Solved
bad CPU or bad motherboard?
Posted on 2011-09-09
My cousin brought me his computer because it was having problems, and I am confused as to what the problem is. One problem for sure was the hard drive- so I replaced it and installed windows on the new drive but another problem lingers (ether bad motherboard or bad cpu) The motherboard model number is as follows: MCP61PM-HM REV. 1.08.
Below is a list of symptoms the computer shows:
- Last month the computer stopped working so I checked it out and the problem was with 2 ram sticks loaded at the same time. Works fine with 1 stick but not with 2 sticks. I put ram stick 1 in bay 1 it boots fine, I put ram stick 1 in bay 2 it boots fine, I put ram stick 2 in bay 1 and it boots fine and I put ram stick 2 in bay 2 and it boots fine. However when ram stick 1 and ram stick 2 are installed together, the system does not boot. Problem solved- the computer was downgraded from 2 gigs of ram to 1 gb of ram.
-Now the computer consistantly gives a boot up errors (ALWAYS the same errors, in the same sequence).
Boot 1- after you power the computer on for the first time, several seconds later an error comes up "the file is posably corrupt the file header checksum does not match the computer checksum".
Boot 2- So I turn the computer off and boot it up a second time. This time I get the error "boot mgr image is corrupt, the system cant boot".
Boot 3- So I turn the computer off again and power it up again and the third time it ALWAYS boots up fine and loads windows (windows 7) on the third time it boots.
- The last symptom is the computers mouse often freezes up (once every few days). The only thing to do is hold the power button to turn it off and reboot it.(even tried swapping mice out but it still occurs)
I dont think the problem is the hard drive but just to be sure I put ANOTHER drive in and installed windows, but the same problem happens so I really doubt the problem is the drive since two drives give the same sequence of boot errors. Also if the harddrive was really corrupt then I doubt it would always boot up on the third time arround, usually if it was corrupt it would not boot no matter how many times you power it up.
One final thing I did was I removed the motherboard and CPU and reapplied new thermal paste, and cleaned all dust out of the system. I checked the entire circuit board (visually) for any signs of damage but could find none. If I were to guess I would say the problem is the CPU does anyone agree?