Overeating or dead cpu?

[TheMuffinManf4]

Hi, Last night I was cleaning out my computer. just a can of compressed air and some Q-tips. I took off the Intel retail heat sink to clean the dust out of the fins. I put it back on properly. Got everything back together. Then i turned it on and it got past the bios checks and all that junk then right about when windows 7 boots it locks up on me. I reboot and i get no Beeb codes or screen. I wait about 10 mins and then it works again but still gets were i got before. The keyboard dies and i get no response. I reset the cmos and still does the same thing. I put pressure on the heatsink to keep it in good contact with the cpu and i still have the same problem. It just locks up and shutsoff. It was working fine before. Could this be a overheating problem or a dead cpu? My specs

Intel core i7 920 at stock speeds
settings
X58 evga 4x classifed edition
3x2 corsiar DDR3
corsiar 650 W power supply
two geforce250s in SLI
Thanks in advance

 

[GhislainG]

What heat paste did you use and did you apply it correctly?

 

[TheMuffinManf4]

Arctic sliver and i just put a dab of it on the cpu and then i put the heat sink on.

 

[GhislainG]

Arctic Silver 5? If it was working fine before you removed it, then it probably isn't mounted correctly.

 

[TheMuffinManf4]

I hate stock intel coolers.

 

[GhislainG]

Remove the motherboard from the case and make sure that all pins are properly locked. After this incident, I presume that you won't remove it again just to clean it up.

 

[hundredislandsboy]

Arctic sliver and i just put a dab of it on the cpu and then i put the heat sink on.

On which side of the CPU did you apply paste, the metalic top or the shiny gold tiny circles?

 

[lothdk]

Try entering BIOS and check your CPU temps, you most likely did not install the HSF correctly, and the temp reading should tell if that is the problem.

 

[hundredislandsboy]

If you can POST, then you should be able to get in the BIOS and in hardware monitor, check the temps.

You may want to check if you plugged in your CPU fan or if a wire got in the way of it and stopped it.

 

[TheMuffinManf4]

Fixed
Went and bought a cooler master V8

Btw what would happen if i got the termal paste on the gold circles?

 

[hundredislandsboy]

Fixed
Went and bought a cooler master V8

Btw what would happen if i got the termal paste on the gold circles?

Don't know. Never tried.