Problem: Not POSTing after M.B/CPU upgrade. After having great success with ECS's K7S5A, I decided I would upgrade my CPU to an AthlonXP 2600 w/333 FSB. The L7S7A2 was the cheapest board that I thought I could trust that supported the 333 FSB. Here's my system specs: -- ECS L7S7A2 v1.1 MoBo (from NewEgg) -- AthlonXP 2600 CPU (333mhz FSB) -- (1yr warranty) -- Swiftec 462 or something heatsink/fan (resistor(?) was slightly in the way.. it touches heatsink) -- Geforce4 Ti4200 64mb DDR (4x AGP) -- 512mb(2x256) PC2100 (266mhz) DDR -- Enlight 420w Power Supply -- 40gb Western Digital H.D. -- 20gb Western Digital H.D. I cleaned off old thermal paste from heatsink & applied thermal paste on the CPU core & made sure heatsink was secured. I checked manual to make sure all the pins were correct from case to m.b. I push the power button, everything sounds like it usually does, except no beeps, nothing on monitor. I can't reset or power it off using the buttons (so pins are wired wrong?). There's a bit of a burnt smell, but I'm pretty sure it's just the thermal paste feeling the heat. I know Athlon cpu's get extremely hot. It may be my RAM (generic I think) or my video card causing it not to boot. I've heard of good cards doing bad with ECS. I also tried a Geforce2 Ti I had laying around. Same problem. It could still be the video card I guess. I don't have any spare memory laying around to try. As for CPU, I guess I could try my AthlonXP 1800 to see if it's the CPU, but changing CPU's is a pain almost as bad as changing M.B. .. and will this MB support the 1800? Any help would be great.

hello a burnt smell is not good. if the heat sink was slightly touching the mobo componats it might not have been seated firmly or squarly ontop of cpu if the was a gap or not enough presser than you cpu could have burnt out. only takes a tenth of a second. check your mobo spects to see if it has cop or other over heating protection program in witch case it would just shut down.

I checked the CPU top/bottom for burned marks. I didn't see any. Don't know if this means anything.. I guess anything is possible though.. I'll try my previous CPU.

DANGIT :) I hate when people are right lol.. I just popped the heatsink off & checked the CPU. The top is fine. The bottom has a little "bubble" under the core ...I'll see if I can get it exchanged..

Yep, the processor probably got fried. :( You stating about a bubble mark on underneath of the processor is probably the early stage of the processor getting fried.