Dead CPU?

A friend of a client calls me with a problem.
I go to check it out.

Situation:
PC won't boot.. nothing no video no post nothing, also no error code. He has and athlonXP 1.4, Epox Mobo, 124 Watt Power Supply(I think thats the problem), 512Mb Crucial DDR, GeforceII MX,

I figured it was the week power supply, then I removed the cpu to find no thermal grease, and the pink heat moving material had melted around the core of the CPU. Never seen this happen before.

I've narowed the problem down to either the Power Supply, MoBo, or CPU, all other components are fine.

Question.
Is CPU bad or am I on track with Power Supply?
theres no heat score on cpu, and definetly no burnt silicon smell anywhere.

[quote]Originally posted by ScottieM3:
<strong>124 Watt Power Supply(I think thats the problem</strong><hr></blockquote>

Wow. 124 watt psu?! Where did they get this machine from? Did someone build it for them or what? I would definately put a 300 watt, and even that would be the very lowest I would go.

Do any of the fans spin when you turn it on or make a little noise like they're trying to spin when you turn it on, or does it just sit there? It could be that the psu has died. Try putting in another one and see if it does anything else. I would also try the cpu in another machine if you can. Hope that helps at least some. Good luck.

Is this a new build? What I'm getting at is some mobos will need a BIOS flash right out of the box in order to support fast procs and won't boot with that chip installed. Also does the mobo support palominos out of the box?
Maybe you need a slower proc so you can boot and flash...

With such a wussy PSU i would be prone to doubt the toasted CPU. Hmmm.

You tried different RAM? Like a smaller stick perhaps?

The Machine Ran for 2 weeks no problem the Client said, also when you power the machine up now.. all the fans and lights come on, hard drive spins up, just no activity.. no video(video card is good though) and no error beeps.

I eventually took everything out of the system and just ran the ram, mobo, cpu, and video card to see if I get a post, and still nothing.

I know you check your video card out, but did you plug another video card into the current motherboard? I remember one time I fought this video card that worked but the board was cut just a little off, so it would not seat properly. Try another video card in there maybe PCI to see.....

A client of mine built himself a 1Gh Athlon when they first came out, and he failed to remove the plastic coating covering the thermal pad on the heatsink and this caused it to melt and subsequently cook the chip cause there wasnt much contact with the chip. Sounds like the chip could possibly be in the same situation from the way you described the whole melting thing, though the PSU will need to come out anyway, and since that is a cheaper alternative to replacing the chip, I'd try that first ... Im surprised it lasted 2 weeks though.

[quote]Originally posted by pm4345:
<strong>I know you check your video card out, but did you plug another video card into the current motherboard? I remember one time I fought this video card that worked but the board was cut just a little off, so it would not seat properly. Try another video card in there maybe PCI to see.....</strong><hr></blockquote>

Yes I already tried this.. first I took the existing agp and tried it in a different machine.. .worked fine... then tried a PCI in broken machine.. still nothing.. Usually you get an error beep when the video card is not seated properly

Thanks :)

[quote]Originally posted by G-Nome:
<strong>A client of mine built himself a 1Gh Athlon when they first came out, and he failed to remove the plastic coating covering the thermal pad on the heatsink and this caused it to melt and subsequently cook the chip cause there wasnt much contact with the chip. Sounds like the chip could possibly be in the same situation from the way you described the whole melting thing, though the PSU will need to come out anyway, and since that is a cheaper alternative to replacing the chip, I'd try that first ... Im surprised it lasted 2 weeks though.</strong><hr></blockquote>


I checked for this and yes he did take the plastic off the pad. he even kept it in the heatsinks packaging it came in :)
I am going to definetly start with the power supply cause 124 watts just won't cut it with an athlon!

[quote]Originally posted by ScottieM3:
<strong>He has and athlonXP 1.4, Epox Mobo, 124 Watt Power Supply(I think thats the problem), 512Mb Crucial DDR, GeforceII MX,
</strong><hr></blockquote>

Although personally I've seen Athlon 700 system running well even with 112Wt Daewoo PSU (and do have personally quite a few Athlon 800-900 systems running well with only 200Wt (but good ones!) PSUs , Athlon XP 1,4Gig consumes much more than Athlon 700...
I have even posted my own topic about PSUs
<a href="http://forums.windrivers.com/cgi-bin/forum3/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=17&t=003983&p=" target="_blank">here:</a>