Can you still view the bios screen with a bad CPU?

Will you still be able to power on the computer to the point where you see the BIOS screen if the CPU is bad?

I am building a new box, like I've done 100's of times before,
new ASUS P5LD2 mobo,
possibly 'used' Pentium D 805 (seller is sort of shady)
new Kingston approved DDR2,
new PSU,

and it wont boot into anything, SATA ,IDE, floppy, CD, nothing. It tries to boot but then just restarts back to the BIOS. The CPU IS detected, so is the memory, I've swaped the RAM so I know it's not that, I've swaped the mobo....I just don't want to open this new Pent D 805 that I bought last night if I don't have to, so I can return it if the problem lies elswhere.

Can a computer boot up enough to log into the BIOS even with a bad CPU? I can at least get into the BIOS, it even says 36.5 for the CPU temp, so no overheating. It is just that the CPU is the ONLY thing I haven't swapped out yet, I really doubt that I bought 2 bad mobos in a row, there even different models...P5LD2 and P5L-VM.

Does anyone know?!?

I thought you wouldn't be able to see ANYTHING if the CPU was bad!?????

Define bad. If the CPU is non-existent, then no, it won't boot. If the CPU is just plain crappy, but is in the mobo, then yes, it will boot.

Yes, the CPU is installed, but since it is the only thing that I haven't substituted out yet, then I would guess that that was the problem, I just thought that if the chip was bad that you wouldn't even be able to see the BIOS screen. Oh well, I guess I will open this new box and try a fresh chip and see if that will finally get this damn thing running.

Believe it or not, I've built ovr 100 computers, and I have had the good luck of not purchasing a DOA processor.

WORD OF ADVICE: If your local crappy ma and pa computer store wants to sell you an OEM processor (non retail-boxed) MAKE SURE and examine it (with a magnifying glass) to see if there was any indication that it had been used before! Such as a little bit of thermal paste left on it, ore something like that. If it has been used, demand a NEW OEM, even make them prove it, or better yet, GO SOMEWHERE ELSE! I got burned! They better take this used one back!!!!

Well, i had suitation where i was stuck in the BIOS, that is it POST new never went beyond just checking my processor, Motherboard and memory. Apart from that it never checked anything. But by this understood that my processo, MB and memory is fine.

The actual problem with my system was my hard drive which wasn't responding for POST. Did u had anything similar to that??

ssharish2005

PROBLEM SOLVED 'sort of'

It turns out that it WS the processor! I switched it with a brand new retail box P D 820, and everything works fine now.

VERY WIERD THOUGH: I first put together this machine, with all brand new 'boxed parts' exept for a supposedly new OEM Pent D 820, and a NEW Intel fan from the same retailer "PC-Infinity" DONT BUY FROM THEM!!! :

ASUS P5LD2 mobo
Kingston 512 MB ram
EVGA 6200LE video
Seagate 250GB 16MB Cache SATA 3Gb/s hard drive
LG 16X DVD-+RW D/L

This is my stock system that I build for most of my dental office clients.

After assembly everything seemed to run fine (except that I noticed the CPU temp was like 65C at idle, HOT!!!) I was able to instal DR-DOS on the first primary partition >512MB of the HD. During configuration of DOS it started to 'flake out' on me...restarting over and over. I was using DOS on the HD for an hour or 2, before this happened, so I didn't think it could possibly be the CPU.

I switched out the mem first, same thing. Then I reseated everything, same.

So I went out and bought a new mobo and CPU, as these were the only things I did not have on hand to swap out for diagnostics. BUT was pretty annoyed since my fund$ are pretty tight, and I was short on time,AND these were all BRAND NEW (sept for the CPU, bastards!!)

I used the orignonal CPU on the new ASUS P5L-VM mobo, and all it would do is POST, it would try to boot a floppy: "Starting Caldera DOS" but would not get much further before rebooting. The BIOS was able to detect the processor and type of processor... it just wasn't working at all.

So the moral of the story is " Yes " a computer CAN boot into POST and you can "see" the screen even with a faulty processor! BUT I'm not saying that this will happen for ALL bad processors, I had one bad chip that when you tried to boot whould just give you beep codes, no screen or anything else.

UP YOURS PC-INFINITY !!!!!!! for selling me a faulty used OEM CPU as a 'new' CPU!!!!!!!!! I HOPE YOU DIE AND BURN. now I'm out 260$ in parts, plenty of hours of labor and frustration. I can't return the new parts I bought, since they are all opened and used especially the boxed Intel chip, and Computer Builders Warehouse charges a 15% restocking fee, not to mention they are about an hour away! They were the only place nearby that had a descently priced mobo and chip. At least they sell good items!

DIE! PC-INFINTY DIE!

I'm sorry but $ and time is tight right now and they really through a monkey wrench in my business workings, all because they wanted to make a quick buck for some 'known junk' they had lying in a box in the back!!!!!!!! They evem sold me a much smaller Intel heatsink than what was supposed to come in the retail box, and they said " Oh, It'll be fiiiiine" MY .......... it will!!