BleepingComputer.com: pheonom won't work but athlon does

when i first got this setup, with my asus crosshair II and my amd phenom 9850 BE it all worked great no problems with sata vista xp or anything. and then my motherboard shorted and i got it replaced under warranty, and when i got it back i set it up the same way as before, but it wouldnt turn on when i put the processor in, so i had another am2 dual core laying around, so i put that in and it booted right up, so i went and did a rma on it and they replaced the 9850 with a new one, so when i got that back the other day, i put it in carefullym and correctly, and it still won't turn on just like before, so i'm cluelesss. also i have already updated my bios to 1402, so its not that.

Did you check to make sure the voltage settings for the 9850 were right in the bios? I'd check the bios with the Phenom in it to make sure the bios recognizes it correctly. It could simply be you have to set the bios manually.

i can't chekc the bios, it does not boot with the phenom in it at all, it doesnt even try to boot, no error messages nothing. and ive reset the bios when i put it in, but it does not work. but the athlon works great, so idn why two of the same phenom does not work.

I had made a post about the CPU possibly being bad but then reread the OP & realized the CPU had been replaced.

If it were me I'd test the new CPU, or have it tested, on a different motherboard to make sure it is actually good.

This post has been edited by fairjoeblue: 25 March 2009 - 04:29 PM

I assume there is no bent or broken pins on the Phenom? The only thing I can think of is that either the board is bad or they sent you the same processor.

no pins are bent, i checked them and made sure they where clean, and i don't think its the same processor, cuz it came with a new heatsink and everything.

Even if it's new, sealed in the box, there is no 100% gaurantee it's good.

I would try it in a different motherboard or take it to a shop & have it tested.

Since the replacement motherboard works with 1 CPU but not the other you are describing a dead CPU problem.

ya, well i don't have any money at all, and all my other am2 boards are dead so i can't test it and idn where to go to test it for free.

That's kind of tough situation !

Since the Athlon works you know the motherboard is good.
You have updated the BIOS on the motherboard.
You know that model motherboard supports the Pheonom .
When you put the Pheonom on the motherboard it won't come on.
Logic brings me to the conclusion that the Pheonom CPU isn't working.

ya, u got a good conclusion, well i'll see what i can find for testing.

you sure the bios has phenom support?

If you bring your cpu into a local mom and pop shop they will sometimes test it for free or at a very low price. I'd also stop Oc'ng if I were you; "two dead boards". It's not always the case that the cpu is bad if the board does not detect the chip properly, and in that case the board would be bad or the bios is corrupt. It was not that long ago we still had to set the parameters manually and if the bios does not detect the cpu string properly it won't know what to do with it.