[mythtv-users] Hardware death - CPU vs motherboard?

[Mache Creeger]

At 05:35 AM 10/24/2009, Kawayanan wrote:
>I have a mythtv box that I have been using for almost 2 years 
>now.  It is based on a Asus Pundit P1-AH2, with a Athlon X2 4000+ 
>CPU.  Recently, when I got up one morning it was not running.  When 
>I tried to reboot, it would freeze up during boot (generally 
>somewhere shortly after POST).  I checked the BIOS setting and 
>everything seemed fine.  To see if it was a OS problem, I tried to 
>run an Ubuntu live CD.  This also froze during boot.  My first guess 
>was a RAM problem (I couldn't get a RAM test to boot up enough to 
>run though).  I got ahold of a different stick of RAM, and that 
>didn't fix anything.  Somewhere in all this testing it went from 
>freezing in boot (sometimes during post), to not even getting 
>evidence of POST activity.  Now, when I turn it on, the fans start 
>but nothing else happens (no beeps, no video).  To try and diagnose 
>the problem, I removed everything I could (except the CPU).  Without 
>RAM, it get the beep code for bad/no RAM.  If I install the RAM, I 
>get nothing (no beeps, no video, just fans turn on).
>
>My question is whether there is a way to determine if this is a CPU 
>or motherboard problem?  I don't have access to a different CPU to 
>test, and I don't want to buy a CPU and have it turn out to be a 
>motherboard problem.  If its a motherboard problem, I guess that 
>means starting over with a effectively new system (the Asus is a 
>barebones with most everything onboard).
>
>Any suggestions?  My wife and kids are missing DVR. :(
>
>Thank for any help!

Before you give up check the PSU by trying to jury rig another PSU 
from another working machine to the Pundit motherboard. While PSU 
connectors have evolved, there are adapters to make one connector 
work with another motherboard. Take an existing working machine, put 
it next to the Pundit, unplug its PSU cable, move the cable over to 
the Pundit and plug it in possibly using a PSU cable adapter, and 
check to see if you can get the Pundit to POST.

Alternatively, you could find someone with a motherboard that 
supports a Athlon X2 4000+ and remembering to use the proper heat 
sync compound, swap the processor out to test. You could also do the 
same thing with the memory.

-- Mache
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