How to Test Motherboard

[incurablegeek]

I have two motherboards. Both worked just fine in the past. Recently installed the ASUS M4A79 Deluxe with an AMD Quad-Core (probably a 1st generation AMD - 2nd generation corrected lots of problems as you know).

No beeps - just fans and motherboard lights. Classic case of motherboard and/or CPU being defective.

Removed the AMD Quad-Core and saw 2-3 pins were seriously bent. I do not know if they were bent when I inserted the chip into the socket. (I'm so farsighted it's ridiculous,
so I didn't notice them being bent - though of course I did check).

Question: Can I test the motherboard by just powering it up without the CPU? Any other ways to test this ASUS and my Gigabyte boards without going through the whole CPU, thermal paste, heatsink procedure.

Footnote: I hope you guys fully appreciate just how important I am to this esteemed forum.
I mean, without me and my dumbo questions, you guys would have no fun at all in your oh-so-sad lives. :haha:

 

[TVeblen]

No, I believe the motherboard is just a dumb slab without the processor. It will light up, but it won't beep, or give any diagnostic codes, or anything.
Although I must say, I have never actually tried this. Please tell us what happens!

 

[incurablegeek]

To be perfectly honest when I first saw "dumb slab", I was deeply offended.
Then I realized, you weren't talking about me.

Seriously,

Yes sir, I think you're probably right. I was just trying to find a lazy way.

Sorry to bother. It was actually kind of a rhetorical question. If I get no beeps with the CPU installed, well then it's an either-or thing on the mobo being bad or the cpu being bad or both. Tested all three PSU's with two testers and the paper-clip test, so those are not the problem.

 

[DeaconFrost]

I can't say I've ever tried this, but anytime there has been a processor mounted incorrectly, the system doesn't fully boot to the POST or BIOS. It typically powers on, then shortly thereafter, powers off. Even if the board has a diagnostic LED, it wouldn't be on long enough to give any real details.

 

[pscowboy]

Did you carefully straighten out the pins (with your glasses on) and try the cpu, in correct orientation, again?

I can remember three occasions in my techie life where this solved the issue.