Symptoms of a CPU defect ?

[Sputnik]

Would anyone class these as the symptoms of a faulty CPU ?

when I did some tests on this CPU the outcome was dissappointing.
Whilst the tests confirmed the CPU speed as described, within industry standards any way, very little else was great.
The Central Reg, Calc, math performance all showed poor results.
You will have noticed that using this CPU causes a computer to hang after about 20 mins of use and leaves the video picture totally frozen.

Personally I don't think these symptoms match that of a faulty CPU.

[nightkhaos]

I concur, however a CPU fault is possible.

I believe this is more likely to be faulty RAM.

[Orbixx]

Any hardware that is used during the process of calculation is potentially faulty. It cannot be isolated to the CPU for sure without further troubleshooting (like trying a different CPU for example).

[Domestic_Ginger]

Could be overheating? 20 minutes before the thing shuts down? Memtest should sort out the memory.

Everest log file? Not sure if you open up someone elses?

How is he testing (what program):-

"The Central Reg, Calc, math performance all showed poor results"

And what the hell is an industry standard for a central Reg?

You need to see log files; all of which probably take 20 minutes+. He is either a genius or knows far less than he is pretending to.

I'm all confused.

[Jay]

I have seen some odd issues with a faulty CPU like XP not installing, HDD dropping etc but its very very rare.

You sold this item on ebay as an OEM CPU as long as you are sure it was 100% ok when it went out then what more can you do? It could be so many other things causing these issues and I would put the CPU last on my list. I think this is a scam to be honest.

[Sputnik]

You have all pretty much confirmed what I was thinking.

I did ask if he had fitted the cooler correctly and was told that "he knows what his doing, He has hundreds of PC's in his workshop" Funny really considering he was desperate for this CPU to fix his PC

He mentioned some software which I've never heard of 'Check-it' or something like that. TBH I think his either an idiot that knows nothing about PC's or a Scammer who was going to send me his own dead CPU back.
Just sad that there are people that try to scam people for such a small amount of money really. I know the CPU was 100% as I used it everyday in my own PC.

[Saracen]

Rule number 1 of selling stuff, especially on eBay .... keep copious records. Most especially, keep a note, and preferably a photo, showing things like serial numbers. And, in my opinion, put them in the listing. Then there can be no argument if someone tries to do a swap on you.

Oh course, it's easy for hindsight to be 20:20.

[nightkhaos]

You sold this on eBay, a CPU you have been using day-in-day out for a few years, and he can't get it to work on his rig and he blames the CPU. I very much doubt it is the CPU in that case. Any damage sustained durring transport you are not liable for anyway, so this guy can't get anything from you.

Further more, most cases of a fault in the CPU as I have experienced them result in the machine not being able to boot at all.

[watercooled]

Sorry, Just posted basically what's already been said. Tab was open for ages...

[Pob255]

Could be memory, overheating, psu
Heck with an idiot like this it could be bios settings.

You'd need a lot more details about the system it's in and what he's done to test it.

Rule number 1 of selling stuff, especially on eBay .... keep copious records. Most especially, keep a note, and preferably a photo, showing things like serial numbers. And, in my opinion, put them in the listing. Then there can be no argument if someone tries to do a swap on you.

Oh course, it's easy for hindsight to be 20:20.

This is very good advice.
Also getting a camera that can do good close up photos.

[Sputnik]

Rule number 1 of selling stuff, especially on eBay .... keep copious records. Most especially, keep a note, and preferably a photo, showing things like serial numbers. And, in my opinion, put them in the listing. Then there can be no argument if someone tries to do a swap on you.

Oh course, it's easy for hindsight to be 20:20.

Yeah I have good photo's of it - good enough to clearly read all the details on it.

You sold this on eBay, a CPU you have been using day-in-day out for a few years, and he can't get it to work on his rig and he blames the CPU. I very much doubt it is the CPU in that case. Any damage sustained durring transport you are not liable for anyway, so this guy can't get anything from you.

Further more, most cases of a fault in the CPU as I have experienced them result in the machine not being able to boot at all.

Yeah, I used the CPU for years often at almost 100% load.

Could be memory, overheating, psu
Heck with an idiot like this it could be bios settings.

You'd need a lot more details about the system it's in and what he's done to test it.

Yeah, I think you summed him up well in the first few words - He won't give details of his machine apart from "it works perfect" but, not with the CPU he bought from me. I've come to the conclusion he knows nothing about PC's but, knows everything.

Of course it is possible he was going to send me his own broken CPU back in the post.

TBH I'm not going to bother with it now, I just refunded him and told him to keep the CPU as it is not worth much anyway and I have no way of testing it any more so he might have killed it even if he did send it back, For that reason I would not want to sell it on as an 'unknown'

It just really bugs me that his attitude was soo bad.

[Pob255]

What was the cpu?

and of course he could just simply of been trying it on just for that resault, ie getting a free cpu

[Agent]

What he's claiming doesn't make sense.

The Central Reg, Calc, math performance all showed poor results.

A CPU just doesn't magically have 'poor' results. Heck, there are very few things that can affect (effect? aghh) the number of calculations a CPU can do by default.

Throttling is the main one due to heat, wrong multiplier and FSB are the other 2 big ones. Other than a few BIOS settings (most of which wouldn't make a huge difference), there isn't much else apart from the software that's presenting / doing the results.

Also:

within industry standards

What _is_ he going on about with this? A CPU has a rated speed, there is no "industry standard" associated with it. If Intel says it's a 2Gighz chip, it's 2 Gighz. Period.

[Sputnik]

What was the cpu?

and of course he could just simply of been trying it on just for that resault, ie getting a free cpu

It was an Athlon64 3500+ Newcastle core.

[Sputnik]

What he's claiming doesn't make sense.

None of his emails made sense. From the moment he won the auction! When I tried to explain to him that the problems he reported were IMHO not those of a defective CPU he said he had loads of PC's in his workshop and he knew all about PC's but, he would not tell me the specs of his machine.