevia PSU (came with the case)
Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem
6GB DDR3 1333 G.Skill
ASUS GTS250
ASUS P6T SE

[Daniel ~]

I'd be somewhat surprised if any OC settings Asus offered as an automatic or " overclocking profile" would fry any of your gear as such. They've gotten pretty good at this now.

Given everything you've tried all I could do is begin testing individual parts, beg, borrow or buy and test until you find out what's good and what's not.

I would also look very carefully for any possible shorts between mother board and case. Check all you caps for leakage or swelling and look for even the tiniest black around solder points.

Best of luck. I'm sure others will see more deeply into this than I so check back.

[jacksonwalters]

Yeah, I was really surprised that any stock settings would cook anything, but we'll see. If it so happened that it did, I'll probably give ASUS a call and tell 'em what's up.

[Daniel ~]

Originally Posted by jacksonwalters

Yeah, I was really surprised that any stock settings would cook anything, but we'll see. If it so happened that it did, I'll probably give ASUS a call and tell 'em what's up.

My board, under your circumstances? I'd be thinking RMA, if I couldn't find a better answer.

[MUff1N]

Originally Posted by jacksonwalters

Just bought a new HTPC and got everything up and running beautifully. I went into the BIOS to tweak some settings and tried out an OC profile that ASUS had in there and it immediately shut off and will not boot at all despite every trick I've tried.

- Reseated proc, checked for bent pins, thermal grease is well applied, CPU fan is plugged in, unplugged and replugged ATX, made sure graphics card is well seated, cleared CMOS multiple times, left out CMOS battery and put back in an hour later, tried booting with one stick of RAM in multiple slots.

This is what I think happened: You're not supposed to go over 1.65v on the DRAM apparently or you will fry the mem controller on your CPU. I guess the OC profile in the ASUS BIOS had the DRAM over that limit and I may have fried either my CPU, RAM, or motherboard, but nothing looks physically damaged at all.

On a separate note it's really insane if I didn't overclock the processor at all and it's being fried. What does the warranty say about that.

Anyways I'm pretty scared because I think I may have just taken 300 dollars, soaked it in lighter fluid and burned it so any help would be much appreciated. Ugh..

Specs:

430W Apevia PSU (came with the case)
Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem
6GB DDR3 1333 G.Skill
ASUS GTS250
ASUS P6T SE

I'm pretty sure there something you've overlooked in the troubleshooting of this mobo that hasn't been done yet
(Although I don't know what it might be but others here will if any) to reset it from a bad OC setting.

You have to apply very, very high voltage to a Intel CPU before it will fry!
For example I've read where someone said that if they appied any higher vcore than 1.6v
the system simply would not boot & this didn't matter how cool the Core i7 CPU was running.

We have a member here that had his bios go crazy on him & his Q6600 vcore
was running at 1.86v for God knows how long & still it didn't kill it!
I'm sure the same goes for the i7 Core processor so I doubt it fried.

My best guess is the bios is telling the vcore regulators to give it more than 1.6v so it's not booting.

Did you reflash the bios? I didn't see that on your list.

[ccperf721p]

If it were my rig, the first thing I would look at is this. "430W Apevia PSU (came with the case) If it were a quality Power Supply it would not be adequate for your rig, and Apevia isn't known for quality to say the least..

[ThunderRd]

Originally Posted by MUff1N

We have a member here that had his bios go crazy on him & his Q6600 vcore was running at 1.86v for God knows how long & still it didn't kill it!
I'm sure the same goes for the i7 Core processor so I doubt it fried.

That was me.

And as ccperf said in the post above, replacing the PS solved my problem, so I'd take a look at that. In my case, it was the 5V rail that was at fault.

[jacksonwalters]

Originally Posted by ccperf721p

If it were my rig, the first thing I would look at is this. "430W Apevia PSU (came with the case) If it were a quality Power Supply it would not be adequate for your rig, and Apevia isn't known for quality to say the least..

Understandable, and I'd be thinking the same thing if it wasn't for the fact that it was working perfectly before applying those OC settings. I'm probably going to RMA it.

In response to flashing the BIOS, I don't know how I'd be able to do that without even being able to get a fan spinning.

Any ideas of anything I haven't tried yet?

[Daniel ~]

Asking a cheap PSU to power your OC, even a moderate one...What Cliff is saying makes sense, it is the most likely place to start, every thing else you have is up to the task...As far as I can tell.

[MUff1N]

Originally Posted by jacksonwalters

Understandable, and I'd be thinking the same thing if it wasn't for the fact that it was working perfectly before applying those OC settings. I'm probably going to RMA it.

In response to flashing the BIOS, I don't know how I'd be able to do that without even being able to get a fan spinning.

Any ideas of anything I haven't tried yet?

If you can't even get to post, then I also agree with ccper that your PSU is what' gone wrong...
At the very least even with bad OC setting you should be able to post to the bios for recovery options.

[jacksonwalters]

So I guess y'all are saying the PSU is fried. Makes sense. Here's my game plan: I just got an RMA approved for my RAM and CPU. Once I get those I'll pop 'em in and if it's still not booting at all then I guess I'll shell out some cash for a decent power supply - something I probably should have done in the first place but it seemed to be okay. Thanks guys and I will keep you updated.

Oh and I don't think anything will happen but if I put in my new CPU and and RAM when they come in will a dead PSU do any damage to them?

[Daniel ~]

Again I'm not the sharpest tack in AOA's box...that said...if the PSU is DEAD, no, if it's just flaky and unstable...I "Think " there is a chance it might...wait for more info from others before you act...":O}

[jacksonwalters]

I decided I'm just gonna shell out the money and get a new PSU. I sent in the stuff for RMA and I'll have a nice, high quality power supply waiting for my i7 and memory when they arrive. I've never really considered PSU's as another component to invest in, but more and more I've come to realize they are the backbone of a nice PC. Any suggestions for a nice PSU?

[Daniel ~]

ccperf721p is my main man. And Cliff says:":O}

I have never had a PSU failure using Zippy or PCP&C

[jacksonwalters]

I would have loved to use PCP+C or Zippy but neither had modular models so I went with a nice Silverstone that had great stability and efficiency and won some awards.

[ThunderRd]

Thermaltake has some nice modular PS models. I have used them for a long time. I have recently gotten a Tagan that seems to be quite good, too, and it is modular. Tagan has them up to 1300W.

But the best choice IMO is Corsair - I have an HX1000W model that is solid as a rock, and they make others at different price points. They are pricey, though - if that is an issue.

For some reason PSUs seem to be the most overlooked component in a high-end system. I can't count the number of problems I've seen on computers of people I know that stem from the PSUs.

[ccperf721p]

I asked a friend to check the voltages with his P6T after applying the auto OC feature and he said they did not go up much over stock, but the OC was a pretty big step (200 BCLK) which wasn't able to boot Windows at stock voltages.

My best guess would be the additional power needed to attempt the boot was beyond what the power supply could handle.

The seasonic was a decent choice, they use quality components. Only thing I didn't like about the seasonics was the noise level of the fan. Let me know if this has been fixed in recent models..

[ThunderRd]

Originally Posted by ccperf721p

The seasonic was a decent choice, they use quality components. Only thing I didn't like about the seasonics was the noise level of the fan. Let me know if this has been fixed in recent models..

Only problem is...he bought a Silverstone

[ccperf721p]

Oops. Guess I need to go back to skool..

[dsio]

Should also put out there, I've always been exceptionally pleased with Enermax's units. About to get a new high power Enermax to replace the HX-620 Corsair just to have a bit more leg room for the next upgrade as the last one I had was an absolute viking.

The Corsair has also been an exceptional unit and very good value. Less that pleased with some of the middle to lower end Thermaltake's I've used and especially with an OCZ that I returned before getting the Corsair.

Totally agree with comments above regarding PSU being a highly overlooked component. If you buy one really well, they can last you 2-4 generations and are a very valuable investment, giving you a solid and reliable foundation for the rest of your system. The Enermax 431W I bought for a Duron 1300 TNT2 later ran an AXP 2400+ / TI4600, and then finally a watercooled and heavily overclocked A64 3200+ / voltmodded 6800GT running 24/7 for five years, and that last system would have been pushing it right to its limit.