How to Test a Motherboard & Processor
- 1). Open the side of the computer case and, with a pair of pliers, disconnect the fan/heatsink combination from the top of the central processing unit (CPU). Lift the CPU bar up and pull out the CPU. Insert a new CPU in its place.
- 2). Put the fan/heatsink combination back on top of the new CPU, close the computer and restart. Make sure the computer can run several programs at once with no problems. If the computer works fine and did not before, then the previous CPU was bad.
- 3). Shut down the computer. If the problem was not resolved, take out the motherboard. You must disconnect all the drives and the power connection, and then unscrew it from the computer case. Screw the new motherboard in place along with the old CPU. Reconnect everything and restart the computer. If the problem is resolved, the motherboard was bad.
- 4). Close down the computer. If the computer still does not work, the motherboard and CPU are likely both bad. Insert the new CPU in place of the old CPU in the new motherboard and test again. If your computer still isn't working properly, then the motherboard and CPU are likely not the problem.
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