On 8/6/10 1:48 PM, Gus wrote:
The Short Answer: Yes a bad cpu can give you a good Power On Self Test Chime. What you do is keep downclocking the CPU till it eventually gives you video and boots. You may even have to go to the lowest setting your motherboard allows before it does gives video and boots. If a CPU has been heat stressed in the past, it may say that it is a 500 MHZ processor, but may work just long enough to pass the P.O.S.T. and give a chime, and then lock up (at its 500 MHZ settings). Lower clock speed = less heat = more likely to boot.
It's not just a matter of heat. The chip may just not be able to run at a given speed regardless of how hot it gets doing it.
One suggestion, keep dropping the clock speed till it boots and works okay... then drop it one more. You may be right on the edge of it working okay and any little thing could push it over such as temperature.
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