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How is the die of that CPU doing, any scuffs or pieces broken off the corners?

Andy221 wrote on 2024-05-08, 20:06:

Hi all, long time lurker, first time poster. […]
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Hi all, long time lurker, first time poster.

Im recreating a build from my teens with an AMD Athlon 1400 in an ASUS nforce 2 motherboard, having done a bit of research I sourced a PSU with 480W rating and 35A available on the 5v line.

The CPU had a rough journey to me with some bent pins, but there were none missing and with some effort with a credit card I got them straightened out and dropped in the socket.

Now the problem, no POST, no output on the display and no speaker beeps.

I’ve got nothing connected but the CPU/PSU and motherboard, all the fans come to life and sounds fine, apart from not starting.

Due to its arrival I’m sketchy on the CPU but without even some beeps from the board can I be certain thats the problem?

Welcome to the hobby! I just finished building my Athlon 1400 last week. Loving it! My 1400 would not post unless there was a hard drive plugged into the motherboard. Never seen that before.

One of the best things you could buy is a post card analyzer. It will give you an indication if the CPU is working and what is going on with the motherboard. They are super cheap and well worth the investment.

Some other things to check

- RTC not working / low voltage
- Jumper settings not configured correctly
- CPU slot/socket dirty
- Broken traces
- Loose mosfets, regulators, IC legs and capacitors etc
- Corrupt BIOS
- CPU not getting correct voltage
- CPU heatsink not making contact with the CPU so overheating prevents post

>nforce 2

consensus seems to be those chipsets are from same era as bumpgate gforces = trash
you can try by warming the chipset with a hair drier to verify its the bumpgate fatality

nForce 2 would be prior to bumpgate. More like ESD protection on them being absolute garbage, like the 82801ER had.

It wasn't until nForce 4 that bumpgate started manifesting, especially considering the packages both nF2 and nF3 came in.

Andy221 wrote on 2024-05-08, 20:06:

I’ve got nothing connected but the CPU/PSU and motherboard

What, no RAM at all? Add some.

Andy221 wrote on 2024-05-08, 20:06:

all the fans come to life and sounds fine, apart from not starting.

"Fans", plural? Does your PSU have multiple, or did you lie earlier? What fans, exactly, are connected where and turning on?

Which of your components do you know to be good? The PSU you could try with another board, or measure. Memory, again use another board. I'd also get a cheap second CPU to swap in for the current, problematic sounding one, just for testing. If you could test the current CPU in a different board that'd be excellent too. Right now there's just too many unknowns for my taste.

Thanks for the replies everyone, I think the first, simplest answer is probably the winner.

PD2JK wrote on 2024-05-08, 20:45:

How is the die of that CPU doing, any scuffs or pieces broken off the corners?

I got so focussed on the pins and getting it nicely seated in the socket I didn't look too closely at the die...the results are fairly clear.

This CPU has clearly had a rough life and probably my culprit.

elszgensa wrote on 2024-05-09, 01:15:

What, no RAM at all? Add some.

zuldan wrote on 2024-05-08, 21:55:

My 1400 would not post unless there was a hard drive plugged into the motherboard. Never seen that before.

I'm pretty used to beep codes or even a full on display followed by a memory error message, so I try to cut out as many components as possible while testing. It didn't occur to me that some boards might require more components to even attempt to POST, learn something every day.

elszgensa wrote on 2024-05-09, 01:15:

"Fans", plural? Does your PSU have multiple, or did you lie earlier? What fans, exactly, are connected where and turning on?

Which of your components do you know to be good? The PSU you could try with another board, or measure. Memory, again use another board. I'd also get a cheap second CPU to swap in for the current, problematic sounding one, just for testing. If you could test the current CPU in a different board that'd be excellent too. Right now there's just too many unknowns for my taste.

Easy Sherlock, option 1 it was a typo and I meant "Fan" OR, as is the case i really meant "Fans" there is a PSU, CPU, Case and GPU fan, all were running - I don't know if English is your first language but jumping straight to accusations of lying is a bit of an extreme reaction.

I've tested everything except the Mobo / CPU in this combination as its currently the only Socket A board/ CPU that I have, but based on the shape of the die i've ordered a much better example of a 1GHz Athlon from ebay now (not the same seller...the 1400 was delivered in a jiffy bag and is fairly clearly busted).

Oof... Yep that doesn't look good. Hopefully your future 1 GHz Athlon is doing better!

I've got an Asus A7N8X board (nForce2 chipset) that refuses to make any beeping sounds, even when the system is working fine. Not sure if you're experiencing the same thing as me, but that might be something to keep in mind for the future.

PD2JK wrote on 2024-05-09, 16:36:

Oof... Yep that doesn't look good. Hopefully your future 1 GHz Athlon is doing better!

Yup, the 1GHz effort is running great. I learned a few things along the way regarding using Compact Flash IDE adapters...turns out Windows 2000 is clever enough to detect its not a HDD and treats it essentially as a bootable USB.

An SSD / SATA->IDE adapter later and I've got a successful build and Deus Ex and all my 2000 era gaming needs running great, final build...

ASUS A7N8X-X2
1Ghz Athlon (my old PC was a 1400 but /shrug)
512MB DDR400
Creative 3D Blaster Annihilator (Geforce 2 GTS)
Audigy 2 ZS
64GB SSD running W2K

I managed to match everything important to the make/manufacturer to a PC I remember fondly from my late teens/early 20s and the retro bug is caught.