What just died?
Ok, heres the story...
Earlier on today I was next to my old amd k6 2 500mhz rig that is primally used to run linux and folding@home. It is left on 24/7 and has been running fine for about a month. Anyway, all of a sudden I heard the DVD drive start wiring away which was odd because nothing it was running would use the DVD drive. So I turned on the monitor and found that it had rebooted itself, and was cycyling through the POST screen, then when it got to the point where it tried to boot it just reset itself again and carried on like that. Fine, I thought, and turned it off at the mains, but after turning it back on, nothing happened. The harddrive span up, the keyboard LED's flashed and the CPU fan was spinning but there was no signal to the monitor and the power light wasn't on.
This sounds like a dead CPU to me
But before I go out and look for a replacement, has anyone had any experiances of anything like this before? Ive already tried the 2 sticks of ram that were in it individually with no luck, and have tried dissconnecting the dvd drive and even the harddrive from it in case it was a lack of power, but still no success And, if it is the CPU, why would it have been able to run through the POST screens? 
Also, does anyone know if there is anywhere where you can still buy k6 2's in the UK, excluding buying second hand? It isnt my main rig, but its just annoying loosing a comp, and my only backup computer (not to mention secondary folding machine)
Earlier on today I was next to my old amd k6 2 500mhz rig that is primally used to run linux and folding@home. It is left on 24/7 and has been running fine for about a month. Anyway, all of a sudden I heard the DVD drive start wiring away which was odd because nothing it was running would use the DVD drive. So I turned on the monitor and found that it had rebooted itself, and was cycyling through the POST screen, then when it got to the point where it tried to boot it just reset itself again and carried on like that. Fine, I thought, and turned it off at the mains, but after turning it back on, nothing happened. The harddrive span up, the keyboard LED's flashed and the CPU fan was spinning but there was no signal to the monitor and the power light wasn't on.
This sounds like a dead CPU to me
But before I go out and look for a replacement, has anyone had any experiances of anything like this before? Ive already tried the 2 sticks of ram that were in it individually with no luck, and have tried dissconnecting the dvd drive and even the harddrive from it in case it was a lack of power, but still no success And, if it is the CPU, why would it have been able to run through the POST screens? Also, does anyone know if there is anywhere where you can still buy k6 2's in the UK, excluding buying second hand? It isnt my main rig, but its just annoying loosing a comp, and my only backup computer (not to mention secondary folding machine)
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Try run without the cpu and see if it does the same thing. However, i´m not sure if thats safe for the motherboard or not, but i have done it several times before without trouble.
bothered.
Bothered's got the right idea as usual. Don't jump to conclusions, I'm not saying it's not the CPU, but I feel it's has as much chance of it being that as it has of being your PSU, or a stick of memory. You need to patiently test and elliminate one component at a time from being faulty. I would say PSU and Memory would be the first things to look at, but test everything, GPU included.
Best thing to do is to take your mobo out of it's case and set it up on a non conductive surface, i.e not a tin foil table, then start to test things. Swap the PSU, swap the memory, or better yet, put the memory in another system and run DOCMEMORY on it to see if it's faulty.
With regard to those CPU's, well I bought a K6 2-550 about about 18 months ago for my sisters machine, I'll have a dig around to find what place I got it from. You should still be able to find one somewhere, if not new then almost certainly second hand. Try www.micromart.co.uk
Also, I am 99% sure I have a spare K6 2-350 lying around somewhere which I can send to you if you want? Even if your current CPU is fine, I'm sure you could use it for testing purposes. Let me know if you want me to get it in the post.
Either way, keep us posted.
Tried this, and still got nothing. Ive tried testing the 2 sticks of ram individually in different ram slots, but that didnt help either, so i think its probally safe to rule out the ram as the problem.
Tried this as well, and still no luck
Think ive got it narrowed down to ether the PSU, CPU or motherboard now. Its impossible to test the GPU since it is running on a built in graphics chip (some trident POS) and has no AGP slot. The only way to test to see would be to insert a PCI graphics card and test that, except you have to set in the bios whether to boot up using a PCI graphics card or use the buit in chip, and since its impossible to access the bios settings......:banghead:
However, after a day of running the pc non stop, the graphics did get a bit screwy, the areas at the edge of the windows turned a nasty kind of green that dissappeared when the mouse was run over them, it was defiently not the monitor. So there is a small possibility that it could be the GPU.
Thanks Spinner, i might have to take you up on that offer
Possibly, but you need to test them using a memory testing application, like DOCMEMORY, until you have done that you can't rule out the memory being the problem. However, my gut tells me, it is not a memory problem. Nevertheless...
Disfigurations of the display are one typical sign of the GPU being faulty, so the motherboard may in fact be the component which is causing you these problems. I say that because memory problems, usually just cause random and straight up BSOD's, and are usually not predictable, CPU faults are usually and commonly identifiable because of a PC's very specific behavier as a result, e.g the computer will completely freeze, and will not restart or anything.
My opinion is that your motherboard is the most likely culprit of your PC's problems, but as people and myself have said, you can't confirm that until you have eliminated everything else from the equation. I don't actually think it is the CPU! Whatever you do though, you have to have a think about why the component in question, has become damaged, especially if it's your motherboard. There could be more than one faulty component in your system, e.g the PSU is faulty which in turn damaged a component attached to it, e.g the motherboard. So even if you manage to replace the faulty part, it would essentially just put a new component back at risk again, and you quite possibly would end up in the same position a few weeks down the line.
As for the CPU I said I had... I wouldn't want anything for it, it's worth practically nothing, so if you wanted it, you could have it for free. You could always send it back to me if you discover you CPU isn't in fact faulty afterall.
Just let me know.
SPINNER
I discovered another computer parts store today, which were very kind in letting me have a k6 2 333 to take home and try out. Popped it in, and still got no responce at all from the pc.
Spinner, i think im going to take your view of things and start suspecting the motherboard. Il try and get a new PSU to try out first, then if that fails, try and find a motherboard.
Btw thrax, loved your got epilpisy sig
EDIT:
Just took out the 'new' cpu and noticed that a lot of the pins had been smeered with small ammounts of thermal paste from the previous owner, so am not sure if the cpu would work anyway without a serious clean up. Bummer :banghead:
Hmm, well simple way to be sure is to simply ask the guys at the shop you got it from if they can test it for you, or at the very least try and confirm that they've had it working recently.