Hi there, I had a bad burnout on a fanless power supply. It went with a big bang and a bit of smoke. Well, those things can happen but after replacing it with a brand new one the comp still won't post. No signs of life at all. No fans spin, it's seems totally dead. The PS is perfectly fine. I tested it in a different machine. It must be that the faulty PS took some other component(s) with it into its grave. The green LED on the mobo lights up but that's about the only sign of life on this computer. I called Intel support, went through the check list and they suggested to test the mobo with a different CPU. They said they will not give me a RMA unless I have tested the mobo with another CPU. My question is, how can I be sure which component was damaged by the PS burnout? Quite honestly I don't want to waste more money by buying another CPU and finally find out that the mobo is dead anyway. Borrowing a CPU from someone else's machine is no option either. Another question, will a comp not post at all if the CPU is dead? Would not even the fans spin? any hint is much appreciated

Try to test your components into another machine.(cpu,ram,vga card)

It would be helpful if I had access to another machine of similar built. None of my friends have an Intel quad core compatible mobo. Let me rephrase my actual question. Will a mobo with a damaged CPU make any post attempt, ie. fans spin, power up HD etc? I know for a fact that a functioning mobo without RAM will at least get to the BIOS splash screen and then halt with error 'no RAM installed'. Should an intact mobo without a CPU do the same, ie. at least try to post and then halt with a BIOS error msg 'no CPU installed'?? In other words, if the mobo doesn't even get that far should it indicate that it is in fact damaged, with or without CPU? Get me? Much appreciated if someone could give me an answer to this question.

In my experience, a failed CPU will not allow any fans or POST signs at all. That said however, in the two instances when I've had a powersupply go out with a bang, the damage went beyond the powersupply to include fried CPU, Motherboard and in one case PCI cards including graphics and NIC were also fried. The only un-damaged components were the ram and drives. The only way to test whether your CPU is fried is to test it in another known good compatible motherboard. Goin' Fishin' (Some day)