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stefuel · Last edited by stefuel on Fri Oct 26, 2007 11:50 am; edited 1 time in total

My main pc crapped out the other night. I had shuit it down and everything was normal. Later I tried to re-start it and nothing. After a few tries, it did a partial boot. The screen that lists the hardware came up. Just below the list a message reading "CPU is unworkable or has been changed" check cpu software. press f1 to continue or del to enter setup"
f1 or del was un responsive. Any ideas on what to look at first? It is a Pentium $ 3.2 gig machine running Windows XP sp2.
Thanks,

bomrat · Joined: 10 Mar 2006 Posts: 117 Location: chicago

first thing, go into the bios and check out the cpu specs, make sure they match. some motherboards will freak out time to time. ive seen it before on other components. if all else fails do a factory defaults in the bios, save it, power it off, and power it on, check if it clears.

papalek · Joined: 08 Mar 2006 Posts: 1536 Location: Longs SC

Hey chip,
What the hell is a PC gugu?

stefuel · Posted: Fri Oct 26, 2007 11:51 am Post subject:

What are you talking about. Someone must be typing on a strange keyboard without their glasses on Wink

Willie · Joined: 13 May 2006 Posts: 169 Location: Green Bay

Check for CPU fan failure. CPU errors are usually (not always) heat related.

Willie

stefuel · Posted: Fri Oct 26, 2007 1:06 pm Post subject:

It will not boot beond the point of that mesasage. f1 or delete is un-responsive so I can not read bios settings. The fan and heat sinc is clean and working. It was dusty but not plugged. I re-seated the cpu and memory. Sometimes it will partial boot most of the time not. At this time I can't get a partial boot. Also there is no beep code or lights showing on the keyboard. The physical drives do come on at startup as normal indicating some self test. The hard drive light stays on.
That's about all I can tell you at this time. I have to go to work. Thanks,

macgyver655 · Joined: 22 Aug 2007 Posts: 8508

Go into your bios and make sure the cpu detect is set to auto. That error usually means it is incorrectly detecting the cpu. Also check the battery as this maybe how it lost its setting if it is incorrect. Also check the cpu fan and heatsink for dust because this will cause the cpu to overheat and cause errors. If still no good try setting the bios to optimal or default settings, which ever your bios offers. Good Luck!

macgyver655 · Joined: 22 Aug 2007 Posts: 8508

If you cant get into the bios try starting the computer with the harddrive disconnected. This may allow you to get into the bios because Windows will not be trying to startup.

oliverg · Posted: Fri Oct 26, 2007 2:23 pm Post subject:

Reseat your CPU t- literally remove it, vaccum the whole motherboard. Reseat all your cards and RAM then restore the BIOS to factory defaults.

If you can't even POST there is usually a serious problem (but fixable)

Good luck

incova · Joined: 27 Nov 2006 Posts: 789 Location: london

put the switch of at the back of the psu,shut the power supply of pull it out of the mains, pop the battery on the board out chip, then put the battery back in, this should reset the memory of the board and hopefully be a quick fix.

If it keeps giving problems does a dmm work on a battery? replace the battery anyway.

Have you already pressed delete to get into the Bios? if not, switch the pc on, press delete again and again until you can get into the bios. Once in the bios check that the cpu is picked up, if it is then save settings and come out. The computer should boot.

Any problems if youre not familiar with the bios just pm me Chip I will talk you through it, all the best mate.

incova · Joined: 27 Nov 2006 Posts: 789 Location: london

also, do you have a jumper on the mb that you can take of then put on to reset everything?

JustGreg · Joined: 07 Mar 2006 Posts: 3098 Location: Kenosha, WI

What brand of mobo? Is it a box store PC such as a Dell/Gateway/etc?
If the CPU overheated and the BIOS has CPU reporting/limiting features, pull the battery or short the CMOS clear jumper (if applicable), pull the video card, pull the memory, pull the data cables from all the drives; even the DVD/CD, make sure you're craptastic cabinet speaker is connected to the mobo correctly, and power it up while poking the BIOS access key, F1, F10, Del, whatever it is. Chances are without memory installed it won't let you but getting a different error message is a good thing if you squint real hard.

If no go there, try to get your hands on another processor, doesn't have to be the same, just supported by your board. Try powering up again without anything connected. If you can get into the BIOS, shut it down and add the memory. Keep adding things back one at a time although if it fires with a new CPU, your old one took a dirt nap.

I have an old one of these from my PC days but it was ISA. Won't help you. The one below will work dandy for your application and is a HELLUVA lot cheaper than what I paid for my POST diag card back in the day.

http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=SY-TECHAID&cat=MBB

EDIT:Check the PS voltage for +12v/-12V and +5v/-5V with a DMM or VOM. I've also seen this problem with a dead short when a mobo was replaced in a cabinet and the mounting holes were different; which left the metal standoff touching the board and shorting it.

Good luck!

Greg

Zebu Fellenz · Joined: 21 Dec 2006 Posts: 2567

I'm no PC guru but I'm all for pulling everything out of the box, try booting it with only the mobo, CPU, and RAM connected, if it still doesn't work and you still get the error message I'm out of ideas unless you have another compatible mobo to swap the CPU into

And yes remove the battery and use the jumper to clear bios settings

Good Luck,

Erik

the_avguy · Joined: 16 Mar 2007 Posts: 91 Location: Edmonton, Alberta

For some reason it has gotten mixed up about what CPU you have in there.
There should be a keyboard combo to reset the cpu type.
There should also be a jumper setting to reset the bios to all defaults.
You shouldn't have to unplug your drives or anything like that.
Of course if this doesn't work your cpu could actually be dead. Sad

Most of the time that I have seen this is when I was trying to overclock a cpu and took it one step to far.

stefuel · Posted: Sat Oct 27, 2007 1:39 am Post subject:

The mother board is a ABIT IC7-G. I have the original box with instructions on how to re-set CMOS. I followed them and now get a beep code. It is continuous 3 seconds on 2 off. I still get no lights on the keyboard and the monitor does not come out of sleep mode. I did remove the CPU and re-seat it with new heat transfer compound. I pulled it a second time just to make sure I bent no pins and noticed that more old heat transfer compound came out of a dot in a corner of the CPU. I think something is toast in the CPU. What do you think?

lyd · Joined: 15 Sep 2007 Posts: 390 Location: Lake Mills, Wi

It looks like a continuously repeating long beep with an abit bios might be indicating a RAM problem. (Abit beep codes.)

Could you have unseated one of the dimms while you were monkeying with the CPU?

lyd

stefuel · Posted: Sat Oct 27, 2007 12:28 pm Post subject:

It's ALIIIIIIIVE Laughing

. I pulled the battery and did the jumper trick. The battery is a 3 volt one and is at 3.25 still so I re-used it. The PC comes on now with the same message about the cpu and cpu soft menu. Now I can get into the bios but don't see where CPU auto detect is. If I press f1 the PC continues starting as normal. Thanks to all for helping me through this. Thumbs Up

lyd · Joined: 15 Sep 2007 Posts: 390 Location: Lake Mills, Wi

Good for you. At this point, if you F10 out of the bios to save settings without making any manual changes, the "unworkable" startup message should go away.

lyd

stefuel · Posted: Sat Oct 27, 2007 1:20 pm Post subject:

macgyver655 · Joined: 22 Aug 2007 Posts: 8508

Hurray

Yes you can delete all cookies, temp files, temporary internet files and history. Glad you got it running.