First Quiet Build - HELP!

bendit · Post by **bendit** » Thu Feb 03, 2005 10:13 am

Hello,

I just finished putting together a system
and tried to power it on and here is what
happened. The fan on the back of my Antec
3000b started spinning, the fan on the Zalman
cooler started spinning and I could start to smell
something burning (silicon paste on amd 64?). Then after a about 15 seconds everything shut down. I have the seasonic tornado 300 so I started cycling the on off switch and a funny thing happened after I hit the front on button. The fans
spun up for about two seconds and then just quit.
Power to my drives don't seem to work. And the tornado fan
isn't moving. I was very careful to do everything
right. Any ideas? At first I didn't have my 4 pin power to the MB plugged in but that didn't seem to make a difference when I did.

Appreciate it.

Mike

Mr_Smartepants · Post by **Mr_Smartepants** » Thu Feb 03, 2005 1:18 pm

Ooh, not good!

Well, there's a few things you could try.
First verify the PSU works. You need to disconnect the main ATX connector from your motherboard (brand?) and jumper the only green wire to any black wire. If your PSU fires up and stays up then the PSU is fine (you'll notice your HDDs spin up too if all is well).
If the PSU seems OK, then surgery is called for. You'll need to remove the CPU heatsink and check the CPU core/package for discoloration. If you see any evidence of scoring/burning/cracking/etc, your CPU is toast. Otherwise, clean off the TIM and apply a rice-sized blob of ArcticSilver5 to the CPU core and remount the cooler correctly.
Report back after trying these steps and please give more info.

bendit · Post by **bendit** » Thu Feb 03, 2005 2:52 pm

Mr Smarte, I am a real newbie..
what do you mean jumper? can you explain how?
and what do i look for on the CPU? It has a layer
of silicon paste on it. Can I just wipe that off?

motherboard is a Chaintech VNF3-250.
Matrox video
Samsung 80g IDE
NEC optical
Corsair value 3200 x 2 528mb
Seasonic Tornado 200
Athlon 64 2800 CPU
Zalman 700acu cooler
Antec 3000b case

Thanks for trying...

Mike

bendit · Post by **bendit** » Thu Feb 03, 2005 4:13 pm

Here is a thread from google with the EXACT
same issue as I am having. It turned out to be
the PSU.

http://groups-beta.google.com/group/alt ... 8a66628533

bendit · Post by **bendit** » Thu Feb 03, 2005 7:54 pm

Power supply checks out ok. I did the green black jumper test
and the fans started spining. I can't wait.

the fans were nearly
inaudible.

Mike

meglamaniac · Post by **meglamaniac** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 1:05 am

Just a guess, but if the PSU checks out ok then it sounds as if you maybe didn't mount the heatsink on the CPU properly? Those zalmans can be tricky...
If you didn't, then the processor would get very hot very fast, you'd smell the thermal paste starting to cook, and then the motherboard would step in and shut the power off before you fried your CPU. Trying to cycle the power would just result in rapid shutdown again as the CPU would still be way too hot.

Double check the mounting procedure and make sure the heatsink is firmly attached. There should be zero clearance between the heatsink baseplate and the CPU.

Good luck!

bendit · Post by **bendit** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 7:25 am

meglamaniac wrote: There should be zero clearance between the heatsink baseplate and the CPU.

Good luck!

Well the baseplate goes under the board right? I think I lost you here. Could you explain what you mean. I followed the directions on the Zalman website.

ps: somebody else told me that the jumpering is not a PROPER test of the PSU rails and that I should use a meter. The PSU seems fine to me.

Mike

Mr_Smartepants · Post by **Mr_Smartepants** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 8:56 am

If the PSU fires up with the jumper test but not when hooked up to the motherboard then it's like I said. Either the CPU is toast or the heatsink isn't mounted properly like meglamaniac stated. If you don't know how to check the clearances, find a buddy who knows and get him/her to check it out. If you cooked the TIM, you need to remove the paste from the CPU and reapply a fresh layer.

bendit · Post by **bendit** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 1:23 pm

Mr_Smartepants wrote:If the PSU fires up with the jumper test but not when hooked up to the motherboard then it's like I said. Either the CPU is toast or the heatsink isn't mounted properly like meglamaniac stated. If you don't know how to check the clearances, find a buddy who knows and get him/her to check it out. If you cooked the TIM, you need to remove the paste from the CPU and reapply a fresh layer.

I reseated the CPU with thinner paste. still doesn't seem to
power the board for a few seconds. the cpu didn't look different.
Bottom line do you guys think its a bad CPU or motherboard?

Mike

Mr_Smartepants · Post by **Mr_Smartepants** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 11:05 pm

Oh man, put on the spot!

Your friend is right, to properly test a PSU you need a tester like this one..
To be perfectly blunt, it could be anything. You'll need to try to isolate the issue by disconnecting the ribbon cables from the MB, all the front LED/utility wires from the MB, all PCI cards (except video), and all RAM but one stick.
If it still doesn't boot, then only the remaining components are the culprit.
Try swapping them out with known good components.

bendit · Post by **bendit** » Sat Feb 05, 2005 6:45 am

Mr_Smartepants wrote:Oh man, put on the spot!

Your friend is right, to properly test a PSU you need a tester like this one..
To be perfectly blunt, it could be anything. You'll need to try to isolate the issue by disconnecting the ribbon cables from the MB, all the front LED/utility wires from the MB, all PCI cards (except video), and all RAM but one stick.
If it still doesn't boot, then only the remaining components are the culprit.
Try swapping them out with known good components.

I bought a multimeter and determined that there was 12v coming out of the power suppy on both the 4pin and 20 pin cables....a new mb is on the way...I amy have to get a second set of components for swapping!