Old Computer without thermal paste wont turn on after cleaning

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danymanny

danymanny

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Jul 28, 2014
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A while ago i meant to upgrade my old PC by adding another 2 GB of RAM and while doing so i also cleaned the PC up a bit with a couple of wipes(I haven't cleaned it in 4 years). Once i finished the PC would not turn on! lately I've been reading up about thermal paste and i realized that i removed the thermal paste from the fan and CPU while cleaning my PC up and I'm guessing that that's what prevented my PC from booting. Is there a real connection? should i go buy thermal paste and apply?
Thanks
 
Solution
Beezy
yes and make sure not to use TOO MUCH! you want a small pea or rice sized dab on the center of the CPU and dont spread it, the cooler pressing down will spread the paste for you. The purpose of that paste/grease is to help transfer heat from the CPU to the cooler. It fills the tiny micro scratches that exist on the surface of the CPU and the cooler.

in short you want the thinnest possible layer that stills covers the surface.
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sincreator

sincreator

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May 27, 2009
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When you added the extra ram, was it the same voltage, speed and timings? That could be your problem if they are not matched properly.

How long were you running without thermal paste? It sounds like you could of killed your chip/motherboard with unneccesary heat. Even if there is no thermal paste the system should still boot, so I would think it's damaged if it's not booting at all, or it was the ram issue that I mentioned at first.

 
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Beezy

Beezy

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Nov 4, 2013
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yes and make sure not to use TOO MUCH! you want a small pea or rice sized dab on the center of the CPU and dont spread it, the cooler pressing down will spread the paste for you. The purpose of that paste/grease is to help transfer heat from the CPU to the cooler. It fills the tiny micro scratches that exist on the surface of the CPU and the cooler.

in short you want the thinnest possible layer that stills covers the surface.
 
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Solution
plywrlw

plywrlw

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Jul 5, 2014
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Do you mean you removed the heatsink and fan, turned it over and cleaned the side that touches your processor? If so, you probably want to get some new paste but that is probably not why it's not turning on. It seems more likely you accidentally dislodged a connector somewhere. If it was just a lack of thermal paste I'd expect it to turn on but overheat and then shut itself down again or throttle back and run slowly.

When you say it isn't switching on is it doing anything at all or just sitting there silently, no lights or fans?
 
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danymanny

danymanny

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Jul 28, 2014
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Hey, thanks for all of the quick replies! So from what i understood from all of this is that the cause of my pc not booting is probably not from the paste, and once i figure out that cause i should get some paste.
I don't think i'm going to go through all of that trouble because this pc is super old and i'm pretty sure it's just some bad connections that came with the years. Guess this gives me a good reason to upgrade :) lol. Thanks!
 
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