Urgent advice needed..pc wont start

L

Lord Anubis

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I opened my pc to remove dust. The pc was running hot (gaming all day). I removed the heatsink and fan. Cleaned the dust of it (it was clogged). I put it back. I never touched any thing else. I tried to start the pc. The screen flashes the normal drive ram info for 3 seconds then it shuts down. What could be wrong? Please this is urgent as i have important info on it that i need for tomorrow. Any advice appreciated. Thx
 
did you make sure the fan is spinning and that you didn't knock anythink loose.
 
Lord Anubis said:
I opened my pc to remove dust. The pc was running hot (gaming all day). I removed the heatsink and fan. Cleaned the dust of it (it was clogged). I put it back. I never touched any thing else. I tried to start the pc. The screen flashes the normal drive ram info for 3 seconds then it shuts down. What could be wrong? Please this is urgent as i have important info on it that i need for tomorrow. Any advice appreciated. Thx
Click to expand...

Are you sure you properly seated the processor and the fan? Try reseating them. If that does not work try re-seating all the expansion cards and the RAM as well. Plug them all out and back in again.

If that all fails, you might need to completely dis-assemble the PC and re-assemble... but lets hope it does not go that far.
 
Is the heatsink seated correctly and does it have thermal paste or tape? Did you clean the old paste/tape off the CPU and bottom of the heatsink when you removed it? or did you just unclip it, clean the fan and top of the heatsink fins, then put it back...
 
seems like your pc has had its Last days...armaggedon
 
Lord Anubis said:
The screen flashes the normal drive ram info for 3 seconds then it shuts down. What could be wrong?
Click to expand...

problem: the machine is overheating, due to no cpu thermal paste.

solution: apply thermal paste

yes, it is that quick.....by the time it has started posting the heat build up is too much.
 
Lord Anubis said:
I saw grey powder between the cpu and heatsink, i thought its dirt. I brushed it off :(. Is that the problem?
Click to expand...

Seems like that was some old thermal paste, try getting hold of some as was suggested. Hopefully your CPU wasn't fried or something from static electricity.

Have you tried making sure your RAM is seated right? That can cause similar problems if it's loose.
 
Lord Anubis said:
Ok will have to get some tomorrow..is there no boer maak n plan remedy fix in the meantime?
Click to expand...

If you can think of something that would make a good substitute to thermal paste, I can't. It would have to stand up to heat and be very thermally conductive.

Try peanut butter. :D (A joke, I'm sure that would be a terrible idea. Burned peanut butter on your CPU doesn't sound good.)

Try google for something, maybe someone else has discovered something.

EDIT:

http://forums.overclockers.com.au/showthread.php?t=288419

http://www.dansdata.com/goop.htm

http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=149866
 
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normal white toothpaste works great as a thermal conductor, but it dries out over time and goes powdery

would probably work ok for a week or so.
 
Lord Anubis said:
Ok will have to get some tomorrow..is there no boer maak n plan remedy fix in the meantime?
Click to expand...

iv'e seen a guy use toothpaste as temporary thermal paste, i thought he was nuts at the time but it seemed to do the job, aparently toothpaste has some ingredient that conducts heat, not sure how good it works as i was only there for about an hour, but worth a try i suppose.
 
Ok it posted now for about 20 seconds beeped twice (always beeped once) then flashed "checksum error select f1 or f2). Then shutdown. Ill wait until tomorrow. I hope its this only. Tx everyone
 
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Lord Anubis said:
Ok it posted now for about 20 seconds beeped twice (always beeped once) then flashed "checksum error select f1 or f2). Then shutdown. Ill wait until tomorrow. I hope its this only. Tx everyone
Click to expand...

one quick beep == systems OK;

Everything except that is something is wrong.

see:
http://www.pcmech.com/article/beep-codes/
http://www.pchell.com/hardware/beepcodes.shtml
http://networking.ringofsaturn.com/PC/beep.php
http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=1223
 
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