Baffling hardware fault! Is my CPU faulty!?

A few weeks ago my computer died on me. I had been playing Crysis 2 with my AMD 6970M OC at 850mhz. It ran fine. Then I went to quit the game and the machine just shut off when I clicked "quit".

After this the computer would only boot in safe mode and would always die mid boot while the windows 7 splash screen is showing. It always died at exactly the same point.

After testing different ram and a different HDD I found neither of those components were to blame. I then decided either the GPU or sound hardware have been damaged causing windows to not load the drivers and die.

I bought a new 6990M. Today it arrived and I installed it and and it still dies at exactly the same point. Safe mode with a different HDD with pre installed OS works fine and I even forced sound in safe mode and it worked too!!

I even took the wifi and BT out and tested and still no luck.

So all that is left is the CPU!! Even when booting from windows dvd on blank HDD it still dies mid boot at splash loading screen.

So could it be the CPU has lost functionality? Really at a loss and feel at least stupid that my 6970M is fine and wasted money on a new card... for those thinking it is heating issue you are wrong I can run in safe mode for as long as I want even with the new card.

So to recap I have tried :

different GPU
different RAM and single ram slot combination
different HDD
booted with no wifi and bt cards
reset cmos
tried with no battery only ac
forced sound in safe mode and it works

only hardware left is CPU ? Safe mode works fine indefinitely and wifi works no problem in it.

Advice is needed!

 

Before you go and think about replacing that expensive XM CPU, look at your BIOS and motherboard.

Pull the CMOS battery and reset all the values. See if that makes a difference. If not, then I would look at the motherboard.

Another simple thing to try would be to try to boot Ubuntu or something off a live USB stick or external drive. If Ubuntu boots you know your problem is Windows.

 

It isn't Windows as I ran the HDD in a different laptop before I wiped it and it booted up perfectly in normal mode! That fact that the HDD from this same laptop put into my laptop can also only run in safe mode means windows shouldn't be the problem right? It has to be hardware?

I will try pulling the CMOS I have thus far only held down the on/off button and reset all values in bios. I hope I can find the CMOS!

 

Can you boot into DOS? What CPU?

 

I can boot into safe mode for as long as I want (please read everything above) 920XM ES

As an aside I bought from laptopmonkey on ebay and it says they do a 3 month standard warranty. I bought in 25th October so perhaps worth a shot...

 

People quite often forget to update sigs .

I was going to suggest you could try turning off turbo and even maybe set the multi to the LFM and see if Windows will boot normally. If you do not have those options in BIOS it may be possible to boot DOS first, change them and then handoff to Windows.

 

Thanks for the advice Dufus I was thinking the same but the bios is really limited and offers no such options. How do I go about booting into dos and turning these things off?

I might also try reseating the cpu and perhaps (looong shot) it might help.. either way if I can ascertain the cpu is faulty I can contact the seller asap and get a new one!

 

Helpful contributions only please BristintYeduc. Windows isn't the issue here.

 

I'll have a dig around but processors are usually pretty tough though and I wouldn't be surprised if it is something else. Have you tried running Linpack (Linx/IBT) in safemode?

 

I had a 940 xm CPU before the one I got now and it would randomly shut off my laptop.

No blue screens or anything just black screen and no power.
I returned it and got another ES and it works great now .

So it could well be your CPU

 

That is oddly reassuring mickbt26. I am aware how rare it is for intel cpus to give up but I guess it being a ES doesn't help..

Re-seating her didn't help. Going to try dos now.

 

I'm afraid it is looking that way bud.

Its a whole mess of posts. Some not helpful (keep it to yourself if you cant help and read first before posting, Out of respect its the least you can do.)

If you have warranty, Return it ASAP! if you leave it you are going to regret it. I would not tell them you have investigated hardware issues, Just reinstalled windows several times. They will 100% blame you for the fault if they know you have been inside laptop.

 

Uhm... he had to have been inside the laptop to INSTALL the cpu.
We aren't talking about the prospect of a whole laptop being at fault... just the CPU.

King of Interns
Use your warranty and return the CPU just in case and ask for a new one.

 

haaha, I even went back and checked over the posts to backup what I said.

I mis-interpreted it. I read that the laptop was from laptop monkey and had warranty.

EDIT.

Just re checked. The laptopmonkey gave the impression it was a complete laptop not a cpu. Hence return laptop.

 

Nope the cpu is from laptopmonkey and they have a standard 3 month warranty. I think I will send it back very soon.

I still have 2 week window though so I want to try booting into command prompt and disable certain things on the processor to see it that lets me boot properly. Of course the chip will still be returned but at least I will then know a new chip will fix things...

Also as far as I know a new bios exists for the w860cu that allows complete control over the 920/940xm including tdc and tdp along with disabling hyperthreading etc. If I can't do the dos thing I will try to update my bios and test that way....