Help...i Need Advice On Burnt Athlon Cpu

[Black_Pride]

Help!!!
I have built dozens of systems over the years but this has never happenned to me....

I bought all these parts to build a system for a customer...

Biostar Motherboard M7VIF
AMD ATHLON XP 2000+ CPU
512 MB DDRAM
ATI RADEON VIDEO CARD
ONBOARD SOUND
INTEL MODEM
80 GIG MAXTOR HDD
CD BURNER

I put together the system yesterday. As soon as I plugged the CPU onto the motherboard and installed the cooling fan and memory and video card, I powered it up and smoke started to come from somewhere around the CPU and it smelled really bad. It was running for no more than 15-20 seconds max!

I took the CPU out and visually inspected it. It looked fried on one corner of the little chip on top of the unit, and smelled burnt.

I tried the chip in my existing PC with an ASUS A7V133 MoBo and it wouldnt even turn on.

I didnt know if the chip was defective or another part caused it to fry, so I tried the RAM and Power Supply in other systems and they worked fine. Then I put another CPU I had, on the new motherboard and it worked fine too. So I concluded it was the new CPU itself that was just defective and nothing else caused it.

I went back to the store where I bought the chip and they have a "NO RETURN OR EXCHANGE POLICY" ON BURNT CPU's. I insisted that I am experienced in building PC's and it must have been the chip that was defective, but they didnt care and told me to call AMD to see if they would take it back. They werent even willing to test it. I buy all my stuff from this store but they didnt care. So I told them I would no longer buy anything else from them because their policy was unfair.

I went somewhere else and bought the SAME CPU (AMD ATHLON 2000+). I went home and plugged it into the MoBo and it worked just fine. I made no changes to any settings on the board. Everything was at factory default. I have had it running for more than 24 hrs straight with no problems.

My question is....has anyone had a similar problem and how do I go about contacting AMD and making my case to them. I want them to replace it or at least test it to see what went wrong and if it can be fixed (ha ha). Otherwise I have to eat it and I am out $210.

Any suggestions??

 

[Sazar]

dunno mate.. seems like yer gonna have to eat the money... normally, they do not take back burnt chips, because what way do they have of knowing that the heatsink/cooling fan was installed defectively, and /or installed incorrectly...

I will go with what you are saying, and perhaps the chip was faulty... however they are not really going to care if you buy from them again or not...

are you sure there were no foreign objects on/around the CPU like hair balls or anything like that... no jokes... that might have caused the heating problem and would burn up so you would not be able to notice it...

call up AMD's customer service reps, explain the case to them... and be very very nice... customer service reps are taxed and don't like difficult customers

ask them what to do, and explain what this dealer of AMD chips did when you spoke to them... and see if they can cut you some slack

good luck...

hope that things work out better than XP chip burnouts...

 

[pc_tek]

sounds like you got a bum cpu. AMDs are ussually good chips. I saw you have a budget mobo. I always go good on the mobo and go cheap other places like sound. Budget mobo's are just inconsistant with quality. either they last you forever or not long at all.

I would go to amd's website and see how their RMA poilcies work. I dont think they will give you any hassles to swap the chip out. Its a crying shame that the store you bought it from didnt help you! Musta been a "mom and pop" store.

Good luck!

 

[G-Money]

Ya what pc_tek said.. Biostar is a cheap MOBO.


I would start off by going to http://www.amd.com and looking up contact info.

Good luck !!!

Side note... When I bought my AMD CPU (retail) it came with a one year warranty and the OEM had a 90 day warranty.

Might want to check into that... Im almost sure that AMD will replace it or refund it !!!!!!

 

[DarkSiege]

I suggest you hurry and send your request to them before the warrenty or whatever is over. (I don't know if they have a warrenty though...)
Good Luck!