How to Troubleshoot a Bad Microprocessor
- 1). Open the computer case, following the case's instruction manual, and turn on the computer. Locate a large cube sticking up from the large, rectangular motherboard that will likely be laying flat inside, against the opposite side of the case. The cube is a heat sink and fan, which cools the CPU beneath it. Verify the fan is spinning. If it is not spinning, the issue is one of heat, which may or may not be corrected by replacing the fan, depending on if the heat damaged the CPU.
- 2). Reboot the system and listen for any "beeps" that are emitted from the computer. A long drawn-out beep possibly signifies a problem with the processor, especially if the system will not continue to boot. You may also want to reference the beeps in your motherboard's manual for greater insight as to its meaning, since not all motherboards emit the same codes.
- 3). Check the power supply using a voltage meter or dedicated power supply meter. The voltage to your motherboard and CPU should be 12V. If not, the issue could be with the power supply, and replacing it is the only way to determine that with certainty.
- 4). Remove all components from the system, except for the CPU, fans, the boot hard drive and one stick of memory. If you do not have an integrated video card, you'll have to keep the video card as well. Use a large room fan to blow on all the components to eliminate the possibility of heat issues. If the problems persist, you know it's in one of those devices, including the motherboard. If the problem is gone, your CPU is not the problem.
Swap out one of the sticks of RAM and try again. It's unlikely that multiple sticks of RAM went bad simultaneously, so you have probably excluded faulty RAM, if the problem recurs.
If the computer isn't booting, unplug the hard drive and see if the you get the same error. If so, it is not the hard drive, unless the error is always "Can't find drive 0" or something similar, in which case the problem is the hard drive, cable or the hard drive controller.
Replace the video card, if using an external one, and reboot to eliminate this possibility. If the problem persists, the problem is likely in the CPU or motherboard. - 5). Replace the CPU by removing the heat sink and fan and turning the lever to unlock the CPU from the motherboard. Clean the heat sink and reapply a thermal compound before reattaching it. Once the replacement is completely installed, reboot to test. If the problems still persist, it likely was not your CPU, but the motherboard.
