be4con

Thanks Matt

I must admit I just Googled for P4 3.4GHz processors and came up with the £175 price tag from there. It's reassuring to hear that a replacement would be a lot cheaper. I don't know what socket type I have, how can I find out?

There were no warning signs of impending failure. No reboots or BSOD, but I did have to reboot after a system lockup a few days before the failure. I had just installed some software though so it may have just been that. The only thing I had noticed was that the fans were running a lot more recently, to the point that I had decided to invest in a silencer kit.

I've checked the processor and grossly it looks fine, there are no blackened areas. It looks essentially healthy.

The motherboard also looks fine, there are no obvious areas of damage and the capacitors all look fine to my untrained eye: not bulging, leaking or blackened.

The motherboard is an MS-7091 Ver:10.

Any tips for cleaning off the old thermal paste before replacing the heatsink and fan?

Thanks