Borked PC -some questions

Gaspode

Was getting a fierce amount of fan noise from my main PC so decided to clean it today. I tried to remove the plastic cover over the heatsink to get some of the masses of dust out of it, not relaising the plastic cover was attached to the heatsink underneath. So, basically I pulled my CPU away from the board when I lifted the plastic cover.
What a tool I am!

Anyway, despite putting it back as carefully as possible, the pc wont start. I assume it's completely borked then?

It is worth getting a new cpu, or would I be better off replacing the motherboard altogether in case replacing the cpu caused other damage?

VenomIreland

If you managed to rip the CPU out of it's socket you may have ended up damaging the motherboard, but I would suggest trying to reseat the cpu first.

thenightrider

What do the pins look like on the cpu or motherboard pending on the socket no do any look bend chances are you bent or broke a pin when you riped out the cpu.

A friend snapped a pin on his cpu before i stuck a neddle in to the motherboard to use as a pin in the hole and his pc is up and runing fine now.

Solitaire

Ugh! Sticky heatsinks are sticky!

I'm assuming you have an AMD or very old Intel rig (i.e. pins stick out of the CPU, not the socket on the motherboard) and when you tried to yank off a plastic thing on the heatsink (old Dell rig? Those had plastic shrouds over the heatsink) the heatsink broke free of the retention bracket. And from your description I'm assuming the old thermal paste had welded the CPU to the heatsink so well that sticky stuff beats the retension force of the ZIF socket :eek: It sometimes happens with AMD rigs if you're not careful with the heatsink

What did you do after? Did you unstick the CPU from the bottom plate of the heatsink and try to reinsert it back in the ZIF socket then put more thermal goop on and try to reattach the heatsink, remembering to reattach the fan cable to the CPU fan header? If not then You're Doing It Wrong :o But not exactly many people have spare thermal goop hanging around and besides I'm only assuming the above is what happened

Then again the whole thing could be borked Pics of the cooler, CPU and motherboard would be of enormous help, as you might have a damaged CPU socket or heatsink or cooler retension frame...

Gaspode

Solitaire wrote: »

Ugh! Sticky heatsinks are sticky!

I'm assuming you have an AMD or very old Intel rig (i.e. pins stick out of the CPU, not the socket on the motherboard) and when you tried to yank off a plastic thing on the heatsink (old Dell rig? Those had plastic shrouds over the heatsink) the heatsink broke free of the retention bracket. And from your description I'm assuming the old thermal paste had welded the CPU to the heatsink so well that sticky stuff beats the retension force of the ZIF socket :eek: It sometimes happens with AMD rigs if you're not careful with the heatsink

That's it on the nail

Solitaire wrote: »

What did you do after? ..

Not what I should have done, I'm such a tool

Unlikely to get pics up as I'm trying to get an old pc to stay connected to the web while I try and sort this mess out.

Gaspode

OK, I've reomved the cpu from the heat sink (using dental floss to free it). I assume now I'll have to get all the old glue cleaned off before I can apply new stuff.

I've never replaced a processor before - I assume I lift the bar on the socekt, place the cpu onto it, and then press the bar back down to slide it into place?

VenomIreland

Gaspode wrote: »

I've never replaced a processor before - I assume I lift the bar on the socekt, place the cpu onto it, and then press the bar back down to slide it into place?

Yep, and afterwards you put more thermal paste on it.

Solitaire

Yep. Some notes:

- If you see any badly bent legs or legs that are wedged in the socket (not necessarily missing legs, most CPUs are missing a few by design) its Game Over for that rig

- Align the CPU with the socket. They're keyed and unidirectional so (depending on whether its AMD or Intel S478) look out for markings or arrows on a corner of the CPU that corresponds to such markings on the socket. You really don't want to come this far then wedge the CPU in the wrong way around :eek:

- Make sure the ZIF lever is raised, and only lock it when the CPU is comfortably seated all the way into the socket.

- Use something like a dab of isopropyl alcohol (usually the stuff in CD/DVD cleaners!!) to help wipe all trace off the top of the CPU's IHS and the base plate of the cooler.

- Apply a little glob (not the size of a pea, that would be an ocean of the stuff! ) of thermal paste of choice and thinly spread using a credit-card/spreader thingy. The layer of paste should be flat, consistent and very thin.

- The reason I really need pics: you might have caused some hurt when the cooler yanked free. If the retension frame was snapped, you won't be able to reinstall the cooler and will need a replacement plastic frame thingy. Likewise if its a push-pin mobo and you damaged the push-pin, if you can't fix it you'll need a replacement cooler. If you damaged the push-pin hole... then that's the mobo's PCB that's snapped, Game Over :eek:

Gaspode

Thanks for your help and advice thus far guys. I know this isnt strictly 'building & upgrading' but it's probably the sort of stuff you guys would do regularly!

Solitaire wrote: »

- If you see any badly bent legs or legs that are wedged in the socket (not necessarily missing legs, most CPUs are missing a few by design) its Game Over for that rig

Ok, all pins are ok, some were very slightly bent, but managed to straighten them with a gentle nudge from a sewing needle.

Solitaire wrote: »

- Align the CPU with the socket. They're keyed and unidirectional so (depending on whether its AMD or Intel S478) look out for markings or arrows on a corner of the CPU that corresponds to such markings on the socket. You really don't want to come this far then wedge the CPU in the wrong way around :eek:
Make sure the ZIF lever is raised, and only lock it when the CPU is comfortably seated all the way into the socket

Got it in after I cleaned it, and it sat comfortably without any coaxing.

Solitaire wrote: »

- Use something like a dab of isopropyl alcohol (usually the stuff in CD/DVD cleaners!!) to help wipe all trace off the top of the CPU's IHS and the base plate of the cooler.

Mrs G had a product called 'Sticky Stuff Remover' (mostly Ethanol I think) a tiny tiny dab of which removed all the sticky stuff very easily. I probably spent more time making sure all traces of it were gone than actually cleaning the cpu & heatsink.

Solitaire wrote: »

- Apply a little glob (not the size of a pea, that would be an ocean of the stuff! ) of thermal paste of choice and thinly spread using a credit-card/spreader thingy. The layer of paste should be flat, consistent and very thin.

Ok, havent got to this part yet as I havent had time to get to Maplins, maybe tomorrow evening.

Solitaire wrote: »

- The reason I really need pics: you might have caused some hurt when the cooler yanked free. If the retension frame was snapped, you won't be able to reinstall the cooler and will need a replacement plastic frame thingy. Likewise if its a push-pin mobo and you damaged the push-pin, if you can't fix it you'll need a replacement cooler. If you damaged the push-pin hole... then that's the mobo's PCB that's snapped, Game Over :eek:

The plastic retainer is ok, and shouldnt be a problem.
Dont know what a 'push pin' mobo is, so you might have to elaborate.
Cant see any visible damage to the board, but I know it's not always visible to the naked eye.

Ok, I've taken some pics, here goes, sorry about the quality - It took so long just to get these few uploaded (this pc does not like my modem ) I cant see myself doing any more tonight.

the offending plastic cover


empty Socket and area of mobo




CPU back in its rightful place

Solitaire

Hmm... pretty sure half the plastic mounting bracket has snapped off... see the bare screwholes opposite the remaining half of the bracket?

Gaspode

Solitaire wrote: »

Hmm... pretty sure half the plastic mounting bracket has snapped off... see the bare screwholes opposite the remaining half of the bracket?

Yep, they are for the other side of the plasctic cover, which has 2 screw in it. I had undone those screws expecting to be able to tilt the cover back off the heatsink using the bracket you see there as the fulcrum. I didnt realise the heatsink was screwed onto the cover from below as the screws werent visible. So that bit is fine.
I've had plenty of pcs with similar covers before and they all either uncrewed or unclipped off to reveal the heatsink - this is the first time I've come across one that has been an integral part of the sink.
you learn something new every day!

I had a practise run of setting the whole thing back together and it sits fin, just need that adhesive compound to complete the job.
Then it's fingers, knees and toes crossed time.

Gaspode

Folks, pc is back up and running again and so far so good. Lucky escape for Gaspode this time.

Anyway, thanks to all those who gave advice.