I cleaned the heatsink, now my system is DEAD! ****!

[conor07]

AHHH So frustrating!

So I put together some old parts to build a system.

Bio star m7vit pro board
AMD 2.0 chipset
80gig HD
ATI 128meg video card

I erased the old disk and reinstalled windows, everything is fine until I try and clean off the dust on the heat-sink with a brush (yes, while the computer is operating). As im doing this some of the wires in the case get tangled in the fan and then BAM!
The monitor, mouse and keyboard lose power. I turn the case back on the tower fires up but still they keyboard, mouse and monitor do not! The wires are not in anyway damaged.

Please give me some advice other than I shouldn't have tried cleaning the computer wile it was on.

 

[tenaciousleydead]

Same thing happened to me when i had a dead proc in the socket, no post, no video nothing. How long did you leave it running after the fan wires got caught? you could have shorted the motherboard. Try clearing the CMOS battery, alternate ram modules in the slots until you have tested every slot with all sticks. Good luck

 

[conor07]

I left it running for about 30 seconds. Then I turned it off. I figured that I should reset the batery. I think ill try it right now. Any advice from others?

 

[mford66215]

Please give me some advice other than I shouldn't have tried cleaning the computer wile it was on.

Ummm, pretty much out of advice then.

Hope you didn't fry the motherboard..but it sure sounds like you may have.

 

[GhislainG]

What wires got tangled in the CPU fan? Make sure that you haven't disconnected a cable or removed a jumper. If nothing is loose or disconnected, then you probably fried the CPU. Fortunately those are not too expensive.

 

[jerreece]

Sounds like something shorted out. CPU or Motherboard is likely dead. Really shouldn't mess with internal components while the CPU is powered on. That can cause things to... well....

 

[conor07]

Ok,

I had an extra motherboard around so I put that one in with all the older components. Now that I have done that what do I do now? Reinstall windows?

 

[tenaciousleydead]

See if it posts.

 

[GhislainG]

Stopping the fan on an old AMD CPU for long enough might kill the CPU. The motherboard should still work fine.

 

[jsc]

You do not need a boot drive, or any kind of drive for that matter, to do the POST.

 

[caamsa]

You are lucky you are not dead. Anyway I can't figure out how wires hitting a fan would have shorted out the computer unless you touched some thing on the motherboard you should not have with the brush. Also maybe there was a static charge on the brush and you zapped the board. Not sure.

When cleaning the computer use compressed air not a brush. Keep playing around with it.