Cpu possibly dead?

[Mike20]

Hi guys First post here so bare with me
I recently bought a new heatsink and fan for my amd3000. The reason being because it was hitting tempretures of 90C - the computer obviously kept locking up, however the fan wasn't dirty when I checked inside and I had been using the stock heatsink/fan that came with the cpu since day one and never had any probs with it before.
Anyways, after wrongly installing the heatsink to my cpu (put thermal grease litreally everywhere instead of just on the diode) I cleaned up the cpu and removed all the grease off it and the heatsink and tried again. This time putting a little amount on the diode. When I now switch on my computer it turns itself off after maybe 6 seconds, but it varys. Sometimes I can just about get into bios before it turns itself off, othertimes the screen doesn't even get a chance to fire up. I can only turn it back on if I leave it a little while and unplug/replug the power cable.
Ive tried Resetting the CMOS manually using the jumpers thinking it might be something to do with that but no joy. I don't think its a case of the cpu overheating now, but im worried I might of damaged it in some way when I added too much grease. Im pretty sure its not the PSU either as the green light on my mobo is on when the computer is off.
I was thinking about the thermal grease being conductive to electric and it might of got on the pins - however if this was the case I woulden't of thought the computer would of made it into bios?

Any help appreciated as im pulling my hair out here and don't fancy spending alot to get a new cpu

Specs off the top of my head-

ASUS A7V8X-X
AMD 3000 xp
2x 512mb ram (crucial)
Gforce 5600 fx 128mb
SB live value

 

[xeenrecoil]

heya Mike;

To the best of my knowledge smearing thermal grease all over the socket wont cause it to have problems infact for water cooling solutions ive seen them recommend it.

I cant imagine the CPU was getting to 90c because it is supposed to shut down automatically at 70c.

There has to be something else going on, i cant say what with the information you have given me, assuming you were static free, and all that stuff, the things you described doesnt sound like they would be an issue. i dunno what to tell ya, i guess im not much help on this one.

 

[Mike20]

Hey, thanks for the reply
Well, ive tried again with the old heatsink but it appears to be worse, the computer is switching on for maybe 2 seconds, then streight off. Before I could get lucky and get into bios but no chance now. Again I have to unplug/replug to attempt to start it. Deffo not a overheating issue as it doesn't get a chance to heat up. Im starting to sway towards the motherboard/cpu. Will try a diffrent cpu in there next i think.

 

[P4Man]

A few seconds is all it takes to heat up your CPU enough to melt solder.. IF your heatsink isnt making contact with the core. Since one heatsink apparently made a difference over the other, and you managed to mismount one earlier (no other way to get 90C), search no further. Ask someone to help you, I'm fairly certain you are not mounting the heatsinks properly, or you still have a barcode sticker on your cpu or something :&

It could well be you fried to cpu though, so even if you go for a new one, have someone else assist you in mounting the HSF!

= The views stated herein are my personal views, and not necessarily the views of my wife. =

 

[Mike20]

The 90c I was getting before was on the cpu BEFORE I put the new heatsink on.
I've tried my old cpu back in and its working fine. Seems as if the cpu was on its way out and the overheating was just its way of telling me its on it's last legs. Bit crap though considering ive only had it for about 6 months. Unfortuatnly I never kept the box/receipt :/
Thanks for all ur help btw chaps.