[foxshox]

Ok so heres the whole story, my hard drive got messed up( physical damage whereby the part of the connector pins fell off) so I went and got another hard drive. I was hoping to upgrade to this motherboard that I got that was a refurb fatality, so i stick everything in there, doesnt work, so I say fine and put everything back into the regular motherboard. I resintall windows and everything goes fine for 3 days.. until bam the computer powers on but there is no video output. I was sure the video card still worked, and so i went on to try and isolate the problem. So I find this weird thing, If i push down on the heatsink(dont ask how i figured this out) then the computer will start up. So I get the idea that the heatsink wasnt making contact with the proccessor therefore the heatsinks clips were messing up, which wasnt hard to believe since the clips on the heatsink had given me quite a bit of trouble, and were a headache to try and get in. So I order a Thermal Take Big Typhoon( I had been waiting for an excuse to do so for a while so I was not stressing over it), and install it, and everything seems to fit properly and no real issues that i can physically see, so when i power it up.. I am still having the same problem. I've tried it on 2 different monitors so i know that its the computer. SOOOO basically here are the possible problems I can think of:
-Proccesor not sitting right/pins bent or something- The most reasonable solution, but I would like to say this is the one i am dreading the most, since an equivalent proccesor is not worth buying, so I would have to spend like 200 dollars on a new one( 200 dollars i dont have).
-Motherboard Shorted out- I find this hard to believe although the bottom of the heatsink thing is metal may or may not be making contact, so again this is possible but again i also find this hard to believe
-Motherboard Socket is messed up badly- I hope to god that this is the problem, Since I am getting a replacement refurb from abit in a week or 2.
-Heatsink not sitting right- Possible, but I followed the instructions word for word, and the Big Typhoon is massive so the proccesor isnt overheating to my knowledge. I also checked to make sure there was some kind of contact between the proccesor and heatsink by trying to shine a light between the 2 and making sure there was no light visible on the other side. UPDATE: I have since taken it out of the computer case and everything IS installed correctly.
-Video Card- May or not be, It hadn't been giving me problems but the days before it went out on me, I was running Oblivion and that is pretty tolling which was visible with the 14 fps i was getting, but the fan on the video card is working, and I am not overclocking it.
-Ram-Highly Unlikely, but is always a possibility..

Keep in mind that it used to be as long as i kept pushed down on the proccesor when i was using the other heatsink, it would power up(LGA 775 socket with a thermaltake non-pipeline heatsink). Since this heatsink, is setup a little bit differently on the big typhoon, I don't have the same option, but I can't figure it out.

Update: I have since taken every neccesary component out of the computer, and made sure there was no lose connections, or a shorting of the board of any kind. The whole computer is still recieveing power, and everything including the video card's and heatsink's fans are working. I can't afford to take it in to a shop, and if I have to replace the proccesor, I really don't want to downgrade to a Celeron(YUCK), so I might end up with a Pentium D, but I would have to wait for the neccesary funds. Therefore I would like to be able to solve this problem, with at most 10-20 dollars.
If this helps here are the stats of the computer that is having this problem:
ECS 915-P MOBO<---Abit Fatal1ty AA8XE Intel Socket 775 ATX Motherboard refurb is on the way!
Intel Pentium 4 520 Prescott
2 gigs value select ram
geforce 6600TD
250 gig sata WD hard drive
Thermaltake Big Typhoon

Anyhelp is truely appreciated!

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did you apply thermal paste between heatsink and processor?

[HaraldR]

did you apply thermal paste between heatsink and processor?

[nixx]

Make sure your using the right heatsink connector and the right direction, take it all apart and put it back together...thermal paste is pretty cheep;$4-5.

[foxshox]

yes definately..I always use artic silver( i have one of those multiple use tubes), the big typhoon is a bit different type of heatsink, if you havnt seen it, it has several different connections and all sorts of little peripherals.. its such a massive unit, that you really have to install it properly or else the motherboard will crack. I took out the proccesor to make sure nothing was bent.. and the only thing i saw in the proccesor slot was that their was a little bit of artic silver over one pin, but i took a sewing needle and magnifying glass and got as much off as i could.

Edited by foxshox, 04 June 2006 - 09:59 AM.