JamesTaylor

My home machine crashed the other day whilst opening up AutoCAD and shut down, on reboot i am given an audio warning saying that the "System Failed CPU Test" i managed to find a new CPU online in a clearance sale for £20 so i ordered it and replaced the machines CPU last night... Unfortunately when i tried to boot the machine i was given the same warning again??

My next thought would be the motherboard, but i don't really want to go spending money on a new mobo and have the same issue of replacing it only to have the issue remain??

Does anyone have any suggestions as to my best move forward or have you also had this problem? I don't really have any spare parts so anything i want test i'll have purchase...???

The machines is:

Asus A8V-e-Deluxe Motherboard
AMD Athlon XP3200+ processor

can't remember what Graphics card RAM HD is in it off the top of my head, but if anyone needs to know i'll find out

cheers

AJLynn

Could be RAM. You probably have more than one DIMM in there so try it with one of them removed, then a different one removed, etc., and if it works then the one that's not in is bad. Or just swap them to different slots - weird, but sometimes that's a fix.

JamesTaylor

Cheers Andrew i'll give it a go

AFK_Matrix

Also if you want to test your ram out. Then try a program called Memtest86+ you can get it here:

http://www.memtest.org/

You'll have to have a spare floppy disk, then you need to make your floppy the first in the boot priority under your BIOS. It will then run automatically, leave it for around an hour, all night to be 100% sure. If you get any errors in that then your ram is faulty.

JamesTaylor

cheers Kelly, sounds as if that may be worth a go too. Unfortunately the boot process doesn't seem to get far enough for mer to enter Bios... i just a blank screen and the "System Failed CPU Test" warning when i power up???

any thoughts on how to be able to get into bios??

kippu

after reading couple of hardware forums ..... i guess .imo ,
a)asus boards give this problem
b) some ppl have got it working after replacing vdo card
c) its 75% the mobo thats dead

hopefully it helps

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JamesTaylor

Cheers Kippu

i've also googled the issue and found the same as yourself. However having paid out and replaced the CPU with no luck and having also tried to boot with the graphics card removed (with no luck) i just want to check if there any other tests / methods to try and determine the issue rather than just throwing money at parts in the hope it'll fix the problem...

have to say tho i think its probably the mobo and i'll most likely have to buy one and see what happens... i'll test the RAM 1st tho as Andrew suggests

Thanks

AFK_Matrix

Sorry didn't read your post properly earlier, stupidly busy at work.

Ok have you cleared the cmos at all?

If you dont know how it should say in your motherboard manual. But all you do is turn off the pc, unplug the power cord from your power supply. Then remove the big silver battery you see on the mobo. Next you need to find the clear cmos jumpers on the board (look in your manual) change the jumper to clear the cmos for around 5-10 seconds. Then put the big silver battery back in and plug the computer back in.

Hope this helps, if it doesn't then you either need to find a shop to test, a friend that has bits that will help you or return it to the manufacturer. Unfortunetly if the manufacturer finds the board to be working they will charge you a test fee etc.

JamesTaylor

OK, so i tried removing the RAM as Andrew suggested, but with no luck in terms of getting the machine working, that leaves me Kelly suggestion of clearing CMOS... after that i think i'll have to get another mother board and see what happens!