Help Me TribalWar, You're My Only Hope!

arghh..

I'm goin insane.

I am working on a computer for my aunt. I initially planned on using some spare parts I had laying around to upgrade her exsisting POS.

Well that didn't work out so well.. her case was too small for my motherboard so we bought her a new case.

Get it all installed and up and running, ran windows update and rebooted like instructed. Computer wouldn't turn on after that. No beeps no video, nothing.

So i decide to get a motherboard with intergrated vid and audio since all she does is web surf, email and write crap using word.

Got the asus v7n8x-vm installed and tried to reinstall windows when the machine starts to spontaniously reboot.

I finally check the temps in the bios it reports my cpu temp at over 100 C. Of course the overheating protection kicks in and shuts the computer off.

Thinking my heatsink wasn't seated correctly I too it off cleaned it and the processor and reapplied some artic silver and tried it again..

same result.

Tried a copper heatsink and a 7000rpm delta fan. Same result.

This was with and 2700xp so i think maybe the processor died. and dig through my closet and find my old 2000xp and throw it in after an application of arctic silver.

It still is reading outrageous temps.

here's the strange part.

it runs 89c to 94c and fluctuates rapidly in just a few seconds. that's 192f to 199f. I don't see how it's possible that it can fluctuate 7 degrees in a matter of 3 to 4 seconds.

secondly I had the thing running for a good 2 hours while trying to install windows at these temps with my old 2000xp chip. As far as I know these temps are far beyond amd's specs. and it should have burnt up.

The heatsink is not even warm to the touch. I reseated the heatsink 3 times to ensure good contact.

There are 5 case fans. 3 pulling air in the front 2 venting it in the rear.

The only thing I could find off was the voltages.

this board uses a crappy bios that won't allow them to be changed

Vcore: 1.72-1.74
3.3v: 3.47
5v: 4.97
12v: 11.71-11.91

I believe the vcore is higher that it should be but would that cause the problem?

any and all suggestions are greatly appreciated.

asus a7n8x-vm
2000xp
512 megs micron pc 2100 ram
400w powersupply
1 cdrom
1 floppy drive
1 intel modem

thats all thats in it.

please..

if your heatsink isn't even slightly warm to the touch when your computer is on, that means you didn't mount the heatsink properly.

sorry, but i think you're fucking up somewhere and not doing things properly.

Heatsink on backwards

Some of the early problems sound like power supply issues too

if your heatsink isn't even slightly warm to the touch when your computer is on, that means you didn't mount the heatsink properly.

sorry, but i think you're fucking up somewhere and not doing things properly.


well, i've reseated it about 6 times now. I'm not using a shim so the only thing between the proccesor and the heatsink are the little rubber pads that surround the processor.

i am gonna try it tomorrow one more time.

you can't use a socket 370 heatsink on a socket a chip. just an fyi.

and like i said, if it's not even getting warm, it's not mounted properly. it's as simple as that. :/

Heatsink on backwards

how?

it appears by the residue on the heatsink from the artic silver that it is seated pretty close to the middle.

you can't use a socket 370 heatsink on a socket a chip. just an fyi.

and like i said, if it's not even getting warm, it's not mounted properly. it's as simple as that. :/

one of the heatsinks came with the 2700xp
the other is compatable with the 2000xp as per info found online.

currently have the 2000xp and the heat sink I used with it installed.

i suppose the thermal sensor could be broken but your heatsink should be pretty warm at the least and actually hot under full load.

and yes, temperatures can fluctuate between 3-4 degrees quite easily under a few seconds.

well today I reseated the heatsink again.

turned it on and got no video

tried it again with a video card in it still nothing..

the thing ran but as i couldn't see what it was doing on the screen i couldn't tell what was going on with it..

So I reseat the heatsink again. turn it on. 3 seconds later it turns it self off and burnt up the processor in the process.

I triple checked the heatsink before turning it on.

So i swapped in my other processor and reseated the other heatsink again and the computer wont even try to start. I have the led on the motherboard indicating power yet when i hit the switch the fans spin for a second and go out.

Is it possible that when the processor burnt up it damaged the motherboard as well?


god i hate being volunteered to fix stuff.

:bump:

i dont know all that much, but could the board be shorting out on the case?

The heatsink only goes on one way, because there is a raised portion on the end of the socket. Socket A heatsinks have a piece cut out on this end, if put on backwards, they will barely touch the processor.

How much arctic silver did you use? The amount should be like 1/4 of the volume of a pea.

go here (this applies for all heatsinks): http://www.thermaltake.com/support/installations/coolers/volcanos.htm

See the picture right next to step 1, "Place heat sink unit on the CPU. (Note the direction of the placement.)" ? That is critical

And yes, the motherboard could be hosed.

Other thing, I just thought of: did the heatsink come with pre-applied thermal compound, and you needed to peel a piece of paper off, like below? Forgetting to remove the paper/missing that step will have the same effect.

http://www.thermaltake.com/images/installation/installationDetails/volcanos/step0a.jpg

All of that reseating also may have cracked the processor core.

By the way, the retail box athlon xp's come with detailed instructions for mounting the heatsink.

Also, don't use both thermal paste and thermal interface material at the same time.

i'm going to say this again.

if your processor fried/burned up (which mean it obviously is generating heat) BUT your heatsink does not get even warm, you're NOT MOUNTING IT PROPERLY.

either that or you have a defective heatsink.

i'm going to say this again.

if your processor fried/burned up (which mean it obviously is generating heat) BUT your heatsink does not get even warm, you're NOT MOUNTING IT PROPERLY.

either that or you have a defective heatsink.

i understand how a heatsink goes on..

all the motherboards have the same socket 462

i have used the 2 diffrent heatsinks before and they worked fine

I realise that the heatsink has a notch that corresponds with raise portion at the end of the socket and realise the proper postion of the heatsink

I'm not using a shim.

I also made sure that none of the edges were catching on the socket in any matter.

I verified the case fans were working as well as the processor fan.

I applied the arctic silver as per their online instructions which i printed out. It still burned up.

In any case now that the damage is done, do you think its possible that the processor burning up would cause the motherboard problem of not letting the computer start up after installing a new chip?

it just spins the fans for a second and thats it.

I tried a second motherboard just for kicks last night and it turns on and runs but i get no video. I tried 2 diffrent video cards 1 of which i know works as lately as last week.

so this makes me think my second processor is shot as well..

i've got another motherboard kicken around that I'm going to try tonight..

turn the motherboard on without a cpu in at all. if it stays on, then your cpu is causing the motherboard to power down.