[JamesNetworks]

OK this is my first post. I have a dell dimension E510 desktop with the standard power supply disk drive motherboard, its got a Pentium 4 socket lga 775 clocked at 3.0GHz, Nvidia Geforce 6200 le pci express GPU, 2 Gigs of ram (2 512MB and 1 1GB) and I need help troubleshooting the problem it has.

When I plug it in the led in the front is orange, all fans start running, the BIOS LED is on, the heatsink doesn't change temperature, and there is no-signal on the monitor. I have taken the ram out and tried all different combinations and there is no beep, I also have tried a different GPU and no GPU, I even tried resetting the BIOS but no matter what I do it still doesn't boot up or display anything on the monitor.

Do you guys think I might need a new processor or motherboard? I do not want to waste money on something that works fine.

[I.M.O.G.]

to the forums - I fixed your font, as well as your text - you had everything pasted in twice. It is easier to read now.

You should redo all your connections, and only install a minimal amount of equipment.

1. Reset bios
2. Unplug and replug everything in, ensuring everything is securely plugged in
3. Unplug everything except monitor, CPU, one stick of ram, see if it will post to bios.

[JamesNetworks]

OK i will try that and see what happens

[curtis1552]

Since the fans power up it's probably not the PSU, but it never hurts to check that too.

Don't forget to look at this happy sticky:
http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=266936

[JamesNetworks]

OK i tried a few different things. now this is what happens.

I turn it on, it starts booting up then the CPU fan starts spinning insanely fast and as soon as it hits a certain speed and just completely shuts down but the BIOS led is still on, so now I have to unplug the power cord ,take out the BIOS battery, unplug the motherboard power cord then put the motherboard cord back in, put the BIOS battery back in, and plug the power cord back in. and I have repeated this like a billion times but the same thing happens. Finally I took the heatsink off and powered it on and I figured out that the CPU was overheating *and never to touch a CPU when the computer is on lol*.

So now I am stumped again and need more help.

First of all is there any way to stop the CPU from overheating?

Also I did get as far for it to say that there was a fan error but even if I unplug the fan it still shuts down after like 10 seconds of being on.

[I.M.O.G.]

If you took off the heatsink, did you clean it off and reapply thermal paste before remounting it?

And you need to have the CPU fan plugged in with the heatsink applied, or the CPU will certainly overheat.

Please be more specific if possible also, letting us know exactly what's plugged in and how the heatsink is mounted. One stick of ram only? What else?

Also, removing the BIOS battery does not guarantee the BIOS resets. Your motherboard should have instructions for properly resetting BIOS, and I'd recommend following them.

[JamesNetworks]

I read another article and it said if thermal paste was not applied the connection between the heatsink and CPU could be causing the anti-burn safety feature to shut it down to prevent it from frying the CPU. I have confirmed this and am looking into getting some thermal paste asap. I kind of feel really dumb lol, I hope I haven't done to much damage which I shouldn't have already. I will keep you guys posted though.

Thanks for all the help I really appreciate it.

[I.M.O.G.]

Cool, glad you got it straightened out.

Before applying thermal paste, do your best to clean both the heatsink base and the to of the CPU. These are example instructions for cleaning both surfaces if they have old goober/paste on them:
http://docs.google.com/viewer?url=ht...lean.pdf&pli=1