[SOLVED] Huge mistake while overclocking!

chrispm84 · 03-27-2008, 05:21 PM

Hi. I was overclocking a while back, and I made a terrible noob mistake. I was trying to find the perfect voltage to overclock my Athlon 2.2 processor to a stable 2.6. I accomplished this before, but reset it, due to heat issues. I got a much better heatsink/fan and wanted to try again. All of my overclocking abilities come from the bios on the motherboard. I'd try a voltage, restart, and (if it failed to boot) take the cmos battery out to reset it. I'd done this about 6 times and got kind of lazy. So, I decided that I didn't need to turn off/unplug the PSU. Well, the first time I reset after I decided I was too good to have to unplug the PSU, I dropped the cmos battery on the graphics card and it leaned against the motherboard. I immediately yanked the cord out the wall and tried to restart... but to no avail. Now I have a custom built PC that just sits on a desk, I have to use my laptop... with Vista... Anyway, I'm finally ready to start rebuilding it, but wanted to see if anyone had any ideas on want the problem might be. I feel it's smarter to get some ideas, than to just start replacing everything. I figure it's a short, but not sure where. There're no obvious shorts anywhere in case and I tried a different graphics card, so it's not the graphics card, or at least not JUST the graphics card... I even took apart the PSU to check for shorts and checked the output with a volt meter, so I'm pretty sure it's not that, either. So, let the flood gates open! If you have any, and I mean ANY, ideas... Let me know! Thanks in advance for any/all replies!

**linderman** · 03-27-2008, 06:32 PM

I would expect to need a new motherboard

if its less than 3 years old RMA to the manufacturer

chrispm84 · 03-28-2008, 12:41 AM

Thanks for the reply, Linderman! I'll look into getting a new motherboard, since I was going to start there, anyway... Well, either that or the cpu, which are both relatively inexpensive. Of course, I'd like to hear everyone's ideas, so keep them coming!

**linderman** · 03-28-2008, 05:25 AM

the cpu is the toughest part in a computer IMHO I would start with mobo

chrispm84 · 03-29-2008, 12:11 PM

Well, they don't make my motherboard, anymore... It's an AMD socket 939, and we all know what happened with that little screw-up... I'm looking at motherboard alternatives, at the moment. I'm thinking maybe a Phenom motherboard, but regardless, I've got the info that I was looking for, so I'll consider this problem solved. Thanks again, Linderman!

**linderman** · 03-29-2008, 01:50 PM

I would not give up on that socket 939 system / you could get an asus A8N-Sli deluxe off ebay used for about $80.00 with a little patience

03-27-2008, 05:21 PM	#1 (permalink)
chrispm84 Registered User Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 25 OS: Windows Vista 32-bit	[SOLVED] Huge mistake while overclocking! Hi. I was overclocking a while back, and I made a terrible noob mistake. I was trying to find the perfect voltage to overclock my Athlon 2.2 processor to a stable 2.6. I accomplished this before, but reset it, due to heat issues. I got a much better heatsink/fan and wanted to try again. All of my overclocking abilities come from the bios on the motherboard. I'd try a voltage, restart, and (if it failed to boot) take the cmos battery out to reset it. I'd done this about 6 times and got kind of lazy. So, I decided that I didn't need to turn off/unplug the PSU. Well, the first time I reset after I decided I was too good to have to unplug the PSU, I dropped the cmos battery on the graphics card and it leaned against the motherboard. I immediately yanked the cord out the wall and tried to restart... but to no avail. Now I have a custom built PC that just sits on a desk, I have to use my laptop... with Vista... Anyway, I'm finally ready to start rebuilding it, but wanted to see if anyone had any ideas on want the problem might be. I feel it's smarter to get some ideas, than to just start replacing everything. I figure it's a short, but not sure where. There're no obvious shorts anywhere in case and I tried a different graphics card, so it's not the graphics card, or at least not JUST the graphics card... I even took apart the PSU to check for shorts and checked the output with a volt meter, so I'm pretty sure it's not that, either. So, let the flood gates open! If you have any, and I mean ANY, ideas... Let me know! Thanks in advance for any/all replies! Last edited by chrispm84 : 03-27-2008 at 05:26 PM.

03-27-2008, 06:32 PM	#2 (permalink)
linderman Moderator, Hardware Team Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 12,517 OS: win 2000 pro / Win XP pro My System	Re: Huge mistake while overclocking! I would expect to need a new motherboard if its less than 3 years old RMA to the manufacturer __________________ IF YOUR HARD DRIVE DIED RIGHT NOW; WOULD YOU CRY ??? ASK US FOR HELP DEVELOPING A DATA BACK-UP METHOD

03-28-2008, 12:41 AM	#3 (permalink)
chrispm84 Registered User Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 25 OS: Windows Vista 32-bit	Re: Huge mistake while overclocking! Thanks for the reply, Linderman! I'll look into getting a new motherboard, since I was going to start there, anyway... Well, either that or the cpu, which are both relatively inexpensive. Of course, I'd like to hear everyone's ideas, so keep them coming!

03-28-2008, 05:25 AM	#4 (permalink)
linderman Moderator, Hardware Team Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 12,517 OS: win 2000 pro / Win XP pro My System	Re: Huge mistake while overclocking! the cpu is the toughest part in a computer IMHO I would start with mobo __________________ IF YOUR HARD DRIVE DIED RIGHT NOW; WOULD YOU CRY ??? ASK US FOR HELP DEVELOPING A DATA BACK-UP METHOD

03-29-2008, 12:11 PM	#5 (permalink)
chrispm84 Registered User Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 25 OS: Windows Vista 32-bit	Re: Huge mistake while overclocking! Well, they don't make my motherboard, anymore... It's an AMD socket 939, and we all know what happened with that little screw-up... I'm looking at motherboard alternatives, at the moment. I'm thinking maybe a Phenom motherboard, but regardless, I've got the info that I was looking for, so I'll consider this problem solved. Thanks again, Linderman!

03-29-2008, 01:50 PM	#6 (permalink)
linderman Moderator, Hardware Team Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 12,517 OS: win 2000 pro / Win XP pro My System	Re: [SOLVED] Huge mistake while overclocking! I would not give up on that socket 939 system / you could get an asus A8N-Sli deluxe off ebay used for about $80.00 with a little patience __________________ IF YOUR HARD DRIVE DIED RIGHT NOW; WOULD YOU CRY ??? ASK US FOR HELP DEVELOPING A DATA BACK-UP METHOD