# old pc, new heatsink, PC wont POST



## NorthboundOcclusive (Jun 20, 2018)

apologies if this isnt the most correct place for this thread.
TL;DR i installed a new heatsink & fan into an older PC, and i think i killed it.  system was working without issue just yesterday.
please help, thanks in advance

the particulars:


Case: Rosewill Blackbone
PSU: Cooler Master Elite 460 RS-460-PSAR-J3 460 W 
Mobo: ASRock M3A770DE
CPU: AMD Athlon II x3 440 w/ stock cooler
RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 1600 (installed in slots A2/B2, the white pair)
Storage: Team Group Ultra 120GB SSD (boot/system), WD Caviar Blue 256GB SATA (storage)
GPU: XFX Radeon 5750 2GB (shown) Zotac Geforce 8400GS 256MB (as an alternate)
OS: Win10x64 Pro (with spring update, 17134.112)

i decided to upgrade an older pc (not my main game rig) with a brand new Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo, mostly for kicks and giggles, and learning experience.
i read over the 212's included instructions (not much, just a few B&W graphics), checked CM's website for a more detailed manual (there wasn't), and then dove in.

order of operations:
- disconnected monitor from GPU, Ethernet, and power cable from PSU (i did not flip the switch on the back of the PSU to off). these are the only external cables. this PC normally runs semi-headless and i connect via teamviewer.
- side panels off, disconnected CPU fan header (CPU_FAN1), rear chassis fan (PWR_FAN1), removed GPU, and disconnected the 2x4pin CPU power (ATX12V1).
- unclipped the stock heatsink from the retention bracket, gave it a small twist, and pulled it off. cleaned the CPU IHS with ArctiClean to remove original thermal paste
- removed the orange retention bracket and backplate from motherboard
- following 212's instruction diagrams, fit screws with plastic washers, installed backplate with appropriate side to back of motherboard, secured with nuts and tightened in cross pattern. fit new retention bracket onto the heatpipe block, *peeled the sticker off the heatsink surface, *applied a tiny bead of AS5 to CPU, mounted heatsink, again tightening in cross pattern.
- clipped fan to heatsink, and attached to CPU_FAN1
- reconnected PWR_FAN1, CPU power tails from PSU, insert GPU
- reconnected power cord, ethernet and HDMI to monitor.
-power system on via front panel

at this point notice i forgot to reconnect the 6pin PCIe power to the gpu, so i powered the system off (held power switch down), connected PCIe power, and powered back on.

Power is on. Front panel power LED is on, PSU fan is spinning, rear chassis fan is spinning, front chassis blue LED fan is lit and spinning, GPU fan is spinning. I can hear the HDD spin up, but i dont have any light from the front panel disk activity LED. ethernet port LEDs are lit. *i dont have any video out. system doesnt boot. as far as i can tell, it wont even POST. i have no beep codes from the mobo speaker.*

power off and start troubleshooting.
swapped GPUs (5750 to 8400gs), still no video. monitor works fine with game rig
disconnected external cables, cpu fan an drear chassis fan, removed GPU, disconnected CPU power, and removed the heatsink.
i have good spread on the AS5, if maybe just ever-so-slightly too much. cleaned CPU IHS and heatsink with ArtiClean. removed backplate and reseated it to make sure it wasnt touching something it shouldnt.
removed CPU from socket,  this is the first time its come out of the socket in 7 years. . no bent pins, no thermal paste (or cleaner) in places that it shouldnt, not that i can see anyway. replaced CPU back into socket.

reattached heatsink (using a slightly smaller bead of AS5), fan, fan headers, cmos battery. left GPU out. double-checked CPU power connectors. everything appears to be firmly connected and seated. 
system refuses to boot, still no video, still no POST beep codes to indicate either success or problems

ATX power connector to mobo seems okay, it wasn't touched. SATA and power cables to drives are okay, those weren't touched either. 
removed CMOS battery while cleaning off the thermal paste, popped it back in after reattaching the heatsink for 2nd try.
cleared CMOS with jumper, no improvement there.
removed ram sticks (they weren't touched initially), no boot, and no post beep codes to indicate missing ram or missing GPU.

i have 3 theories right now.
1) PSU has coincidentally chosen this moment to fail. i could technically replace it with the one from my game rig, but that'd mean a total tear-down of that PC, and not something i want to do.
2) committed some major error during install of heatsink, and somehow cracked the CPU die underneath the IHS (is that even possible?), but think i should still get beep codes indicating a failed CPU.
3) committed some major error during install of heatsink, and somehow caused the mobo PCB to flex too much around the mounts, causing it to crack between layers and/or generate a short somewhere.

i'm not sure what i might have done wrong. every connector that was disconnected got plugged back in, to the same thing it was plugged into before. everything that should be spinning, is. i cant see any physical damage anywhere. i really don't know why it'd suddenly fail like this. i don't believe the CPU is running too hot because i used too much/not enough thermal paste or because i forgot to take the plastic off the bottom of the heat sink ( know those are both really common issues among the inexperienced, but temp is impossible for me to check without being able to get into at least the BIOS.

please let me know if i can provide additional images/details of something

given it's age, i could replace the pc if it's well and truly dead, but i'd rather not if i don't have to, because i have more important things to be spending money on. these days its really only used for file storage and a few other minor/infrequent tasks so its not a huge loss, just super aggravating.


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## Final_Fighter (Jun 20, 2018)

remove the new heatsink and reinstall the old one to see if it works. if that doesn't work try a known good psu. if it still does not work, try a different gpu. finally, look over the board to make sure you did not damage any trace or knock anything out of place such as the ram. i also recommend disconnecting the power cord out of the back and let the pc sit for a minute then plug it back in and try again.


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## eidairaman1 (Jun 20, 2018)

If your system failed to boot, take all parts out of that case, build it outside the case on a non conductive surface such as a table, elevate the motherboard so a graphics card can be installed correctly. Check for bent CPU pins, board warp when cpu cooler is placed. Clear cmos/rtc/jbat. Update mobo bios.


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## Caring1 (Jun 20, 2018)

Check you didn't knock the power cord from the hard drive.


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## EsaT (Jun 20, 2018)

NorthboundOcclusive said:


> removed CMOS battery while cleaning off the thermal paste, popped it back in after reattaching the heatsink for 2nd try.
> cleared CMOS with jumper, no improvement there.
> 
> 1) PSU has coincidentally chosen this moment to fail. i could technically replace it with the one from my game rig, but that'd mean a total tear-down of that PC, and not something i want to do.


Did you check voltage of battery with multimeter?
For such simple thing dead CMOS/RTC battery can cause some crazy symptoms and it's certainly old battery.

And that's antiquated low end PSU and with age of that PC would consider it quilty until proven otherwise.
https://www.hardwaresecrets.com/cooler-master-elite-power-460-w-power-supply-review/2/
I mean every good PSU had active-PFC already dozen years ago.
So wouldn't even waste time in trying to test it, but smack it with fine adjuster before throwing it to WEEE. (so that no sucker would pick it up)
Being disconnected from wall is very typical time when failed capacitors would "show their colours".
And positioned on top that PSU has been forced to suck in lots of heat from components to cook those second rate capacitors.


And you have no need to apologize anything, your post has more information than ten typical "something broken/problem in PC" posts.


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## Devon68 (Jun 20, 2018)

Try plunging in the sata from the HDD into another spot on the mobo. Also I know you wont like it but try another PSU if possible. Just connect the 24 pin and cpu power the rest you dont need, you dont even need to take the psu out of the other case .


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## Jose Jeswin (Jun 20, 2018)

HI...i did the same to my old pc a couple of days ago...only difference is mine is an fx 8350 on a asus m5a99fx pro r2.0 mb..and my cooler is cm hyper 212x with dual fans and my case is CM elite 311 usb 3.0..i ran into similar problems as you did... i had corrosion on my ram slots...slots 1 and 3 did not detect ram modules and refused to boot...solved the problem after cleaning the ram slots with isopropyl alcohol and with a bios reset..



removed my old cooler...it was a hyper tx3 evo with dual fans..







Cleaned CPU..




RAM slots cleaned..




Running at last..

It took me 5 hours to troubleshoot each part and finally solve the problem...
I hope you get to rectify your PC as soon as possible..


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## NorthboundOcclusive (Jun 20, 2018)

thank you all for the replies. starting to work down the suggestions.

@Final_Fighter, removed the hyper 212. cleaned it, and the cpu of TIM. reinstalled original backplate and bracket, applied new drop of AS5, remounted original cooler. system powers on, all fans spin, but will not post or boot. still no beep codes either. swapping GPUs was pretty much my first step as mentioned in OP, i cant believe that both could have failed simultaneously.
swapping PSUs will have to wait till later, again because that requires gutting my gaming rig for its PSU, and i sort of need that working, for all the usual reasons.

@eidairaman1 that will be my next attempt later this today, getting it outside the case. i didn't see any bent pins yesterday, am going to continue not fiddling with popping CPU in and out of its socket every time in order to reduce risk of bending pins. CMOS was cleared yesterday (again in OP). in it's current state, it's impossible for me to update the BIOS, PC doesn't appear to get that far in the startup sequence. board warp is possible, and that's one of my working theories as to the source of the trouble.

@Caring1, @Devon68  im certain i didn't dislodge a power tail to the SSD or HDD, but i double-checked both, and the SATA connectors at both the motherboard and the drives to be sure. even if there were zero drives installed, it ought to be able to POST and get into the BIOS, which isn't happening.

@EsaT no i haven't checked the battery voltage, i don't have a voltmeter available. might be able to scrounge one up somewhere, but nothing i have access to currently. you do raise a good point about the PSU though, i did know it was bargain-basement at the time of purchase, thanks again to this site https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-pc-build-a-pc-overclock,2739-5.html and i have awareness that shoddy PSUs can potentially cause all sorts of weird/nebulous problems, which yes, might be the issue here.


attached images are TIM spread on 212 EVO, CPU IHS, clean IHS, remounted original retention bracket (with original backplate, not shown), new TIM drop, and remounted stock cooler


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## Final_Fighter (Jun 20, 2018)

try running just 1 stick of ram.


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## John Naylor (Jun 20, 2018)

The two most common errors here are:

a)  Peeps forget to plug the EPS poer cable in next tot he CPU.

b)  Folks over tighten the hold down screws on the cooler.  

I have done 3 rebuilds for folks as a result of b).   In once case there was a burr on the washer and when tightening down, it turned and cut into the MoBo damaging one of the board's circuit traces.  In the other two cases, the Mobo cracked (Both older AsRock 11556).  In two other cases, the MoBo had been bent from the over tightening and, I couldn't understand why merely loosening the screws returned it to proper operation.  This was on a  2600k build which is still in use.  Then it happened on another board and i started looking out for causes and eventually found one ... seems when the board warped, the socked also bends and it causes the socket pins to lose contact w/ CPU contact points..


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## SnakeDoctor (Jun 20, 2018)

Whenever i service my pc it will go into a power cycle loop - but figured it was loose dimm slot for the ram,wasnt just loose but had to .Always have to get it perfectly seated .
Even since motherboard was new 
Gland you got it sorted


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## eidairaman1 (Jun 20, 2018)

Despite your cpu being keyed correctly I've seen pins bent resultant of it not being dropped in correctly.

Breadboarding is 1 thing I use when I have no video at all.


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## NorthboundOcclusive (Jun 20, 2018)

update. GPUs (HD5760 and GF8400gs) both work, so those are not the trouble point. i highly doubted they were, but they'll run normally when installed in my game rig. so that's off the table.

ive got it stripped out on a table right now

GPU is the 8400gs (doesnt need the PCIe power tail), only the boot SSD is connected, front panel headers, and the mobo speaker.
both ram sticks have been re-seated again (@Final_Fighter, @SnakeDoctor ).
CPU power plugs are solidly connected (@John Naylor one of the first things i checked, because i had disconnected it to install the hyper 212) 20+4pin atx power to the motherboard also firmly connected

powered on, FP pwr led comes on, PSU and CPU fans spin, but still no indication of disk activity or POST beep codes
i am unable to detect any physical damage to the motherboard.

will try my game rig's PSU next
[edit]
no joy.

PSU works of course, but there's no change.
really think the board or the CPU is dead at this point. i'm not sure what else i can do.

its quite concerning, and a bit disheartening that i can't fix the problem. obviously i did something wrong somewhere in the process, and im definitely going to keep the hyper212 for whatever comes next, but mistakes are really hard to learn from when you don't know what the mistake was in the first place.

again, thanks for the help everybody


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## EsaT (Jun 20, 2018)

NorthboundOcclusive said:


> really think the board or the CPU is dead at this point. i'm not sure what else i can do.
> 
> its quite concerning, and a bit disheartening that i can't fix the problem. obviously i did something wrong somewhere in the process, and im definitely going to keep the hyper212 for whatever comes next, but mistakes are really hard to learn from when you don't know what the mistake was in the first place.


CPU is quite unlikely to die, unless there's some other failure in say VRMs.
But motherboard might have been on its way out from old age.
For example while none of capacitors are bulged, they can eventually fail by simply "drying out" without external signs.

Anyway trying new BIOS/RTC battery would be "cheap shot".
Disconnecting PC from wall to change cooler would certainly put stress onto it.
Actually also PSU in bad shape can work for as long as its connected to wall to fail when disconnected.
And failed PSU could certainly damage components unless failure happens in its primary side.


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## NorthboundOcclusive (Jun 21, 2018)

while i cant recall the BIOS specifics off the top of my head (AMIBIOS of some flavor, there's a sticker reading P1.60-15B on the bios rom chip) i had one guy say the CPU is used for the beep codes, so the fact that it's not beeping at all indicates a pretty big problem, (big problem is kind of obvious)


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## stinger608 (Jun 21, 2018)

Noticed right away that the Hyper 212 is one of the older versions with the metal back plate. 

I had one of these and the insulation that is supposed to be between the metal back plate and the motherboard had gotten scratched. I installed the cooler not knowing it was damaged and frigging shorted out an older motherboard. This happened about 3 months ago......At least that is the only thing I could conclude. 

Check the back plate and see if it has a possibility of shorting out on the bottom side of your motherboard.


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## jsalpha2 (Jun 21, 2018)

"this PC normally runs semi-headless and i connect via teamviewer."
Maybe try attaching a monitor and (if you have one)  an old school pre-usb keyboard and mouse.
I had an old computer that would not boot until I reset the bios, and that was the only way I could get to the bios.
(I think it was halt on no keyboard error?)
Most likely 1.Power supply  2. Motherboard 3. CPU   Best Luck  Let us know what happens.


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## TheoneandonlyMrK (Jun 21, 2018)

This can sometimes can happen with too much clamping pressure, but while I have done that and had failed boots short term, what with using aftermarket clamps I have'nt seen permanent damage, but that is possible since a solder joint can easily crack if its dried out , i dont suppose you could try the cpu in a friends pc or other motherboard?

and I also have had shorting issues on hyper 212's , I like them though as @stinger608 says, or a combo of both?


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## Norton (Jun 21, 2018)

stinger608 said:


> Check the back plate and see if it has a possibility of shorting out on the bottom side of your motherboard.


I would take a look at this... and
- Try a new battery as a few others have mentioned
- Try the gpu in the lower PCIE slot (if you haven't already done so)
- Check the 8 pin and 24 pin connectors for loose pins- it's possible the one of them slid up into the connector and isn't making good contact OR one of the pins in your board has a similar issue.

It's quite possible that the thing just died on you.... kinda rare but it does happen


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## Hood (Jun 21, 2018)

I had the same thing happen with my first Hyper 212 Evo.  No boot at all.  It turned out to be because I had the x-bracket scissored the wrong way, and it was putting way too much pressure on the CPU.  After going over the crappy instructions again, this time with a magnifying glass, I noticed that the bracket was wrong, corrected it, and it booted right up, with no damage done.


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## Caring1 (Jun 21, 2018)

NorthboundOcclusive said:


> while i cant recall the BIOS specifics off the top of my head (AMIBIOS of some flavor, there's a sticker reading P1.60-15B on the bios rom chip) i had one guy say the CPU is used for the beep codes, so the fact that it's not beeping at all indicates a pretty big problem, (big problem is kind of obvious)


Make sure there is an onboard speaker, or one in the case before ruling out lack of beep codes.
To my knowledge they are BIOS dependant, not CPU.
Removing all RAM and attempting to boot should result in a sequence of beeps.
A start up beep can generally be turned on or off via the BIOS, so may not occur.


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## eidairaman1 (Jun 21, 2018)

Caring1 said:


> Make sure there is an onboard speaker, or one in the case before ruling out lack of beep codes.
> To my knowledge they are BIOS dependant, not CPU.
> Removing all RAM and attempting to boot should result in a sequence of beeps.
> A start up beep can generally be turned on or off via the BIOS, so may not occur.



Those buzzers sometimes fail to work, an external one is better tgat hooks to header.


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## Assimilator (Jun 21, 2018)

You should attempt booting the system in its most minimal config. The means board with CPU and nothing else: no keyboard and/or mouse, no USB header connectors, no SATA connectors, nothing else. In this configuration, the system can only be powered on by shorting (touching) the two PS_ON front panel header pins together; something like a screwdriver will do it. Those pins should be marked on the board, and will definitely be noted in the motherboard's manual.

If that doesn't work, try adding one RAM stick and repeat the above.
If that doesn't work, swap that RAM for the other stick in case the one you chose is bad, and repeat the above.

If it still does not give any beep codes and/or signal on the screen, try resetting the CMOS (there should be instructions in the board manual on how to do this via a jumper). If that fails, or your board lacks a reset jumper, do a hard CMOS reset by unplugging *everything* and removing the CMOS battery for a few hours.

If you have no luck then something is very definitely dead; I would guess the board. Did you accidentally drop anything on it while you were mounting the new HSF? Did a screwdriver slip and scrape the board? Did you perhaps knock one of the capacitors or MOSFETs close to the socket? Did you take proper antistatic precautions before you did the replacement?

Finally, you note that the system was used mostly remotely - was it running 24/7? If so, it's quite possible that given this system's age, a component it requires to boot died a while ago and you didn't notice because you haven't needed to restart it; or that something died on the shutdown you performed to install the new heatsink.

The only way you will be able to confirm a dead board or CPU is by testing those components with a known good board/CPU. Depending on where you live, one of the fine folks on this forum may be willing and able to assist you.


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## micropage7 (Jun 21, 2018)

NorthboundOcclusive said:


> while i cant recall the BIOS specifics off the top of my head (AMIBIOS of some flavor, there's a sticker reading P1.60-15B on the bios rom chip) i had one guy say the CPU is used for the beep codes, so the fact that it's not beeping at all indicates a pretty big problem, (big problem is kind of obvious)


yeah try hook it to speaker and remove the ram, does it beep?
if beep it means the board can detect the ram, if not could be from the board
usually processor is die hard except you have high surge that fry it


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## NorthboundOcclusive (Jun 21, 2018)

wont be able to take another stab at this until friday, thank you for the additional suggestions to try.

@stinger608 box packaging indicates this is the 212 EVO Rev.2 if that makes a difference at all. no indication of specific date-of-manufacture, which probably isn't surprising. backplate looks okay, the only marks i can see are from where i had it mounted. 

@jsalpha2 just have one monitor, have a HDMI cable attached to it's second input for this recently deceased pc. i don't usually set it to the second input unless teamviewer is being a twerp, which is rare. i do have an old ps/2 keyboard from the Y2K era when "internet PC"s were popular. no ps/2 mice though, but i do have a USB to ps/2 dongle around somewhere. ill have to dig those out.

@theoneandonlymrk too much pressure could be a thing, sure, given my lack of experience here. i didn't think the screws on the 212's bracket were in too tightly, but with the heatsink in position, it gets hard to see the ones on the rear side of the case next to the fan and up near the PSU corner. i can try threading them in just past where they catch the mounting nuts as a minimum. however, if that were the cause, shouldn't the problem go away when i reinstalled the stock cooler? its just a spring bar with a locking lever, pretty much just on or off.
i don't have other motherboards to try, much less one with an AM3 socket, on my own for hardware.

@Norton i could try a new battery, im just doubtful it could be the culprit. im not sure my local stores carry lithium batteries in the correct size though, i think just the basic alkaline for watches. but ill check this weekend.
will try moving the GPU (again don't see as how that'd make a difference, but i'll give it a shot anyway). the female contacts on the power tails from the PSU look okay to my eye, the 24pin motherboard tail again wasn't even touched when i started, that specific part shouldn't have changed from a working condition. MOBO and CPU power pins on the motherboard all appear to be straight and parallel, cant detect any bends there that might cause loss of contact

@Hood im certain i had the bracket correct, with the screws in the correct holes for the socket type


@Caring1, @eidairaman1, @micropage7   i do have the case speaker attached to the speaker header on the motherboard. there's just two pins on it, and its not keyed at all, so just to be sure i did try flipping the orientation of the connector with no result either way.
i will try without any ram (again, ram wasn't touched either when i first took the stock cooler off) there's enough room around the heatink and those outer two ram slots that i don't think i even bumped them.
i don't think i had beeps disabled in the bios, but assuming i did and forgot about it years later, the cmos battery did get removed (a few posts up), along with the CLR_CMOS jumper being moved to the 'reset' position. if there's any code execution going on, i'd guess its running default settings now, but that'll be very hard to tell until i can get into the bios

@Assimilator with only the CPU, motherboard, and power, and literally nothing else, what am i looking for to indicate success? the motherboard has no LEDs on the PCB, or anything to display an error code like high-end overclocker-friendly boards do. it doesn't have onboard video, so no visual cue without the a GPU (which has already been determined as still-working) of some sort, and without the chassis speaker i wont get any POST beep codes (assuming any are being generated.
aside from that, i *REALLY* don't want to be touching electrical contacts like that (bad experience as a kid, don't ask), i will sooner bite the bullet and spend a few hundred on a new cpu/mobo & ram before i go touching contacts (even with a screw driver)
the possibility of both ram sticks failing simultaneously  just by swapping the cpu heat sink seems extremely remote, but i will make an attempt with 0 and 1 sticks
i don't think i dropped anything, but concede that it's possible, if there is physical damage to the board or surface components, it's smaller than i can see.
static discharge is also a distinct possibility, my anti static precautions are minimal, at best
the pc wasn't running 24/7, just the opposite. the first few years, when it was my only PC, it would get daily use and typically powered off for the night. after i built my current gaming rig, this one's only been used infrequently in the past couple of years, usually on for a few hours, maybe a day at the most, and then off for weeks at a time. that said, as i mentioned at the top it was working just fine without issue until i removed the stock heatsink and installed the hyper212.


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## Hood (Jun 21, 2018)

NorthboundOcclusive said:


> @Hood im certain i had the bracket correct, with the screws in the correct holes for the socket type


The easy way to check is by trying to slightly twist the heatsink, you know, just to make it look aligned perfectly straight - when mine was too tight, it wouldn't move at all.  After I corrected it, you could move it fairly easily.  If yours can still be moved (when fully tightened down), it's not too tight.  If it's so tight it wont move, there's a problem somewhere.  The X bracket is easy to get wrong, because it's not that obvious, and looks fine even when it's on wrong.  The mounting system has drawn criticism from many people.


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## NorthboundOcclusive (Jun 21, 2018)

will take that under advisement. thanks


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## NorthboundOcclusive (Jun 23, 2018)

okay. latest attempt at fixing this.

PSU reinstalled to case, connected to wall power. grounded self with contact to case and psu housing (might be too late for that, but still). PSU switch to ON position.
reinstalled motherboard into case, cleaned cpu and heatsink. removed cpu and checked pins (all straight, nothing bent or missing, no wear or corrosion visible to naked eye). replaced cpu in socket. applied TIM, and stock cooler.
attached motherboard power, cpu power. case fans attached to their respective motherboard headers.
power connections all firmly and securely seated.
all fans continue to spin after power on.

boot with GPU in 2nd pcie slot: fail, no beeps
boot with zero ram: fail, no beeps
boot with 1 stick ram: fail, no beeps.
boot with ram in A1/B1 slots: fail, no beeps
boot with ps/2 kb attached: fail no beeps. keyboard's Sleep button will light up, but not numlock, capslock or scroll lock (lack of lights expected behavior with this kb)
boot with cmos jumper in Clear position: fail, no beeps.
boot after cmos jumper returned to Normal: fail, no beeps. 
--- i did borrow a multimeter, cmos battery reads 3v DC, or within 0.2 of that mark.

gpu heatsink is noticeably warm to the touch, cpu heatsink is barely above ambient room temp, if at all.
south bridge and north bridge heatsinks also warm to touch. even the ram heat spreaders feel warmer than the cpu heat sink, but that's debatable.

short of dropping the cpu into another known working am3 mobo, or a known working cpu into this motherboard, i think im out of options here.


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## Devon68 (Jun 23, 2018)

> short of dropping the cpu into another known working am3 mobo, or a known working cpu into this motherboard, i think im out of options here.


It seems that might be your only option left.


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## DeathtoGnomes (Jun 23, 2018)

Throwing parts at this problem might be easy, but where is the fun in that?

Before you do tho....

Remove the backing plate from the back of the motherboard. Use anything you have that can add a layer of protection between the bracket and the mother board, since this is temporary for testing even folded paper towel will do. Also, before re-installing the plate, make sure there are no solder "tits" sticking out too far that might penetrate the cheap foam insulation that comes with those cooler kits.


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## Jose Jeswin (Jun 24, 2018)

Dear northbound, Did you check your psu with one of these?..




Or.. try connecting one of these to the motherboard and check for bios beeps..


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## NorthboundOcclusive (Jun 24, 2018)

@Devon68 yes, but i dont have any other am3 cpus or motherboards, so that's out.

@DeathtoGnomes i still have the stock cooler & stock backplate on, the backplate is plastic and the mount screws are isolated from the mobo pcb inside...(for lack of a better word) nipples, that go thru the the mobo from the back to the front.
i removed the backplate folded a paper towel in behind it.
there's no improvement, pc still refuses to show signs of life. however, when i press the FP power switch, im now noticing (maybe its new, maybe i just missed it before) im seeing the briefest flicker of light from the disk activity LED, a super quick blink before the power LED comes on. like its lit for less than 500ms and off again, and maybe 100-200ms later the power LED comes on. as i said, im not sure if that's a new occurrence after the towel or not
between that, and having it out of the case on cardboard earlier (a couple posts up, #13) im certain its not shorting to the motherboard tray in the case.

@Jose Jeswin i dont have power supply tester, but i did borrow the psu from my game rig (its an antec earthwatts 650w unit) which absolutely does work, but made no difference in the pc in question. that tells me that while the el-cheapo bargain basement CM psu might still be *a *problem, it's not *the* problem
there is also one of those speakers mounted to the case near the front fan, and attached to the appropriate motherboard header, but i get no beeps from it at all. maybe the speaker's failed, maybe it hasnt, i dont have another one to test with.


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## eidairaman1 (Jun 24, 2018)

Put the reset switch where the power button was on the motherboard, try it, if same, most likely the mobo is kaput, you can always try the chip in another board at a shop.

Sometimes you should only need the necessities in just to get a post screen, that is mobo, ram, gpu. May have to try 1 dimm even.


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## Jose Jeswin (Jun 25, 2018)

Dear northbound...your last resort may be to plug in a bios post card which will show you bios error codes...I have used one and it has helped me through some difficult situations..



make sure you get one which shows you compatible bios codes..for e.g....AWARDBIOS or AMIBIOS or PHOENIXBIOS..


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## DeathtoGnomes (Jun 25, 2018)

NorthboundOcclusive said:


> @Devon68 yes, but i dont have any other am3 cpus or motherboards, so that's out.
> 
> @DeathtoGnomes i still have the stock cooler & stock backplate on, the backplate is plastic and the mount screws are isolated from the mobo pcb inside...(for lack of a better word) nipples, that go thru the the mobo from the back to the front.
> i removed the backplate folded a paper towel in behind it.
> ...


I'm getting confused there of whats been done and whats been suggested. The HDD light blink means nothing at this point. If you are not powering up with a working PSU, why are you still testing with the old PSU? it still could be bad, and it could have caused the motherboard and the HDD to go bad, if those are bad then a working PSU wont work either. 

MY backing plate suggestion was because I assumed you were using the one that came with the new cooler, making my suggesting futile. 

idk, too many chefs here.


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## eidairaman1 (Jun 25, 2018)

DeathtoGnomes said:


> I'm getting confused there of whats been done and whats been suggested. The HDD light blink means nothing at this point. If you are not powering up with a working PSU, why are you still testing with the old PSU? it still could be bad, and it could have caused the motherboard and the HDD to go bad, if those are bad then a working PSU wont work either.
> 
> MY backing plate suggestion was because I assumed you were using the one that came with the new cooler, making my suggesting futile.
> 
> idk, too many chefs here.



Chiefs*


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## Mr.Scott (Jun 25, 2018)

eidairaman1 said:


> Chiefs*


Too many chiefs spoil the broth?


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## Final_Fighter (Jun 25, 2018)

i believe the op has pretty much narrowed it down to either cpu, mb or ram. at this point he needs to see if his cpu and ram are still good. if so then its the mb. everything has been gone threw except for verifying these components.  once he finds out witch of these is bad then he can make the necessary repair.


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## Assimilator (Jun 25, 2018)

NorthboundOcclusive said:


> @Assimilator with only the CPU, motherboard, and power, and literally nothing else, what am i looking for to indicate success?


[/QUOTE]

If the board and CPU aren't stone dead, the board should beep like a mofo at having no RAM in. (I don't know if your system has a built-in buzzer/speaker to beep with, if not you'll need to connect one as @eidairaman1 mentioned.)


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## NorthboundOcclusive (Jun 25, 2018)

DeathtoGnomes said:


> I'm getting confused there of whats been done and whats been suggested.



just to recap, to begin with i removed original stock cooler, installed hyper212evo per included instructions, and pc has utterly refused to boot since, even as far as the bios.
no video, no disk activity, no POST code beeps from the mobo speaker. speaker is external, and connected to mobo header pins instead of surface mount. all fans spin. 

pc is currently in it's default/last-worked setup, with *stock cooler installed*, gpu installed, both ram sticks installed, system and storage drives, case fans connected, front panel headers connected

i have two GPUs available for this pc, both are confirmed to work. swapped GPUs, and PCIe slots.
monitor is shared with gaming rig, monitor confirmed to work, HDMI cable likewise
removed the hyper212 and replaced the stock cooler, retention bracket and backplate.
thermal paste gets removed, surfaces cleaned, and reapplied 
removed cpu from socket, inspected for damaged pins, replaced into socket
power tails from PSU rechecked to be securely connected to motherboard
used confirmed-working PSU from gaming rig
CMOS battery has been removed
CMOS jumper has been moved to CLEAR and back
checked CMOS voltage
reseated RAM
removed RAM entirely.
used 1 stick of RAM
moved RAM to other ram slots
no visible physical damage to motherboard surface components
disconnected SSD/HDD
removed entire motherboard from case onto cardboard
cpu/board/power and front panel power switch only
checked hyper212 backplate for damaged insulation
used paper towel between (stock, plastic) backplate for additional insulation guarantee
attached ps/2 keyboard
swapped the front panel power and disk LED connectors, just for kicks and giggles, both LEDs work

what i cant do

replace only the CPU (dont have another one)
replace only the motherboard (dont have another one
'borrow' my gaming rig's PSU for extended periods of time (because i need it where it is, makes it hard to reply to this thread otherwise)
what i haven'd done (yet)

installed ram into my gaming rig (both are DDR3, should work, right?) to confirm RAM's good
installed one/both drives into gaming rig to confirm working.
ill try that later today, but i doubt that either of the drives or ram sticks have failed, keeping in mind that both have previously been isolated from this system with no change. i fully expect both will work in my gaming rig.
everything else i've been able to disconnect from the motherboard works (except maybe the mobo speaker, not sure about that one either way)


@DeathtoGnomes you asked why im still using the old PSU. a couple reasons, 1) i don't _know_ that it's bad. the pc wont start even with a good PSU, so im going to _assume_ original one works, and if nothing else it's still able to provide power to the motherboard, gpu and drives. 2) the only other PSU i have available belongs to my gaming rig, and since it's also my main pc these days, it'll get to keep all its components. my choice is either best PC works, or no PC works.


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## eidairaman1 (Jun 25, 2018)

you're at a point where you need to take it to a shop get the motherboard and the processor tested.

You could have bad power source in home, (not psu but power outlet)


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## DeathtoGnomes (Jun 26, 2018)

eidairaman1 said:


> Chiefs*


chefs = kitchen 
Chiefs = racial implications in a PC society that I didnt wanna get roasted over. Tag, your it!



Spoiler: Hideme






NorthboundOcclusive said:


> just to recap, to begin with i removed original stock cooler, installed hyper212evo per included instructions, and pc has utterly refused to boot since, even as far as the bios.
> no video, no disk activity, no POST code beeps from the mobo speaker. speaker is external, and connected to mobo header pins instead of surface mount. all fans spin.
> 
> pc is currently in it's default/last-worked setup, with *stock cooler installed*, gpu installed, both ram sticks installed, system and storage drives, case fans connected, front panel headers connected
> ...






And does the PSU power up with a jumper too?


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