Boot without processor?

[jdw2]

Hi guys got a quick question for you. My friends pc is not booting up and I think we narrowed it down to the processor. When he boots up he is not getting a video signal and it does not look like its going through POST. My question is, would you still get a video signal without a processor in the machine? Or, is it mandatory to have a working processor in place in order to see the POST. Thanks.

 

[mgob]

you need a processor, the motherboard will not fire up without one.

 

[imported_nocturne]

ummm....

never saw this one coming....

mandatories to even POST: CPU, MEM, MOBO, PSU, and video card (and a monitor if you want to watch it happen)

 

[Smilin]

BIOS is merely a set of instructions that are executed by the CPU to boot. Yep, need a CPU.

You can do without memory, you'll get beep codes.
You can do without video, you'll get beep codes.

If you get nothing, nada then start looking at a likely bad CPU (or mobo/psu perhaps)

 

[hAxsYn]

Somewhat the same problem here. My friends DELL died, it only shows yellow light on front of the case (not green)... HDD, CD-ROM -- both spin up, but nothing happens -- no video, no beeps, nothing... I think processor is dead. The comp was on 24/7 pretty much - so Im pretty sure its the processor. Am I correct?

 

[jdw2]

Thanks for the replies. Yeah there were no beeps with my friends computer either. I gave him a new motherboard, power supply, and RAM to test out and he was still getting the same result which led me to think it was the cpu. However, after he tried that out he hooked up his original setup again and miraculously it booted up. No idea why it worked now but we'll see if it stays up.

 

[helpmeout]

Sounds like originally something wasn't installed correctly- or loose connection.

 

[sivart]

Originally posted by: hAxsYn
Somewhat the same problem here. My friends DELL died, it only shows yellow light on front of the case (not green)... HDD, CD-ROM -- both spin up, but nothing happens -- no video, no beeps, nothing... I think processor is dead. The comp was on 24/7 pretty much - so Im pretty sure its the processor. Am I correct?

That sounds right, look at the light inside, it should be amber, too. Either a bad motherboard, a bad power supply or a dead processor. This can also happen when you try to run a processor with a FSB speed that the mobo can't handle (I.e. putting a 1066 FSB chip in a machine that can only handle a 533MHz FSB).