No need for a new heat sink. Just clean the goop off it and spread a fresh layer … and if you’re using Arctic Silver or such, be very careful where you drip/drop it because it is conductive … actually, the thermal paste from Radio Shack is perfectly adequate since you won’t be doing any overclocking.
I would, but I can’t keep the computer on long enough to check it.
Okay. Removed heat sink, cleaned off heat sink and processor with 91% isopropyl alcohol. Applied new Ceramique thermal paste to CPU, reseated heat sink…
Turned on computer…
Fan roars constantly as it did not before. Keyboard lights blink once and then, nothing.
I take it this is bad, right?
not good… Do you get any video at all, even just a post or splash screen of some kind?
No video at all.
As it was for me, the CPU may have been damaged.
I agree. This is exactly how my computer responded when I didn’t realize I didn’t have the CPU plugged all the way in. If yours is plugged in properly, it could very well be broken.
Just for curiosity’s sake, I went and looked up your motherboard, and found the processor slot is Socket AM2. I used Google Products, and found a compatible AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ for $55. It’s even at the same wattage (65W) as the AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ that you’d be replacing.
Would I be better off buying something like this - a replacement motherboard with a new CPU already seated? I’m just afraid that I’ll manage to break the new CPU and be out the $55 or find out that it wasn’t the processor, but the motherboard, that I broke.
Just curious, is your motherboard spitting out any POST errors upon bootup from the BIOS? Any beeps or bonks?
No, no beeps that I can discern. The three lights on the keyboard blink once the moment I press the power button, but not afterward. The fan immediately goes to full speed and stays there. No video even after a couple of minutes.
Okay, so more stupidity on my end… there was a 4-pin power cable I forgot to reattach to the motherboard. With that on, it behaves as it was before - starting up and then promptly shutting back down. I got into the BIOS and the CPU was steady around 32º. I ran the Windows Memory Test with no problems found. But when I try to get it into Windows, even in Safe Mode, it shuts down before I can do anything.
Hey is anyone still following this thread? You ever fix it? I have exact same problem and tried everything except the cpu I don’t have an extra one of those around.