noob desparately needs help!

[tanabe]

hello,
this is my first computer. i just built it and it turned on fine. i let it run until it scanned my drives and couldnt find anything to boot from. after that, it mysteriously turned off by itself. i thought it was part of the process so i tried turning it on again. to my dismay it ran but the screen did not display anything. i panicked and tried turning it on and off several times; still no display. i heard the harddrive booting up.
my video card is a geforce 4 ti4600. i suspected it was the video card, but after replacing it with my old geforce 2 and then a generic video card, it produced the same results.
i noticed a burning smell emanating from the processor. the gigabyte mobo i used didn't have enough room for my delta fan and alpha heatsink. i rigged the fan and placed it on top of the heatsink so it would work. *i used arctic silver 2 compound to ensure good heat transaction between the heatsink and cpu.* i took the heatsink+fan off to see if the cpu core had blown out....i didn't think it would after about 10 seconds of use. judging by the look of the core and comparing it to pix of blown athlon cores i decided it was not fried. i still don't know why there was a strange burning smell and why it won't display!...
i desparately need some help here.
any advice would be greatly appreciated!!
thanks

 

[Arkaine23]

probs

Welcome to forums!

Ouch. That sounds like a bad situation. Check the voltage your power supply is set to. There's a switch on the back for 115v or 220v. This setting depends on your region. I think North America is all 115v.

If you can, test your cpu, ram, and video card in another computer to be sure they're not fried.

 

[tanabe]

hm

i've tried taking out everything except my video card to eliminate the possibility of IRQ problems. im very sure the video card isnt fried. its at 115 v as well

 

[Arkaine23]

hmmm

Examine your ram closely and the dimm slot it was plugged into. If it wasn't in all the way one or both could have burned. Same thing for the AGP socket, check it for melted plastic.

 

[tanabe]

nope.....

agp and ram slot are fine. i just let it run again....to see if what would happen. it suddenly turned off again and the smell got stronger after that.....i have no idea @#%@# ive tried everything.

 

[iggybaseball]

just try all ur components in a seperate computer that u knows work to find out what the problem is.

 

[tanabe]

i probably messed up the cpu core one way or another while installing the heatsink. the clip provided with the heatsink was stubborn and had to be modified in order to even work right. ill probably RMA the cpu or something and get a new heatsink

 

[cack01]

double check you have the right settings for the cpu.
i.e multiplier,fsb,vcore.

Could it be possible it is just that new computer smell???

 

[tanabe]

everything is ruled out. it worked like any normal computer would for the first 10-20 seconds. and then it turned off....and the screen won't display anything after turning on.

after so many attempts it doesnt even stay on for more than 5 seconds.

the smell is very strong now so im giving up.

 

[paupton]

you most likely have a bad cpu. I just sent my SECOND xp 2000 back today. I got a boot up on the first cpu one time. After that nothing. The second one was retail and didnt even boot up once. Oh well that's the breaks I guess.
Good luck with yours
allan

 

[tanabe]

hey paupton

paupton, my cpu is xp 2000+ as well. its oem.
can you describe EXACTLY what happened with yours? AMD might have made a bad batch lately.
your response is very welcome

 

[paupton]

the first one booted up two times then nothing. no screen of any kind. The second one did not ever boot up at all. just a blank screen from the very first attempt. I did not smell any thing as if burning or hot as you describe.
good luck
allan

 

[tanabe]

o ok. same thing happened to me . im RMAing the CPU.....if they let me.

 

[paupton]

I think RMA is the best idea for you. Apparently there is a quality control thing with AMD right now. I have heard of several having trouble with their chips.
good luck
allan

 

[drunkmonkey]

By taking the heatsink off for ten seconds you've probably fried it.
As far as I know and have heard processors can instantly heat up too much and die in the first second or two. Ouch...
Burning smell tells you that easily, how much thermal compound did u put on there? You want your layer to be as thin as possible or it will work against you. Another thing thats gives it up is the turns on the first time then never again thing. From now on go right into the bios and check ur temps before you do anything.

 

[Wolfmist]

I'm going to have to add my experience with my 1900XP. One time after re-installing my heatsink, I turned on my computer and smelled the nasty burned electronics smell.

I took off the heatsink, then took out the CPU. I smelled it, and sure enough, the smell was the CPU.

But here's what might help. I looked on the bottom of the heatsink, and there was a small burn mark on it. Check the bottom of it if you haven't already. Also look at the CPU for anything that look weird on the core like a small hole or discoloration.

Good luck!

 

[tanabe]

yea i had noticed that where the cpu had come in contact with the heatsink the artic silver had left an unremovable discoloration...

 

[Wolfmist]

Yeah I couldn't get rid of my spot either. I'm sure sandpaper would get rid of it though.