PC not booting after a CPU heatsink cleanup

[newmystie]

Hi!

My PC is a Pentium IV. Recently, when powering it up, it powered up then after like 2 seconds it turned off by itself and then re-powered on its own. I opened it up and dusted it a bit using a paintbrush, especially the CPU fan. It was alright for some days. Then I got the same problem again. This time I removed the heatsink and the CPU from the board for proper dusting. Now i made a mistake . I scraped up the dried thermal paste from the cooler's base using a metal screwdriver. And when I placed back the CPU and fan and powered up again, now I got no display, no sound nothing. Just the hard disk spinning. That's all.

Now could it be that the scratching on the cooler's base caused this?

 

[amuffin]

You need to apply thermal paste before putting your heatsink back on!

 

[Tamz_msc]

Are you sure that the CPU power connector was put back on properly?
Also, did you touch the CPU with the screwdriver?

 

[newmystie]

You need to apply thermal paste before putting your heatsink back on!

Is that real necessary? I read somewhere that PC should run even without thermal paste.

 

[newmystie]

Are you sure that the CPU power connector was put back on properly?
Also, did you touch the CPU with the screwdriver?

Yes. I did put the CPU power connector. When I power on the PC the CPU fan runs ok.

And no, I didn't touch the CPU with the screwdriver. I touched only the cooler with it.

 

[amuffin]

Is that real necessary? I read somewhere that PC should run even without thermal paste.

Without thermal paste your cpu will overheat and either blow up or shutdown.

 

[newmystie]

I've applied thermal paste. But still no booting.

 

[truegenius]

clean all your ram slots and modules thoroughly and try 1 ram stick only

 

[newmystie]

clean all your ram slots and modules thoroughly and try 1 ram stick only

did that but still same.

 

[truegenius]

check your cpu to monitor cable, clean them and place them correctly and tightly

(but i still think that ram is the problem, use some cleaner or ketone with a cloth to clean ram stick's pin, and clean the slots too with cloth)

 

[newmystie]

Hello guys!

Am really very sorry for this late update. Problem turned out to be with PSU. I changed it and it's all ok now.

Thanks to you all for your time and input.