My dependable desktop PC today bit the dust. When I saw it it had rebooted itself and was frozen at the XP logo screen. The PC would not POST, no floppy access at all, no beeps. The Epox 8KHA+ motherboard reports an "FF" condition.
The PC smelled like burning electronics, so I swapped in a spare power supply. Same result.
Now what to check? Am I safe to assume that the CPU would be the only other component that could cause the burnt smell? I pulled the HS and the cpu looks ok, but it didn't have hardly any arctic silver remaining on it, and one of the screws holding the HS wouldn't losen, it just spun (had to hold the retaining nut w/pliers). It COULD have already been loose, or it could have been tight and then loosened when I turned it, no way to know.
Should I do any other testing? Just buy another CPU chip? I didn't try removing boards or disconnecting the hard disk. Just looking for advice here.
The PC smelled like burning electronics, so I swapped in a spare power supply. Same result.
Now what to check? Am I safe to assume that the CPU would be the only other component that could cause the burnt smell? I pulled the HS and the cpu looks ok, but it didn't have hardly any arctic silver remaining on it, and one of the screws holding the HS wouldn't losen, it just spun (had to hold the retaining nut w/pliers). It COULD have already been loose, or it could have been tight and then loosened when I turned it, no way to know.
Should I do any other testing? Just buy another CPU chip? I didn't try removing boards or disconnecting the hard disk. Just looking for advice here.