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fried 1500+ athlon ?

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nutrageous

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Nov 10, 2001
Recently I bought a copper heatsink which came with just a pad. I placed the pad (which i ripped a little part of trying to place it on the chip) on the chip. Then I placed the copper heatsink and fan on top.. when i started the pc, nothing came up on the monitor and i smelled a burn odor. When I took out the heat sink I saw a small black burned spot on bottom of heatsink and the chip was mostly black colored. Did I fry my cpu?:( Oh by the way, the cpu was a brand new athlon 1500+. Do you know what happened here? I would just like to know so i don't make the same mistake over again. Do you think it the chip shorted when it touched the heatsink directly ?? i don't know what happened... please shed some light.

thanks :)
mpatel
 
YOu fried it, You should never use a thermal padwith Athlons, use thermal paste.
 
Sorry to hear that. My condolences.
Make sure you research before you try to make a keyring out of it, unless you're going to try to return it.
 
WHile there is a difference between thermal past and a thermal pad, it's not enough to fry your chip. I don't know whether your chip is fried. But if it is, it's not because you used the thermal pad.

Did you remove the plastic cover from the thermal pad? How long was the computer on before you smelled a burning smell? What other symptoms have you seen? Had the chip ever booted normally? The more detail you can give us, the more likely it is that we can help you out.

The fact that you never got a readable monitor screen indicates that you had problems before the chip would have generated enough heat to fry. If it died that quickly, it would have to have been bad to begin with.

nihili
 
Correct. Even if you used the default cooling, it shouldn't have killed your chip. I think an RMA request is in order. Who'd you get the CPU from?
 
I think i did have some plastic on that chip. Some background on the motherboard: its shuttle ak31 k266a. The heatsink is thermalright sk-6 copper. I bought the cpu from newegg.com off priceline.com for $117. You think I would be entitled to a refund? When I get another cpu, should i get thermal grease and stick a thick coating on that chip?

thanks for your help :)
mpatel
 
Newegg is a good vendor. YOu should be able to RMA it if it's dead.

And you'll have to get thermal grease now, because the thermal pad is a one time use only. HOwever, I'm not sure that your chip is fried. If you left the plasic on (which you shouldn't have) that could account for the black coloring and smell.

Reseat all your components, paying especially close attention to your ram and video card.

Make a trip to Radio Shack or your favorite computer store and get some thermal grease. Best Buy is even carrying Antec stuff where I live. Put the heat sink back on using just enough thermal greas to opaquely cover the core of the cpu, that's about a paper thin even layer, ok, maybe two sheets of paper thick. Cafefully put the heat sink on, and then try to boot. Listen for any beeps or other sounds, and also pay attention to any LEDs that light up and whether the fans turn.

Let us know what happens and we can try to help out.

nihili
 
here is a snapshot of the cpu. Oh btw what does RMA mean?

thank you
mpatel
 
RMA = Return Merchandise Authorization = returning the chip for a new one.

I've never seen a fried chip, but that one looks normal to me. I'm assuming the snapshot was taken after the problem. And there don't appear to be any chipped or crushed corners on the core which is a good sign.

Does the thermal pad look pretty much the same as when you put it on? Or did it melt? Also what about the plastic that you left on. If the pad is still the same as it originally was, you can try reseating everything and using the pad. Again, the pad is not as good as grease, but it's enough to get you going.

nihili
 
Pads aren't very good, and if you're going to use thermal goop, you should keep the pad off your chip. When the wax on the pad melts, it fills the microscopic holes and crevices in your core and HSF. That means that any thermal goop you ude won't be able to cool as effectively because there's wax in the way.
It looks like you've already used the pad, though. Try lapping the bottom of the HSF a little to get the wax out of there at least. Good luck. Newegg isn't that bad about RMAs, but if the price on your proc goes up, they'll give you a refund so that you have to pay more to get a functional chip.

As far as fried chips go, I don't think that you can always tell if you've brushed the crud off. I had a TBird that fried, and after I brushed the black crud off, it looked fine but still didn't run.
 
Yes, the pad was a bit melted. Are you sure the chip will still work? Becuause i did smell a burn and did you notice the black marks on those two pics? Do you think NewEgg will take this cpu back? What reason should i provide them if they ask me why i am returning. I actually tried just running the cpu w/o heatsink just to see if it even boots, but nothing came up on the screen even a beep was not heard. Do you think the ram (512mb ddr) could have been effected by the cpu situation.


thanks
mpatel
 
I have no idea if your chip is fried. I'm suggesting ways of testing it. If it's fried, it won't hurt to test it. If it's not fried, you may save yourself the hassle of an RMA.

Never turn your computer on without a heatsink. Athlons fry very fast.

If you decide to do an RMA, explain to newegg that you installed everythign according to instructions but that the computer never booted. Make sure to tell them that it did not even beep. Tell them that you have already double checked the other components (I'm assuming you have) and have come to the conclusion that the chip they sent you does not work. As a result you need for them to authorize your return of that chip so that they can send you a working one.

nihili
 
Yeah, it looks like that thing is toast. By the way, you shouldn't run an Athlon without a heatsink attatched EVER!.

You might want to call newegg and ask them what you should do. They'll probably let you send it back, though you'll probably have to pay for shipping. But that's better than buying a new processor. Good luck, and next time take off the plastic, and think about using a good thermal paste like Arctic Silver II.
 
It's gone. Provided that it's true, go with nihili's RMA explanation. Sorry it happened, just make sure you learn from it, or the chi will have died in vain. I recommend a backup Duron from Pricewatch or eBay. Pricewatch prices are usually cheaper than the final bids, but shipping is also some expensive. Just make sure you don't pay too much. ($36 shipped for a 700 mHz Duron)

Edit: clarification
 
Last edited:
newegg should take the RMA they are a solid company. return it before 30days or they won't take it back.
 
From reading what nutrageous wrote am not sure he mounted the cpu and HSF correctly if this is true you should buy a new unit and not make newegg replace it.

It could be some 1 in 1 million thing and it fried just because, or it wasnt mounted correctly. I dont see why newegg should pay for someone else mistake assuming it was not installed as it should have bin.

If they should replace the CPU please explain why.

Just my thought as someone that runs a company.
 
robertm said:
From reading what nutrageous wrote am not sure he mounted the cpu and HSF correctly if this is true you should buy a new unit and not make newegg replace it.

It could be some 1 in 1 million thing and it fried just because, or it wasnt mounted correctly. I dont see why newegg should pay for someone else mistake assuming it was not installed as it should have bin.

If they should replace the CPU please explain why.

Just my thought as someone that runs a company.
Click to expand...

Fair question, here's why.

If the problem had been a poorly mounted heatsink, then we should have seen the screeen come up and probably a successful boot into windows. The fact that the core isn't crushed indicates that the heatsink was on relatively straight. Given that, a properly operating CPU would not fry while booting. It might run hot, it might be unstable, but it would at least POST. His didn't POST. Therefore, the CPU was bad prior to installation.

nihili
 
Could be but then my new KA266-R takes some seconds before I see a screen and get a beep. It could have fried before the BIOS was done posted.

Am not saying it did but it could have. But then read the first post again why did he have the burnt spot on the Heatsink?

Am not sure I buy the CPU was bad?

But I dont have to newegg does
 
robertm said:
From reading what nutrageous wrote am not sure he mounted the cpu and HSF correctly if this is true you should buy a new unit and not make newegg replace it.

It could be some 1 in 1 million thing and it fried just because, or it wasnt mounted correctly. I dont see why newegg should pay for someone else mistake assuming it was not installed as it should have bin.

If they should replace the CPU please explain why.

Just my thought as someone that runs a company.
Click to expand...

I agree with what nihili said and as someone who runs a business myself I think it is the right thing to do.

If you look around these forums or any others [H] forums, anandtech where ever you look thier are people recommending Newegg. They don't recommend them because of there low price's lots of places have low price's they recommend them because they offer great customer service and low prices. Serving your costumers right will earn you a lot more money then not replacing a burnt chip ever will.
 
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