October 31st, 2002:

I just got off from morning class at my technical school to pick up my Athlon XP 2200 processor that my mother was holding for me at her office. She got it that morning delivered to her house via FedEx since my apartment mail slots are small.

After I picked up the chip, I put it into my pretty old Soyo K7Dragon Mobo, and it doesn't work, nothing turns on at all. Then I accidentally break the socket handle that releases the chip, but nothing happened to the chip. My motherboard was giving me problems anyways, so I go to my local CompUSA store to pick up a brand new shiny one.

The motherboard was an ASUS A7V333 KT333 DDR333 brand new in the box. The salesperson said it was a motherboard that would be great for my new Athlon XP 2200 chip. I even got the 2 year replacement warranty that the guy said I could replace if "anything" happened to it.

By the time I got done shopping, and playing around with Unreal2k3, it was about 6pm, and that is when the night class meets at my school. So I figured I would just take it there to have help installing it. Even if none of the classmates could help, I had faith that my instructor could do it no sweat.

Not wanting to intrude on the class already in session, I took a desk in the back and went to work taking out the old motherboard and putting in the new one. I matched up all the screw holes correctly and put the board perfectly in place of the old. I had everything plugged in again, and I turned it on to see what happens...

Nothing happened, I got no power when I tried to turn it on. So after some switching around with the switches at the bottom with the help of some students we got it to turn on. Everything else was working, but there was no video on the screen. We tried different AGP cards, and even PCI cards, and nothing came up ever.

So finally when my instructor had a chance, he came to the back to work on it. He checked all the wires, slots, and everything else you would need to. He took off the cooling fan to see if it would even boot after making sure the chip was set properly and it was. Not even 10 seconds after the power kicked on, the processor started to smoke. The chip was ruined, and this was becoming the worst Halloween ever.

One of the students said they tried one of the instructors 1.3Ghz Duron chips while I was in the bathroom, and it didn't work then either. So the processor was not to blame. The instructor then tried putting the 1.3Ghz chip in again to see if would cause the same smoking result, but it didn't even after the 10 seconds.

Not much else to do, I packed up all my stuff and prepared to go into CompUSA the next day to get some justice for my troubles.

November 1st, 2002:

I go into the store bright and early, and take it to the service center who tells me to take it to customer service. Customer service wanting to send me back to service decides to try to help me anyways.

Calmly I say that I would like to have my motherboard replaced, and in addition to have my chip I received yesterday replaced as well. The customer service rep goes to talk with the manager, and the manager tells me that they can replace the chip, but it's not their fault the processor fried.

He explained that it takes 10 seconds for the chip to fry even though it took less than that. I start to get upset because I can't believe he can just sit there and tell me it was user error when he wasn't even there to begin with. So I grab my stuff and storm out the door forgetting the case I left at the service desk.

Called my stepfather up to see the courses of action I should take, and he explained that first, I shouldn't get hot-headed or they won't help you anyways. Then to call National, then Better Business Bureau, and finally the Attorney General.

After getting home I remembered I left the case at the store and head on back to pick up calm and collected once more. Arriving at the store, I have a much cooler look and attitude to me, and politely ask for the manager once again to give this another shot.

I said "Let's start over, my name is Tony" and then asked if we could sit down privately and talk. I start explaining what happened, and then telling him of all the steps I was prepared to take to get this resolved, and offered him a chance to just solve it right then and now.

He stuck to his guns and said no, I got up and shook his hand, picked my case up, and am now getting ready to make good on my word with what I said I was going to do.

Currently:

I am working on the phone with my instructor who also said that his 1.3Ghz chip doesn't work now, to see if we can find out what to do at this point. I have left messages for both Regional Managers to give me a call back, and writing this generic post to spread the word on the messageboards. ;)

Thanks for reading if you made it this far!

Well, in regards to the chip frying.. if you attempted to start the computer without a heatsink on it, it WILL fry in a matter of seconds regardless. So in defense of the store, that really isn't their fault.

But as for the board being bad, that may be the case, but it is not the cause for the fried CPU. The reason the duron may not have started smoking is because they do not require as much power and give off as much heat. So you could probably get away with doing that for a few seconds.

You should NEVER, EVER run a high-powered CPU without a cooling unit, even for a few seconds. You said:

"So finally when my instructor had a chance, he came to the back to work on it. He checked all the wires, slots, and everything else you would need to. He took off the cooling fan to see if it would even boot after making sure the chip was set properly and it was. Not even 10 seconds after the power kicked on, the processor started to smoke."

It would seem to me that therein lies the real culprit in this situation, your instructor. If I were you I'd ask HIM to replace your CPU, since he took the cooling unit off and ran it without -- something someone who knows anything about CPU's knows you absolutely MUST NOT do.

If you want to continue to discuss this with CompUSA, contact their corporate HQ:

1-800-COMPUSA

id have to agree, with the exception of a p4 and a 386 (and most old cyrixs which were too pathetic to notice silicon migration) you never ever ever remove a heatsink and fan when there is a chance the board will turn on. it will fry the chip. no two ways about it. chips can run to 90 odd deg c at times and become unstable but remove the heatsink and the temp goes through the roof. the p4 autosenses and drops the speed to 400 mhz and lowers the power, the xp has some heat sensor system in it, it just isnt supported or something. tomshardware blew up an amd showing this.

I have left messages for both Regional Managers to give me a call back, and writing this generic post to spread the word on the messageboards.
Which region are you in? I've dealt with several managers (some have been fired) and might be able to get you some better service

Sorry, just got back. Well I managed to get a $150.00 store credit from Jay Johnson, Regional Manager for the Midwest. That is how much I paid for the processor, but their prices are higher so I settled with an Athlon XP 2000 instead.

They even gave me a free installation for the two, but the funny part is that after several hours waiting in the store the tech came back and said he's having the same problems we had last night before the processor blew.

So maybe they got a bad batch of motherboards? Hmmmm.... :eek:

Wow an entire bad batch of Mobo's? Are they sure they are compatible? That really sucks.

I have an AMD XP 1500+ on one of my computers. And the CPU temps get up there.

I wouldn't dare remove the Heatsink because I am scared its gonna melt throught the mobo or something lol.

Well at least they credited you.

Ya know what's odd? I can't find a fan or even a heatsink on my processor. Unless of course, I'm retarded and I'm looking at the wrong thing, but then again I can't find a fan in my computer except for the exhaust fan in the back. I have a P4 1.4GHZ...

Your instructor didn't know that an Athlon would only last about 5 seconds without a fan? haha get a new instructor he doesn't have the right job.

With an AMD there is no way you can run it without the heatsink. Those things will fry very quickly without the heatsink. The motherboard may very well be defective but that isn't why the chip released the magic smoke.

Andrew

Edit: I was very tired when I posted this. :stickout:

5 seconds is beeing generous, took 3 seconds for me to fry an XP 1900+ a few months ago :D

Why are Athlons so cheap: because there is basicly 0 warrentee on them. Though the print says there is, the small letters exclude about 90% of cases as beeing user error and thus non-refundable. Consider yourself very lucky you got the $150 credit.

My motherboard was also faulty and I did get the motherboard replaced (though it took them over a month as they refused to believe me). I never got any credit for the processor as I had no proof it was the motherboard that had caused it to fry. They said it could just have well have been because I ran it without a CPU cooler (though my motherboard won't even power up without a CPU fan attached).

Still, at least I got to find out what a frying AMD processor smells like.

Asus generally tests there boards....most manufactures do (along with intel and amds testing their chips, memory manufactures etc)....it was a real bad idea by your instructor to boot it without heatsink (like others said)all amd cpus get extremly hot....also were all the students static free?

I ordered a motherboard once that came with processor and heatsink combo for real cheap included.

asoon as i turned it on it smoked and wouldnt turn on a second time. I noticed that the heatsink was on the right more bracket of the motherboards CPU Grid input, instead of the center, so the heatsink only covered 2/3rds of it, needless to say, when i took out the proc, there was a burn mark on the bottom of the side the heatsinik wasnt covering....

i simply didnt check to see if they had put it on correctly...

Originally posted by inogenius
Ya know what's odd? I can't find a fan or even a heatsink on my processor. Unless of course, I'm retarded and I'm looking at the wrong thing, but then again I can't find a fan in my computer except for the exhaust fan in the back. I have a P4 1.4GHZ...

I still can't believe you scamed them to get a free CPU. It WAS user error, and they had no obligation to give you money back for the chip you fried (or your instructor fried)! That is like buying a car, draining all of the oil out, and let the engine blow up. You think they would replace your engine for you? :rolleyes:

Lol, has anyone smoked a riser card before? or how about a cpu, motherboard, and riser card? :D.

:D:agree: *raises* hand

It all smoked because I had stuck in the riser card backwards into the slot, it had ran for 5secs going good then the 6th everything just stated to smoke (almost caught fire) I had to throw some of that powder stuff on the fire what is it called baking powder? So that itself shows NEVER run a machine w/o a fan on the processor.

That's my .02.

Guess it really doesn't matter now. The chip is installed and working, it turns out that a bad memory stick was to blame for the no video. I talked the tech manager down to $45.50 for Kingston 256Mb PC2100 which was priced $80.00 there.

As for the part saying I scammed them, let me assure you that I told them everything that happened and it was their decision to give me the store credit. So my system will be back up and running as soon as I slap this memory stick in. I do not blame my instructor for any of this damage, he's a great teacher and friend that I should be very grateful to have him even help me to begin with since it's my own personal computer system.

Take care, good night, I need something to eat now.

Also, for those who live near that Overland Park CompUSA location, I recommend going to Le for all your repairs.

I don't think he was aware of my situation, but he took the extra time to make sure my computer was running before he left for the day. In fact, I was at home when he called me up and told me he solved the problem and I could come pick it up.

He stayed an extra hour without any prompting and made my system look like a million bucks as I stare at it now. He even replaced the missing back slots in my case, and made sure the inside wiring was neat, tied down, and secure.

So here is my Thank You shoutout to Le of the Service Repair who took the extra step to make my night excellent after all the troubles I had this week.

CompUSA is so used to screwing things up that they will give you a refund or store credit/certificate if you make any kind of fuss.
Before I knew better, I foolishly took an IBM laptop computer to CompUSA to be repaired under warranty, since they are (or were) an authorized IBM repair center.
CompUSA had it for a month and trashed it so bad that even after three subsequent trips to IBM's Memphis repair center it still wasn't right. IBM ended up giving me a full refund.
And I got $100 store credit from CompUSA for complaining about the lousy service.

Originally posted by Rebel
Guess it really doesn't matter now. The chip is installed and working, it turns out that a bad memory stick was to blame for the no video. I talked the tech manager down to $45.50 for Kingston 256Mb PC2100 which was priced $80.00 there.

As for the part saying I scammed them, let me assure you that I told them everything that happened and it was their decision to give me the store credit. So my system will be back up and running as soon as I slap this memory stick in. I do not blame my instructor for any of this damage, he's a great teacher and friend that I should be very grateful to have him even help me to begin with since it's my own personal computer system.

Take care, good night, I need something to eat now.

it seems like you were kind of a ahole to them. Realize these people ave lives to and they aren't responsible for your dumb mistakes. Another thing I'm sure the owner would have been like "lets go cya in court...I got ore lawyers they you have hairs n your head kinda thing" not tryin to be rude but thats jut my 2 cents...2 cents is free ;)

And here's anothet tip that you need to know, it's something that a lot of people haven't bothered with because for years it wasn't really that necessary, but now I wouldn't DARE go without out it:

USE THE THERMAL PASTE THAT COMES WITH THE COOLING UNIT!

ick.. don't use that thermal paste. It isn't much better than my own bellybutton lint as far as thermal conductivity is concerned. Arctic Silver is the ONLY thermal material to even consider for a high-end machine.

Originally posted by Andyc
With an AMD there is no way you can run it without the motherboard

You can't run any CPU without a motherboard :)

With an AMD there is no way you can run it without the motherboard.

LOL@Dave

I read allll the way to the end of this thread and I was going to post that.

Dang you!:stickout:

Originally posted by JeremyV
ick.. don't use that thermal paste. It isn't much better than my own bellybutton lint as far as thermal conductivity is concerned. Arctic Silver is the ONLY thermal material to even consider for a high-end machine.

NO, use the thermal paste as opposed to not using anything at all. The important aspect of thermal paste is that it fills any slight variation in the surfaces of the CPU and the heat sink to ensure thermal conductivity. IOW, it picks up the slack where physical contact between the heat sink and the CPU may be lacking due to imperfections or manufacturing flaws.

Of course the thermal paste that comes with most cooling units isn't IDEAL, however it's certainly much better than nothing at all.

Arctic Silver is great, but it IS conductive. Arctic Alumina isn't quite as good, but it is NON-conductive. So if you're concerned about that sort of thing, go with Arctic Alumina.

true, I wasn't meaning don't use anything at all, if you don't have arctic silver then yes, use the paste. But anyone who is building their own system from scratch must certainly be smart enough to research cooling options and make the best of their system. Seems like too many fools lately have been trying to build systems when they really have no idea what is even going on.

And really, do you need to worry about the conductivity of AS? I mean you really only need to put a tiny drop on the cpu and spread it evenly with a razor blade. It isn't like you are just randomly squirting it around in risk of connecting the various bridges on the CPU. So that point is moot (if you know what you are doing). Also, they usually give you WAY more thermal paste than needed on stock setups, so it actually hinders cooling rather than helping. It doesn't take much at all to fill in the microscopic gaps.

So:

paste > nothing
AS > paste
ASAl > AC

not to harp on, but I agree with the others. As soon as I read your instructor turned the juice on with an AMD chip with the fan off I stopped reading.

I have a AMB 1200 in this thing with a heatsink/fan I could house refugees inside it's so tall.

Greg Moore

Originally posted by Rebel
...I do not blame my instructor for any of this damage, he's a great teacher and friend that I should be very grateful to have him even help me to begin with since it's my own personal computer system.

If any friend of mine had helped me like that they wouldn't be allowed to touch my PC again. However, it is good that this is resolved. I tend to stay away from places like CompUSA since I find they will do their best to disagree with you regardless if the problem is their fault or not. Honestly, I am shocked they even worked with you on replacing any parts.

Glad you were able to get everything worked out. I've had problems with other companies that have done nothing to resolve the issue. Guess you just have to be persistent. ;)

The risk of closing bridges using artic silver is minimal. I use a spacer between the CPU and the metal cooling block anyway, so any excess AS would go on the spacer. I have a very nice Swifttech CPU cooler with AS2 paste. Keeps an Athlon XP 1800+ under 40 Celsius quite effectively with a case temperature of around 24 Celsius. Only problem is the fan that on the block rotates at 8000 RPM, making it rather noisy.

I use a spacer between the CPU and the metal cooling block anyway, so any excess AS would go on the spacer.

A thing with cheap spacers or shims are that they short out the bridges sometimes and it does shorten the life of your proc a bit. I would recommend getting the anodized aluminum (I think they are aluminum) spacers-- Not the copper spacers.