l337killa07

Sorry if this isnt the right forum for this, but I didn't see where else I could post this.

Let me start off by saying....I'M BAAAAACK! After a very long hiatus, I'm back to posting on forums and being an active member. I hope to contribute my knowledge to those in need.

Ok now to start the post. But I need to tell a small bit of history. I'll try to keep it short.

My dad's been using his computer for many years, only problem was a power supply. My brothers computer just didn't turn on one day, so he took out the hard drive and gave it to us. I knew immediately it was the power supply not working, but never worked on it. My dad's computer lately has been having problems so we just decided to fix my brothers computer (newer P4 2.53 ghZ computer, its nice).

So we start working on it earlier, and I finally isolate the problem as being the power supply, for certain. We just went to the local used parts store and bought a power supply, they showed us that it worked just fine. We get home and the computer shows the initial "HP Invent" screen, but then we get the following error (I didn't note the exact wording)

CPU Fan failed to initial
Saved system something immediately!
Press F2 to continue to boot
If not computer will automatically power down in 5 seconds...


The problem is, the fan is perfectly connected, and its running at full power, its really strong actually. I had to take off the heatsink (and the connected fan) to make room to take out the old power supply (the frame of the heatsink and fan was blocking it) and I didn't really think much of it.

I should also note that the hard drive is perfectly fine, it works fine on my dad's old computer. I know I'm connecting everything fine because it works fine on my dads computer. And another important thing, that even when the fan error doesn't occur, nothing shows and its just a black screen, with a SINGLE BEEP that comes from the hard drive.

So does anyone have any suggestions? Its really bugging me that EVERY SINGLE THING is connected perfectly! I've used the old computer to verify that I actually am connecting everything fine. I will post some pictures a little bit later on, hopefully that can help.

Oh also, there was some white stuff on the bottom of the cooler, and it like attached to what I'm assuming is the processor? What is it? Its white in color, and cleans very easily with just some water..is it the Arctic Silver stuff I'm reading about?

So if anyone has any suggestions PLEASE let me know!

L337killa07

wrench97

Any time you remove the heat sink you need to redo the thermal paste.

http://www.arcticsilver.com/arctic_s...structions.htm

l337killa07

Thanks for advice. In case I didn't mention it, none of the 'thermal paste' was removed, I had just gotten some on my hands and it washed off fairly easily. Do I need to buy this paste stuff and put it on it before it will work? Is it really just an issue of some small paste that is making the computer not work?

Tumbleweed36

The answer (sorry for the bad news), is that YES, any time you break that seal to even look at it, you must clean off the old and reapply new thermal paste. Follow directions carefully, because too much can be as bad or worse than not enough.

Here is a suggestion for you to follow:

Applying Artic Silver Thermal Paste

l337killa07

Alright guys, thanks so much for the replies. Its not as bad news though, because I was assuming I maybe messed up then fan when I put it back into place (its called like a cooler master, has this weird locking mechanism).

A little bit of paste is much less trouble than I would have thought. Going to a concert today, so I'll swing by the electronics store on the way back and grab that paste stuff. Thanks again for the advice, and I'll post my results when I get home.

l337killa07

It should be noted that I solved my problem. I took my computer to a shop and had them install the thermal paste, as I am not confident in my ability to do so. Problem solved so Mod if you could close thread please :)

wrench97

Good to hear you have it fixed.