hi all just an enquiry, my missus's nephew bought a tower with water cooling inside along with 2.4 core duo/asrock m/b / 2600 ati gc / 600*** psu / hd etc etc, anyway he asked someone to build it for him as he had no idea whatsoever, this person said yes and its never worked full stop, he tells me the graphics fan kicks in but thats about all he gets out of it, hes asked me to look at it and the processor and the housing where it sits on the m/b are totally gunked up with thermal paste its everywhere, touching pins on the underside of the cpu all over the housing, would this cause irreversible damage or would it be worth me taking the time to get rid of the paste. the cpu does have 3 small black marks that look like they could be burn marks on the underside, i didnt want to try my cpu in there in case mine ends up in the same state, any suggestions would be appreciated.
fixing someones pc build
- Thread starter nalla
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You can get some isopropyl alcohol which removes thermal compound really nicely, obviously be v.careful with the pins and make sure all the alcohol is cleaned off afterwards too. Then you could try again, but if its already damaged, trying to get it to work could cause other probs.
Is the PSU decent spec/brand? Not just a cheapo unit, i've had some similar really hairy experiences with knock-off power supplies.
Don't rule out that it could just be a duff CPU, you could contact intel and see if they would replace it.
Any other signs of damage on other components?
Is the PSU decent spec/brand? Not just a cheapo unit, i've had some similar really hairy experiences with knock-off power supplies.
Don't rule out that it could just be a duff CPU, you could contact intel and see if they would replace it.
Any other signs of damage on other components?
psu is a 600 watt ocz, no signs of other damage have tried mem graphics hd in my pc with no probs just didnt want to stick my cpu in this m/b. the person was just a relative of his girlfriends not a shop so no comebacks, he apparently builds a few for friends, but looking at how much thermanl paste in there i wouldnt use him.
hmm just cleaned off all the paste put it all back together except the watercooling as im sure a can get at least a few secs with no cooling just to see if it posts and it did so i quickly turned off set up the watercooling tried again now it wont boot again, i am going to give it a while to cool just in case i left it on too long, hopefully itll work but the watercooling which is pre install and already filled has 2 kings in the loop, which i would imagine would slow or even stop the flow so still no cooling atm, not done watercooling before and not sure how to get kinks out of a loop, i try to squish tehm out but they pop straight back again when i let go simply due to the direction/ way the pipes are installed, how easy is it to take off the pipes and turn around for better positioning, would i have to drain the system
Soldato
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hmm very weird told him looks like its broke/ he said i could have his watercooling for looking as he was gonna buy a prebuilt system, so i spent ages trying to get it to fit into my pc and guess what my pc wont work now, so i thought hmm maybe it was his w/c, and it is, his pc works fine on air,just need to get mine working again now, so what could cause that as the pc should at least post even if the w/c isnt cooling it properly,
This is probably it. As a safety feature most systems have an option in the BIOS that will either alarm or shutdown if there is no response from the CPU fan. As the system is watercooled and you havent got a fan this is probably whats causing it to fail.
Connect a fan to the 3-pin socket next to the CPU and see if you can get it working. You can then disable this option in the BIOS so it will work with the water cooling.
PK!
Strange that a watercooling setup would cause a computer not to POST. If it is as you've been saying and the only common thing in the failure to POST on both machines is the watercooling then check these things.
Check for shorts on the mobo caused by the waterblock mounting hardware, while you're at it make sure the cpu block is on square and making good contact, look at the TIM on the CPU and block face for uneven coverage/spread. Check that there isn't a short or defect within the pump that is tripping or screwing up the PSU, just put all the air coolers back on get the machine to POST and then turn it off, set up the w/c loop outside of the machine and connect the pump to the molex and see if it POSTs.
That's all I can think of for now, I'm sure there's probably something I've missed
EDIT: like the above, check the CPU fan
Check for shorts on the mobo caused by the waterblock mounting hardware, while you're at it make sure the cpu block is on square and making good contact, look at the TIM on the CPU and block face for uneven coverage/spread. Check that there isn't a short or defect within the pump that is tripping or screwing up the PSU, just put all the air coolers back on get the machine to POST and then turn it off, set up the w/c loop outside of the machine and connect the pump to the molex and see if it POSTs.
That's all I can think of for now, I'm sure there's probably something I've missed
EDIT: like the above, check the CPU fan
cheers for the replys lads, looks like im in for a long night got the original pc that i posted about working on air now, but cannot get my pc to work just simply get some red lights flash on my 4870 all fans start up thats it so i gonna have to take it all apart and start again i think, tried a different low power gpu with no luck so isnt not my 4870 thankfully only had it a matter of weeks.