System fan seized, suspect hardware damage ...

[EvilMessiah 0]

My system fan failed a few days ago. I noticed this when the alarms started going off before a very abrupt shutdown. Now very little works like it should. This is the 2nd time I've badly overheated this due to faulty fans (first time cost me a better CPU). Currently, the system will load up, will run for a while with few problems (aside from a locked keyboard) and can run some applications. Given the circumstances, I strongly suspect something (CPU, mobo, or mem) is burnt out. How can I determine which? I'd rather not yet invest in a new CPU/mobo if I don't have to.

 

CPU: Athlon XP1500+ not overclocked

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-7VAX

Memory: 2 x 256MB DDR

Video card: Radeon x700 pro

OS: WinXP sp2

 

symptoms:

- keyboard locked up, even at bootup, replugging might fix briefly

- occasional beeps from internal speaker, sometimes persistent

- Gigabyte's overclocking app reports CPU temp at approx. 50°C and system temp at a frosty 0°C (BIOS reports correctly)

- sound may be corrupted by loud white noise

- system shuts itself off as opposed to normal crash/reset

 

 

[Sampson 0]

This page has memory testing under DOS: http://www.benchmarkhq.mu/english.html?/be_memory.html At the top of the page is click on CPU to get those tests for the CPU. Boot your machine under DOS - meaning that you will need to make a bootable A:\ floppy.

 

However, the primary suspect is your power supply.

[EvilMessiah 0]

easytune4, the overclock app that came with my board shows the power supply as putting out:

Vcore: 1.74V

+3.3V: 3.24 (+1.8%)

+5V: 4.27 (-17%)

+12V: 12.54 (+4.5%)

+5Vsb: 4.89 (-2.2%)

 

most look ok, but that 5V supply looks exceedingly low

what's the usual acceptable operating ranges for this?

i read somewhere that it was supposed to be ±5%

[Sampson 0]

As a rule of thumb, you want + voltages to stick within +-5% of the rated amount.

 

+12V: +11.40 to +12.60

+5V: +4.75 to +5.25

+3.3V: +3.14 to +3.47