Can a bad PSU overheat the CPU?

i have an earlier post where a friend of mine had his motherboard voltage reg chips actually burn out (I think there was actually a little fire in that area, which did stink really bad).
He really can't afford another computer so I told him I'd try and help, so I purshased a refurbished ASUS P8Q67-M from amazon which has a 90 day warrenty.
In my other post everyone thought that maybe the power supply (Antec 650watt) was bad and it probably toasted the CPU. I have a Dr. Power II PSU tester from thermaltake and tested the psu and it tested okay. Well after getting refurbished MB installed with everything it did boot up. The problem is that now the cpu is overheating and showing a starting temp of 160 fahrenheit and then it doesn't take long before it hits 174 fahrenheit so I turned it off. Would a bad PSU cause this, or is it a faulty motherboard?

 

Oh well, I guess I was thinking maybe too much voltage could cause the cpu to overheat. I've heard that overclocking a cpu can make it run hotter and that you have to increase voltage sometimes to overclock it. So I figured that maybe a bad PSU putting out too much voltage would cause the cpu to run hotter. So you think it's a bad motherboard then?

 

If the PSU is delivering to much voltage, the motherboard will eventually get damaged. That could damage the CPU. But, more often than not, a bad PSU will fry the motherboard, not the CPU. You said you tested the PSU and it's OK. Then it's almost certainly the motherboard. I'm with JoeRay12 on this one - return the motherboard.

 

His original computer was a gateway 4860 with in i5 cpu and intel motherboard. The motherboard toasted a voltage regulator chip ( even had a little fire on it). In my last post about this i was wondering if it was worth getting another motherboard or could there be more that's wrong with the computer, such as a fried cpu?
Well I took a chance and bought a refurbished asus motherboard from amazon to replaced the fried MB while using all the other original parts and the computer did boot up. However; it was overheating right away. I thought maybe a bad psu was the reason the MB got cooked and would that also cause the cpu to overheat.
It turned out that the cheap heat sink and fan for the cpu wasn't staying on. So I have a few spare computer components laying around and decided to just use a better quality heat sink and fan. That took care of the cpu overheating, but I still didn't trust the psu. So i had him get another one. So everything seems fine, but I had to reload windows 7 on his system since it didn't come with the disk. I have the same version of windows 7 so I loaded that on hoping I could just use the cd-code from the side of the gateway to activate windows 7. No such luck and now I get the message," your copy of windows my be pirated". Is that because of a different motherboard and or psu?

 

No. It's because you have installed your Windows 7 on a second computer. Why did you re-install Windows? The problem(s) had nothing to do with the HDD.

 

Okay when he purchased the computer from best buy it did not come with the windows 7 disk. After replacing his bad intel MB with the asus MB the computer would not boot into windows 7, and the repair disk didn't help. I told him he would probably have to buy windows 7.
The local computer store told him that (not best buy) if he knew someone with the same version of win 7 just load it and use the cd key on the sticker on the case. Well, I have the same version of win 7 that is on his computer, so that is what I tried. It didn't work (I didn't think it would) but I tried anyway. I try calling microsoft and explain the situation and hopefully they will activate it for him.
He's going through a divorce and that is why I'm trying to help him out. This is an expense he could do without if possible.

 

I would welcome any corrections to the below contribution in case of errors or inaccuracies.

This is the situation as I understand it with HP computers which are presupplied with an O/S:

The OS that comes with a PC is tied to that machine. This why the CoA code is stuck to the case of that machine. Microsoft think it helps stop software piracy. HP have an arrangement with MS. I do not believe it is possible to use the OS from one machine on any other machine - thus it prevents the same copy of the OS being used simultaneously. With HPs I have read in the user forum that there is a code stored in a non-rewritable section of the boot ROM which is matched to that copy of the OS. The ROM is an SM chip flow soldered onto the mb. Apparently the same copy of the OS can be used only if the motherboard is replaced with an identical part, which carries the right (matching) code. IDK how much of this is correct because I have never tried it. Also it is only applicable to HP - IDK what other suppliers' arrangements are.

The other thing one might try if you have a tied OS and a computer which will it will not install on is to contact and tell them the old hardware was destroyed, but you still have the OS on a hard disk and you want to install it on your new hardware.

When you have CDs you should be able to the OS on any PC, even 2 at once but you cannot activate it twice or ever connect the second PC to the internet

PSUs CPUs RAM DIMMs and graphics cards are (given compatibility) interchangeable and do not affect the OS (given compatibility)

This could all be circumvented, at least for trial purposes, by booting into Linux; several free versions/public licence are available.

Dumb_Question
31.March.2015

 

mcduke, did you install your Windows 7 on your friends PC? If so, you will not be able to legally activate it. The person at the PC repair shop was correct but, he should have said you need to do a repair - not an install.
It is possible to repair Windows on one PC using the retail disc from another PC. But, the two Windows versions must be identical, and the product key from Windows on the PC being repaired must be used if so prompted.

I suggest your friend buys Windows 7 SP1 or Windows 8.1. In about six months he can upgrade to Windows 10 for free. He has a year to do so, and he'll receive updates until the end of support for Windows 10. In a nutshell, Windows 10 has the best of both Windows 7 and 8.1.

PS I your friend can't afford to buy Windows (I understand), suggest he uses Linux Mint or Ubuntu. After Windows 10 is released, he'll have one year to buy Windows 7 SP1 or 8.1, and upgrade to Windows 10. That'll give him ± 18 months.