[Pianoman16]

I recently made the mistake of trying to clean out the inside of my computer because it was FILLED with dust. There was dust buildup all over the heat sink and to my stupidity I removed it not knowing what I was dealing with. Well me never having touched anything past the memory, screwed up royally. I unscrewed the fan, unclipped the heat sink and cleaned. I then replaced the heat sink and bent some of the pins on the cpu, (Ive taken care of this and bent them back them). The next problem is my genius self cracked the cpu socket but I'm pretty sure that it didn't do any major damage (but what do I know) I reconnected everything that I touched (correctly) but now nothing is happening. I plug it in and the light turns green (good sign), I turn it on and the fan kicks on but doesn't shut off, and that's pretty much it. The monitor button doesn't change from orange to green, it doesn't make any beeps or any other sounds. I'm completely lost. I don't think I touched anything else, anyone have any suggestions? Troubleshooting tips? Anything... your help and input is much appreciated thank you.

Edited by Pianoman16, 06 October 2008 - 06:28 PM.

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Hi Pianoman16

Unfortunately, this does not sound good. It is a good thing to clean the inside of a computer if it's dusty, but the bent pins and cracked motherboard socket would definitely be the culprit in this instance.

Care is always needed when dealing with the insides of a computer case - if in doubt, always make sure to get advice before trying anything.

Nonetheless, I should think a new motherboard and CPU should do the trick.

Cheers

Troy

[Troy]

Hi Pianoman16

Unfortunately, this does not sound good. It is a good thing to clean the inside of a computer if it's dusty, but the bent pins and cracked motherboard socket would definitely be the culprit in this instance.

Care is always needed when dealing with the insides of a computer case - if in doubt, always make sure to get advice before trying anything.

Nonetheless, I should think a new motherboard and CPU should do the trick.

Cheers

Troy

[Pianoman16]

That's what I was thinking, but I did some reading and I found out how to bend the pins back to their original position. Taking a credit card and running it through fixes that problem, none of them broke off or anything so from what I've heard it should work. So it must be the cracked socket that's the problem? Is there anyway to be certain before I go through the trouble of replacing it? Thank you again for your help.

[Troy]

I have heard it is possible that you can straighten the pins on a CPU, although I've never hazarded to try myself (it was never worth the hassle on the old processors I've seen it happen to...)

It may be that the motherboard is the only part needing replacement, and the CPU itself is okay. To test this theory, you would need to put your CPU into another known-good working motherboard, and see if that other computer boots up and runs properly.

If your CPU cannot run in another motherboard, then both would need to be changed.

If you are unable to test this out, you may be able to find a local PC repair shop who should be able to do it for you, for a small fee.

Cheers

Troy