Dell e6530 showing "processor fault"

[Harvey]

Just been handed a nice Dell e6530 (i7 Ivy Bridge CPU) to diagnose, which powers up, sits around for 30 seconds with the fan blowing quietly, then goes into fault mode flashing the leds to indicate processor fault.

I'd be really surprised if this actually is a faulty processor, but as of right now I don't have one handy to put in to prove it one way or another.

So, I've been checking the obvious, there's no water damage or obvious problems on the motherboard, but one thing is confusing me - all the supplies to the CPU seem correct, except +VCC_GFXCORE which stays at 0V. I can't find anything wrong as yet with the mosfets or surrounding components for this supply, and I'm sitting here wondering if this supply is actually /supposed/ to be present pre-boot. I'm guessing it uses the on-processor GPU at boot time (its nVidia Optimus).

Any one have any ideas? Is VCC_GFXCORE needed to start the CPU completely?

[mcplslg123]

Re: Dell e6530 showing "processor fault"

VCC_GFXCORE will not arise if system doesnt initialise memory. So check your ram stick first and double check for any corrosion in ram slot. In lots of mb, GFX core doesnt arise due to bios fault. So you should try flashing bios. Since gfx core is missing cpu not likely to be bad.

[suiramix]

Re: Dell e6530 showing "processor fault"

Hi there,
Just want to confirm similar conditions on Dell E6430 i7 CPU, power on without video on LCD or external monitor, so measured +VCC_GFXCORE found no voltage (also UGATE1G=0V) and follow mcplslg123 advice : replaced the RAM and also removed and reprogram both BIOS chips to last revision (A18) ! It is working !!!
Thanks again !

[mcplslg123]

Re: Dell e6530 showing "processor fault"

Hi there,
Just want to confirm similar conditions on Dell E6430 i7 CPU, power on without video on LCD or external monitor, so measured +VCC_GFXCORE found no voltage (also UGATE1G=0V) and follow mcplslg123 advice : replaced the RAM and also removed and reprogram both BIOS chips to last revision (A18) ! It is working !!!
Thanks again !

Happy to know that my friend.

[inkman]

Re: Dell e6530 showing "processor fault"

VCC_GFXCORE will not arise if system doesnt initialise memory. So check your ram stick first and double check for any corrosion in ram slot. In lots of mb, GFX core doesnt arise due to bios fault. So you should try flashing bios. Since gfx core is missing cpu not likely to be bad.

Thank you for your advice. It has worked for me aswell. i have flashed bios and
laptop is working with one problem. The fan does not come on until temp is
around 70c, any ideas?

[inkman]

Re: Dell e6530 showing "processor fault"

The problem with fan has been solved by instaling nvidia drivers.