CONTINUOUS RE-BOOT AFTER FORMATTING HARD-DRIVE

[Vr5fx]

As far as I am aware, those clips that clamp the heatsink down spread out on the underside of the motherboard, so the only way to get them out is to take the motherboard out, or brute force which may damage the motherboard.

That glue on the whole chip looks real nasty... Will be fun to clean off.

Sad to se shoddy work.... :(

[WelshWitch]

Exactly ....... and I will let you know what happens ...... thanks ever so much for your help :)

[KenB]

Look forward to hearing their response :)

[WelshWitch]

@ Vr5fx Yes, I'll probably have to take the MB out and not sure if it's just glue on there .... to me it looks burnt or melted but we'll see. ...... it does scare me that this guy is advertising as a professional! Edited March 29, 2012 by WelshWitch

[WelshWitch]

Hi again,

 

just wanted to check if the chipset after cleaning, looks OK to the more experienced eye.

 

Managed to get all the glue off with, rubbing alcohol and lint-free cloth and most of the dried thermal compound.

 

There is, however still some of the latter down the right side of the chip and the bottom left corner where there had been a massive chunk of it ...... do I need to get every last scrap of this stuff off?

 

Cheers in advance for any advice :)

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]1433[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]1434[/ATTACH]

[KenB]

That has been a right botched job !

 

You need a completely flat clean surface to sit the heatsink on. If the bottom corner is raised ( which it looks ) then the heatsink is not going to do its job and the chip will overheat.

 

That blob looks as if it will move if you got a small screwdriver behind it and persuaded it that it was time to go.

 

You have made a nice job of the rest of it :)

 

Once you have got rid of that - how are you going to attach the heatsink ?

Are you going to take the m/board out and see if you can remove the broken plastic ...........

Or are you going to use thermal glue ?

 

Personally I would try to get the plastic out and put in the correct heatsink and fan.

[WelshWitch]

Hi,

 

thanks for replying :) ....... phew!..... thought I may have made a mess of it ....I'm assuming they're tougher than they look, it's OK to use a small screwdriver? ..... I did think about it but wasn't sure! ...Is it OK that the rubbing alcohol has taken the shine off the green area?

 

I'm going to take the motherboard out and see if I can get the pin out from the back .....wish me luck lol!

[KenB]

The only area that needs to be perfectly clean is the metal flat surface of the chip itself.

This is where the heatsink makes contact.

 

The green area is a coating - an insulation coat if you like.

You have done no harm by cleaning this but the metal surface of the chip is the important area.

 

I would try a small screwdriver - just be gentle.

You don't want to lift the green coating off.

[WelshWitch]

Whooo hoooo,

 

Managed to get most of the compound off from the bottom corner, still a tiny bit on the green coating but it's flat to the surface and ........... took the motherboard out of the case, managed to get the broken pin out and put all the wires back in in the right place!

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]1435[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]1436[/ATTACH]

[Vr5fx]

Awesome job in cleaning that up! Looks great!

Also nice job in taking out the Mobo to fish out the plastic, it can be nerve-racking the first few times.

[WelshWitch]

Thanks very much, I am rather proud of it ...lol:cool:

[WelshWitch]

Computer powering up but hard drive won't boot

 

Hi,

 

had to take my motherboard out to clean off my nforce 4 chip, wrote down where all the wires went, installed a new fan on the chip, put the motherboard back in connected it up and it's powering up i.e. fans working, green light on MB, dvd drives working but after the initial whirr of the hard drive .... nothing, no monitor activity, no beeps, just dead. I've reseated all the connections but it still won't boot, any suggestions?

[KenB]

Hi

 

I have merged your two threads as ( I am assuming ) that they are the same problem still ??

 

You made an excellent job of cleaning up that botched mess - AND you managed to get the broken pin out

( more than the repair guys managed to do :) )

 

When you put the heatsink back - did you apply a thin layer of thermal paste ?

 

I have been away for a week so have not been able to reply.

[WelshWitch]

yes I did, but not sure if I did it right, would that make it not boot up?

[KenB]

not sure if I did it right,

It only needs to be a very thin layer of paste.

If this isn't right the chip will get very hot and cause the system to shut down.

 

This doesn't explain why you are not getting POST beeps.

 

Did you used to get a single beep before?

( If there is an internal speaker connected you should do )

 

Can you confirm that there is a speaker in the case please. There should be a connection on the edge of the board with SPK next to it.

If there are wires coming from this then there is a speaker. ( you would have had to disconnect this to take the m/board out )

 

=================

 

Try unscrewing the m/board and sitting it on a card or newspaper to insulate it from the case.

you may need to disconnect a few things to get it free from the case. You can leave these disconnected - as long as the main 20 pin connection is connected you should get POST beeps. There is no need to take it out completely - we just need to make sure it is insulated from the case itself.

Switch on

Any beeps or visual now ?

[WelshWitch]

Hi,

there is a speaker at the edge of the board in front of the mb, it was working fine before, I was getting beeps when the comp booted (and then crashed again) but now ....nothing.... it's attached to the mb in the brh corner by a 4-pin plug and I've tried putting it in both ways.

 

The mb comes out of the case on a sort of sliding door that it's screwed onto ....unfortunately one of the screws won't come out of the MB so I can't get if off completely (had to gently lift it up to get broken pin out from behind) to try what you've suggested.

 

I'm a bit confused as to the amount of extra wires and things I have too ..... I still have the manual for the mb and the accessories it came with don't match what I have in the box! there is a thick black lead with white attachments similar to the VGA which I assumed were DVI so I tried attaching the monitor with them and strangely I had the monitor saying 'No signal received' but with the VGA it's just a black screen and the monitor goes onto the orange standby light ....could it be a problem with my video card ...... although that wouldn't explain the hard drive not booting ..... and back to the speaker the other connections in that area work fine i.e system power led, hdd activity led ( although this only comes on when it first powers up and than goes off) and the reset button works because when you press it you can hear the hdd trying to start and the hdd led comes on again!

[WelshWitch]

I've just taken it out of the case but I'm a bit of a novice ..... if I can get it off the sliding partition it's attached to ....how do I connect it up to see if the beeps and monitor are working as I would have to remove all the back panel modules? ....I apologise for my stupidity in advance?

[WelshWitch]

Hi again,

 

sorry just noticed that there is a 2 x USB 2.0 module on the back panel of my comp and the connection it was attached to was IEEE 1394 which is a Firewire connection ( not me:mad: )and it says in the manual that doing this could damage your MB, I don't think I've ever used those particular USB ports as there are 2 USB 2.0 ports on the front but it's made me realise that maybe I should just check every single wire and connection with the manual!

[KenB]

Hi

 

Sorry for the delay in posting - I have been out and just got back :)

 

We have probably done this before but we need to do it again ( as you have repaired the problem with the heatsink )

 

1. Disconnect the monitor and any other external hardware.

 

2. Switch off at the wall ( leave the plug in to maintain the earth connection to the motherboard )

 

3. Strip all cards ( video / RAM etc ) off the m/board

 

4. Disconnect the power connection to the hard drive and the CDROM drive

 

5. Disconnect the data cables from the 2 drives at the motherboard end

 

You should have only the 20(4) way connection from the PSU connected to the board.

 

Switch on.

 

You should get POST beeps.

Do you ?

[WelshWitch]

:( no ....still nothing ..... I'm guessing it's my motherboard?

[KenB]

I'm guessing it's my motherboard?

It can only be one of two things now .......

The Power Supply Unit or the motherboard.

 

I can give you a link to how to test the PSU if you wish.

 

A local PC Tech ( NOT the ones used earlier ! ) could test the m/board for you - just to confirm.

I would ask if there is a charge for the service first :)

[WelshWitch]

A link to test the PSU would be great :)..... not sure I'll bother with testing the MB if the PSU seem OK ..... I've been looking at replacement boards ( already have an AMD Athlon x2 5000 ) ...... will miss the A8N-SLi though :( ...... and a bit concerned about how to remove it from the slide panel

[WelshWitch]

Hi,

just an update ...... I have managed to get the MB away from the casing (dodgy stand off replaced), so I placed it on an anti-static mat with just the power connectors and still zilch .... no POST beeps, nothing so it's either my MB or PSU. I have decided to invest in a decent PSU first, so if the MB HAS gone I can use it on a new build.

 

I have also removed the Asus fan that I put on there as I was unhappy with the fit and the silicone based thermal paste (it just wiped off really easily .... is this normal?)

 

Also, along with the USB 2.0 module attached to the Firewire connection, I found an extra stand off left on the casing so going back to beginning ...... fingers crossed lol! :mad:

[KenB]

Keep us informed.

 

Thermal paste is not a glue - so it does wipe off - especially as you have not got it warm yet.

 

:)

[WelshWitch]

Ahhh ...OK, that explains it ....... while I'm here can I just ask, does the thermal paste just go on the 'chip' i.e. the bit in the middle?