I need help with my custom built pc not turning on please.....

[sygnus21]

I know I've done this before but, I really need help with this small easy issue. If I'm correct, aren't I supposed to somehow remove the old thermal stuff from the cpu and add new thermal to it? Or can I just add some thermal to it along with whats still on the cpu? Thx

james

Yes. Remove the old paste and replace it with a fresh coating.

Good luck.

 

[linnemeyerhere]

jimb0616,
Less is more with this part. Clean both the cpu and the cooler surfaces back to mirror surfaces. Add a very small amount of thermal paste like about the size of a lentil. Align the cooler plate and with a slight twisting movement align and mount the cooler. Tighten down well to spec's and allow to rest 5-10 minutes under pressure for the paste to spread out. This process will continue as heat from the processor is applied and will reach maximum cooling in several hours.

 

[jimb0616]

well, it just so happens that there are 3 different types of my cpu's (AMD Phenom X4 9850 Black Edition) and only 1 out of the 3 are compatible with this new mobo I bought (Asus M2N68-AM PLUS). I verified many times to make sure that my cpu will be compatible and it even says right on the box that it is, but I got an error saying it's not, so I did some research and some people said to update bios which I then did but to no avail. So finally I read on some website that Asus made a mistake by not stating which AMD Phenom X4 9850 this mobo was comatible with, it's all because of the watts. Mine is 125W (and the 95W is not comatible either) so I have to bring back the mobo today and exchange it for one that will be 100% compatible with my cpu.

Also, to be 110% sure, even though I've tested my original mobo many many times... I will test it 1 more time before I ship it off.

James

 

[sygnus21]

Boy you are having some type of luck there lately aren't you

Here's wishing you some good luck

Peace

 

[linnemeyerhere]

Keep the faith jimb0616, It will all pull together and in the process your going to learn even more about your system and other processes. That's the bright side which as your going through it never seems to appear till later.

 

[jimb0616]

Oh yea, I love a challenge. I've only taken 1 computer class when I was 14 and it was typing, I learned everything else on my own and got my CCNA cert also. I've been building since I was 15yrs old and now I'm 28 but every now and then I still run into some random issues. good times, I'll let you all know how my new mobo turns out when I go pick it up tonight. I'll be exchanging the one I just got for another one and I'm sure it will work. I'll use this "new" mobo until my RMA'd one comes back in the mail Take care everyone.

Thanks,
James

 

[linnemeyerhere]

I've ordered a new CPU in your honor so I'll be breaking out the thermal paste one day soon as well. Cheers mate and here's to a quick successful boot every time !

 

[Golden]

Keep the faith jimb0616, It will all pull together and in the process your going to learn even more about your system and other processes. That's the bright side which as your going through it never seems to appear till later.

Well said.

Jimbo, you have been far more succesful than me : last year I mounted my Noctua CPU cooler the wrong way around (didn't bother reading the instructions in my excitement), and of course at boot-up it beeped and shut down. I spent some anxious moments trying to figure it out, until my 6yr old told me to read the instructions.......................

 

[sygnus21]

When in doubt RTFM

 

[jimb0616]

I've ordered a new CPU in your honor so I'll be breaking out the thermal paste one day soon as well. Cheers mate and here's to a quick successful boot every time !

Haha! Thanks for that, and thanks for the other recent posts lol.

I just got home with the new temp mobo. It's better than the one I just returned and I'm very sure it will work however I'm still optimistic. I also realized I put a tad too much thermal on the last time and saw I tiny spec got on 1 of the CPU pins but I got it off, now I'm going to install this mobo which I will then return here to post results when done. be back very soon.

Thanks,
James

 

[jimb0616]

Well, I didn't have to reformat but the only issue I'm having now is the graphics, on desktop and in-game, flicker and blink also makes some of my quicklaunch icons disappear then once I hover over them they appear. I tried new drivers, reinstall of DX10 and DX11 to no avail. I'm tired so I'll try updating bios and other things. And yes I installed some of the vital mobo drivers from the CD.

The mobo is an Asus M4A785-M
GPU is ATI HD3870 (I have two but this mobo only supports 1 GPU), maybe I'll try changing the cards out.

Gnight,
James

 

[jimb0616]

Good morning, sorry this thread is so long lol, time to try and resolve this "last" issue I posted above, in my last post. Any opinons would be great also. Thx


James

 

[TVeblen]

Because you changed MBs you need to get the system updated for drivers and settings. You've been working on drivers but you may have missed one.

First, check windows update and see if it is reporting any drivers you need. Install them, reboot, check again. Keep doing that until nothing shows up.

It may become necessary to do a Repair Install.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/3413-repair-install.html?filter[2]=General%20Tips
And you may need to run it 3 times to get everything "lined up".

 

[stormy13]

I installed some of the vital mobo drivers from the CD.

People still use those things? I don't remember the last piece of hardware I bought where I even took the disk out of the sleeve. For the new board I would get the LAN and audio (assuming using both) straight from Asus as they will likely be newer (the audio definitely is). For the chipset don't bother with Asus as for whatever reason they almost never update them, instead get them straight from AMD,

ATI Radeon

You'll need the South Bridge driver, and wither the RAID or AHCI driver depending on how you have your hard drive(s) configured.

 

[jimb0616]

Yea I did the repair install first then I did all windows updates and drivers, I also downloaded the latest ATI catalyst drivers, but I still have more things to do that you both have mentioned. I'm so tired atm so I'll finish after a nap, my brain feels like a bus ran it over.

oh, and I have my HD's as the sata1 is my primary (OS drive C) and my secondary is my "stuff" drive where all my apps, vids and d/l's are kept.

 

[DirtyElf]

wow. after reading this i have a headache.

james,

i wish you the best of luck. some advice: slow down, and dont be so erratic.

reading this thread im picturing the Tasmanian devil spinning around a room with computer parts flying and random beeps and blue screens...

another thing, dont just keep replacing power supplies like that.. jeeze. if they keep burning out SOMETHING IS WRONG. power supplies will take other things with them. id bet my life savings that one of those power supplies crapped out and took your mobo with it.

 

[jimb0616]

K i've tried both video cards but still have the same issue with this "graphic" issue. I installed the latest none beta drivers for everything I could find. Guess this thread's gone far enough. Thx for the help and effort everyone.

Most of the blink stopped when I got a system.overflowexception error, :\ my luck

James

 

[linnemeyerhere]

jimb0616,
Don't worry about the length of the thread, but if the nature of the problem takes us in a new direction and you want to post in a different category then that's fine. What are the chances the GPU isn't 100% ?

 

[stormy13]

What are the chances the GPU isn't 100% ?

After 3 power supplies going up in smoke, I'm surprised that there is anything from the original build that still works. The fun part is determining what is causing them to blow in the first place,

1. Possible short somewhere in the case, not enough to cause immediate issues but over time.

2. Bad motherboard to begin with

3. Not strong enough PSU to begin with (this one can pretty much be ruled out based on the specs of the 3)

4. Bad or u8nclean power right at the wall. This can only be tested when you know all components are good, and plug in another receptacle that is not on the same circuit as the current one.

Also with 3 power supplies going and finally killing the motherboard, may just find that that is what is wrong with the video card(s) as well.

The problems in these two threads,

http://www.sevenforums.com/overclocking-case-mods/128058-haf-x-short-static-front-usb-panel.html

http://www.sevenforums.com/hardware-devices/66190-pc-reboots-if-someone-walk.html

are the sort of thing that can be the cause for #1.

 

[jimb0616]

What are the chances the GPU isn't 100% ?

After 3 power supplies going up in smoke, I'm surprised that there is anything from the original build that still works. The fun part is determining what is causing them to blow in the first place,

1. Possible short somewhere in the case, not enough to cause immediate issues but over time.

2. Bad motherboard to begin with

3. Not strong enough PSU to begin with (this one can pretty much be ruled out based on the specs of the 3)

4. Bad or u8nclean power right at the wall. This can only be tested when you know all components are good, and plug in another receptacle that is not on the same circuit as the current one.

Also with 3 power supplies going and finally killing the motherboard, may just find that that is what is wrong with the video card(s) as well.

The problems in these two threads,

http://www.sevenforums.com/overclocking-case-mods/128058-haf-x-short-static-front-usb-panel.html

http://www.sevenforums.com/hardware-devices/66190-pc-reboots-if-someone-walk.html

are the sort of thing that can be the cause for #1.

Nope, see only the first two PSU's, which were both OCZ psu's (first was 800w, 2nd was 700w), burnt out and also I NEVER hook my pc straight to the wall, I have a surge protector. I'm not that dumb, plus the 3rd PSU is still work fine and the reason the first two burnt out was because I didn't read into the specs of the first two PSU's, they didn't have the correct wattage or amp for my gpu's. Once I finally did my homework and got my current (3rd and still working) PSU it worked fine. But, it is possible my CPU is somehow not 100% but both my GPU's are 100% working condition. I've done lots of research and many people have had a similar issue to what I'm having now with the screen flickering, flashing and all kinds of annoying stuff. What I'm doing now is taking a clean HD and installing win7 ult x64 with this new mobo which I'm almost certain will clear things up. If, for some reason, the problem persists then it's obviously just my crap luck of getting a bad mobo, or that my CPU 'MIGHT' not be working 100% which could cause all kinds of issues to pop up.

I've built/assembled over approx 2,000 computers when I was with the school board of Pinellas County, in every school here... High Schools, Middle Shcools, Elementary and more. Even though a large majority of them were pre-built, I still had to go through and open each one to make custom chanes according to the specs that each school wanted etc... and as for custom pc's (i.e. gaming pc's, vid ed pc's) I've only built maybe 35 of them for friends, family, clients and myself which in all cases but ONE (my buddy brett) they turned out great and still work to this day. When I was younger, we use to have huge LAN parties (fun!!) and after I'd network it all up we'd have a blast. They would always try to "fix" their own pc's which made it worse and I'd end up fixing it for them, but they always asked me, "Jim, how come EVERY time we have a LAN party your computer never crashes and how come you never have to fix the pc's you build for yourself?!" I honestly didn't know why, but I told them, "Dude, I go the magic touch." .... until NOW lol! One of those friends found out about my issue I'm having now with my mobo and was stunned, he posted it ALL over Facebook.

Anyways, I'll start a new thread on a diff forum area when I'm done doing what I'm doing. If any of you live in the Tampa Bay, FL area let me know... I just moved back here from Orlando, FL. Cyaz and thx again.

James