HELP my friend's Intel Core i5 is DEAD

[john5220]

Hi my best friend has a really nice PC he is also a Electrical and Computer Engineer so he builds his own PC etc and has been fixing PC for 14 years so he knows his stuff.

He has a unlocked K ivy bridge i5 with a $50 Zalman Cooler and it has NEVER been overclocked he has always ran it on stock.

One day he shutdown his PC it was working fine and everything, he came next day press the power button and nothing no signal on monitor. The CPU fan comes on for 3 seconds then cuts off for 10 seconds then comes back on for 3 seconds.

He has a $100 ASRock Mainboard so he figured the motherboard was the issue lets be real this is a intel CPU there is noway the CPU is at fault. But just in case, he tested another PSU, different RAM in different slots, both onboard and his brand new dedicated GTX 660, disconnected all SSD and DVD drives etc

Still NOTHING!!!

So he bought a brand new $70 Gigabyte mainboard on Amazon he put in the board and SAME ISSUE!!! EXACT issue!!! Tried it again on new board with different ram took out the gtx 660 etc same thing.

What you guys suspect here is the issue? his system is a expensive 750W Cooler Master PSU from 6 years ago with the 1 million MTBF and he has it in Air Conditioned room, hooked up to a UPS battery backup. He even has a Cooler Master storm scout case which he paid $100 for. So everything was well cooled.

I can only assume his CPU is bad? what are the odds the new mainboard is bad? if so why does it exhibit same weird CPU fan problem as the old one?

There is no way in hell his i5 is dead, I owned many AMD cpu over the years which is of inferior quality to intel and none of them ever died, my AMD CPU used to be clogged with dust running at max temp and it never died so there is noway his i5 could be dead in such perfect situation. Also his Zalman cooler is in great working condition.

 

[Zardnok]

Six year old Power Supply? I would have checked that before swapping motherboards, but that is just me. A bad Power Supply can damage a whole lot of components, including CPU. Does the motherboard give any sort of POST code when it boots? Does he even have a speaker plugged into the mobo?

Also, sometimes electronic components just stop working, it is just extremely rare with a CPU.

 

[superunknown98]

I have had an Intel CPU go bad before and it's not very hard to get an RMA. Just a wild shot, check the pins on the motherboard socket. Make sure none of them are bent.

 

[Arachnotronic]

It's rare but CPUs die. I also don't think there's any meaningful difference in "quality" of AMD v.s. Intel chips in the sense of "are they defective?"

 

[Ketchup]

Best practice at this point is to rule things out - plug the computer directly into the wall (no ups, power strip in the way), disconnect hard drives, use only one stick of RAM, no usb devices, card readers, etc, and see if anything changes.

 

[john5220]

ok thanks will let him know to try that.

 

[Matt1970]

It's rare but CPUs die. I also don't think there's any meaningful difference in "quality" of AMD v.s. Intel chips in the sense of "are they defective?"

Extremely rare, but rare doesn't mean impossible. We are a good 10 years since the "lesser quality" AMD chips, and even those you had to drastically overheat before they would die.

 

[john5220]

ok he disconnected it from wall, removed UPS even used another plug another socket in the house and same issue.

Guess the i5 is dead. WOW whoooood ah thunk it?

can he still get it replaced if he dont have the original box? will intel give him another i5?

I am assuming they would since intel is super rich right?

 

[Ketchup]

ok he disconnected it from wall, removed UPS even used another plug another socket in the house and same issue.

Guess the i5 is dead. WOW whoooood ah thunk it?

can he still get it replaced if he dont have the original box? will intel give him another i5?

I am assuming they would since intel is super rich right?

Only way to know would be to call Intel and ask.

 

[john5220]

ok thanks I told him to call intel and find out. I also told him to explain how he is poor, from a 3rd world country and he spent his life savings on that CPU.

And seeing its 2 years old I doubt intel would fight him down on it just cause he thew out the box, in his words intel is immortal and there is noway a i5 running on zalman cooler never OC in a cooler master storm scout case could ever go bad, any company that rich like intel would not mind making their dedicated customers happy. Whats $220 for intel anyways? it probably cost them $80 if so much to make an i5

 

[Ketchup]

It would be interesting to hear about their process, so keep us updated if you can!

 

[john5220]

yes will be sure to relay back here the outcome as i always do

 

[escrow4]

Looking at OPs other posts and pro-AMD stance I'm certain that it "died". :whiste:

 

[john5220]

Looking at OPs other posts and pro-AMD stance I'm certain that it "died". :whiste:

Pro AMD stance?

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2414829

you better do some more reading on my other threads.

 

[positivedoppler]

Looking at OPs other posts and pro-AMD stance I'm certain that it "died". :whiste:

Are you here to help the op or are you trying to accuse the op of lying about his friends broken cpu?

 

[JumBie]

Is that what this forum has become? LOL people looking at someones profile to get a back story in order to formulate an opinion on whether or not someone is lying about something or not. Pathetic.

 

[john5220]

yeah that guy is really pathetic, stalking my profile and stuff just to prove some point about the past.

ok update guys, intel told him to fill out the warranty process on their website and send the CPU back to them. woot so this is good, we shall see what happens.

He has to go to local post office, we are from the Caribbean so its a long way to intel.
lol its funny I told him to tell intel how he is really poor and that how their CPU are really expensive in the 3rd world etc LOL

The intel rep was really nice about it apparently. They don't seem to mind where you are from, they are quite willing to help. You don't see this from much companies, he said he has never seen a company so willing and friendly in dealing with a faulty product.

So will let you guys know what happens later down the road. Intel cannot repair the i5 I would assume right? they would just give him another ivy bridge? I wonder if they still have those ivy bridge lying around?

 

[Arachnotronic]

yeah that guy is really pathetic, stalking my profile and stuff just to prove some point about the past.

ok update guys, intel told him to fill out the warranty process on their website and send the CPU back to them. woot so this is good, we shall see what happens.

He has to go to local post office, we are from the Caribbean so its a long way to intel.
lol its funny I told him to tell intel how he is really poor and that how their CPU are really expensive in the 3rd world etc LOL

The intel rep was really nice about it apparently. They don't seem to mind where you are from, they are quite willing to help. You don't see this from much companies, he said he has never seen a company so willing and friendly in dealing with a faulty product.

So will let you guys know what happens later down the road. Intel cannot repair the i5 I would assume right? they would just give him another ivy bridge? I wonder if they still have those ivy bridge lying around?

I'm sure they've got tons of Ivy Bridge kicking around; heck according to the ARK most Ivy Bridge i5's aren't even end-of-life'd yet.

http://ark.intel.com/products/family/65504/3rd-Generation-Intel-Core-i5-Processors#@Desktop

 

[ShintaiDK]

RMA rates for CPUs isnt exactly huge either. I know all returned Intel CPU are examined. Thats how low the RMA rate is.

 

[Denithor]

They will check the chip to confirm that it is non-functional and that it has not been physically damaged/altered. Assuming 'yes' and 'no' responses to those they should replace it.

Did your friend have to provide proof of purchase or anything like that? Just curious, never been through their RMA process (never had a chip go bad on me).

 

[Puppies04]

First thing I would check is the PSU. That said something smells fishy with the "K" series CPU/Aftermarkt cooler/Never overclocked bit.

 

[Burpo]

When he gets the CPU back & it does the same thing.. THEN will you check the power supply? Should have been FIRST on the list.

 

[ShintaiDK]

When he gets the CPU back & it does the same thing.. THEN will you check the power supply? Should have been FIRST on the list.

^^ This.

The CPU is the absolute last thing to believe is faulty.

 

[4ghz]

Yep, in my experience these are the items most likely to fail on a computer.

1) hard drive
2) video card (usually the fan)
3) power supply
4) motherboard
5) ram
6) cpu

 

[PG]

Umm...doesn't it say in the first post that another power supply was used as a test:

..."But just in case, he tested another PSU"