[RESOLVED] Desperate Plea to People w/ Knowledge

[AmieM]

Friends bought an AMD-475 computer 8 months ago. Still under warranty. 4 months ago had problems; random errors, sys lockups etc. They dealt w/ tech support over several days and finally discovered the CPU fan wasn't working. Was sent a replacement and walked through installation of fan - no problem. Last week the modem stopped working (AOL 5.0 ;-) I offered to bring the system to my house and fix it. Was told at the time about the fan, and also how system "speed" had decreased dramatically since they had dealt w/ tech support.

Before I did anything, I benchmarked the system using several different utilities, out of curiousity. Reformatted system and reinstalled Win98 and system drivers. Reconfigured CMOS to optimum performance. (Several things had been disabled per tech support.) Benchmarked again after all this. Saw remarkable improvement with video, memory and disk performance. The CPU however, is still performing at around 60% of "average", and Norton Sys Info rates performance UNDER a P-233.

It occured to me possibly the CPU sustained damage running while hot 4 months ago. Tech support is no help to me. They are assuring me that the benchmarks don't mean anything. Isn't that what benchmarks do? Rate the systems (hardware) performance?? I have also been told that as long as there aren't any problems, I shouldn't be worried about how "fast" it's running. (Meaning they paid $1500 for an $800 machine!) I have been told a CPU will work or not (by tech support) - no in between, but sources I trust have said that's not true.

I get paid for working on PC's. But I also know in this industry it is impossible to know everything. I learn something new everyday! But my instinct is telling me this CPU is bad. Tech support is making me "second guess" myself.

So guys - does this all make sense to you? Should I stay on these people until they send us another CPU to replace this one with? The ONLY option I have been offered is for US to pay to ship it to the company for "virus and hardware checking". That isn't right. Expecially with an on-site support agreement.

Thanks for reading (and even more if you reply!)

amie

[BAD.IRON]

You wouldn't have a socket 7 CPU lying around. You could rebench mark. If that CPU test ok than you can say with some confidence that the AMD 475 is cooked.

[Wurny]

About how long was the CPU running without a fan...I know those babies heat up pretty good as I run a K62-450 myself and if that fan dies, I almost guarantee that the CPU follows it if it has been running for a while without that fan....I would try another socket 7 CPU if you have one like the last reply said...good luck!

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-= If the world didn't suck, we would all fall off...=-

[Nate]

Hey Man I know your pain, anywho..

I have a K6-2 and took the fan off it while playing Quake3 that puppy smoked after 5 min
and the mobo shut the system down, the performance when down because I had fried the internal cache L1 :O

I reccomend u purchase another chip, benchmark, possibly mobo was damaged.

Hope you get everyhting worked out, besides u can always go Athlon like i did :-)

-NaTe-
"We don't know one millionth of one percent about anything" - thomas edison

[CyberTech]

If the CPU fan had not been working for any length of time, I'd be very supprised if the system was still functioning at all. I've never experienced a CPU performing poorly after it had been over-heated, but I guess it is possible.

On another note, what kind of computer company has tech support that tells users to take the cover off a computer?? and replace a CPU fan??!?
In our firm, Tech support is provided to help USERS, and to explain how to USE the system, not to REPAIR it! If a hardware fault was suspected, tech support should have either advised you to return the system for repair, or dispatch a technician to look at it.

[Nate]

Cyber Tech:

The Term "Tech Support" Is For technical support supposedly that is all aspects of the computing experience. Icnluding removing the case. Apple has NEVER done this Compaq, DeLL, IBM, and Pacard Bell have been known to on ocasion


-Nate-

[Shinma]

Just a quick related footnote for AmieM, AOL 5.0 has been reported numerous times for causing software corruption. Serious enough that people ended up having to format their drive and reinstall.

[Larommi]

Originally posted by Shinma:
Just a quick related footnote for AmieM, AOL 5.0 has been reported numerous times for causing software corruption. Serious enough that people ended up having to format their drive and reinstall.

In fact AOL was getting sued over it!


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I always do what the voices in my head tell me!

[Neil]

Anyone thought about this chip being a dodgy rebadged rip off - sounds like it to me. Whenever I have overclocked an AMD chip it just overheats and locks up. Just thought I should mention this!

[guest]

Heat can cause transmigration of the CPU. If the machine was functioning without a fan on the CPU for an extended time its time to replace that cpu. Heat kills period.

[goofball]

how about checking the bios/cmos setup for disabled cache or wait state added,

many tech support system will ruin the bios/cmos setup when they are done

[lama]

The first thing i would try would be to check the bios settings to make sure the L1 and L2 cache are enabled. If they are not, this thing is going to run like a 486. If the fan was messed up for a while, you should have gotten a "windows protection error" which means your are overheating. The chip maybe fried but it sounds to me like BIOS settings are the problem here.