Help! Computer won't stay on for more than a minute.

S

sandlotje89

New Member
Alright... I was playing around inside my comp the other day, trying to make the airflow better because it was pretty messy in there. My processor's fan and heatsink were being really noisy, so I figured that if I took off the two and put them back on that it might fix it (maybe a loose connection or w/e). But when I turned it on it would only stay up for a couple of minutes. I puttered with it a couple more times and got it to where I was positive that everything was on correctly and I got it fixed.

But tonight I went to re-install windows and I had to reattatch my floppy drive for the nvidia drivers. well it was being a pain so I just took off the side of the case and propped the floppy drive on some pants. I managed to get to the formatting part of the install. I left the comp for several hours to chill with some friends and let it format. I came back and it said something like "Non-system related disk error." I turned the comp back on and it began doing what it was doing in the first paragraph. The proc. fan was making a really loud noise, but don't feel like fussing with it right now. Do you all think it is most likely related to the fan?
 
When reseating the HSF did you apply a fresh application of thermal paste/compound and check to see that the fan was replugged into the spot on the board for cpu not simply any case fan?

With 0% rpm due being plugged in on the wrong spot a system will halt when no activity is seen with the cpu fan. If you didn't clean off and apply a fresh application of thermal paste the overheat protection circuit will shut everything down once the cpu temp climbs too high from a lack of any heat transfer.

If the installer's file copy reached the restart of the system with the boot order set to floppy drive first without a boot disk only driver disk in the drive that will see the non system related disk error. Try setting the hard drive as first in the boot order and disable the rest to see all setup files were completely copied onto the drive.
 
If you simply stuck the HSF back on without first cleaning off the old paste to see a new fresh application the heat transfer isn't taking place forcing the overheat protection circuit to kick in. In other words the cpu is getting "hot" and the circuit is shutting everything down to prevent permanent damage to cpu and even board.

Most will use a denatured or typical rubbing alcohol to see the old paste cleaned off since that evaporates quickly without leaving a residue. Once done you have to follow the instructions closely to see only a thin coat spread evenly of the paste or compound being used.
 
PC Eye, you're awesome! Not only is my processor running 10C lower (it's been running a little warm lately), but it is stable! Thank you so much! Who knew something as seemingly small as that could make such a difference. How often should I reapply the paste? Every time I take off the HSF?
 
You shouldn't have to remove the HSF unless necessary. Each time you use a fresh application of any thermal paste you have to allow a breakin period. For Artic Silver 5 that would be about 200hrs. or roughly two full weeks depending on daily use.

When first applying most pastes you run the system for so many hours just to see the paste itself warmed up and then turn the system off for an overnight stretch. That starts the bonding process of the paste to sink and the top of the cpu. For AS-5 that would be about 3-4hrs. on the first day or night followed by a good shutdown period of several hours. Over the first few days no ocing or heavy loads is the main idea while the heat transfer then begins to start.

Often you will end up wiping case fans down to clean dust off of those along with blowing out dust and debris much sooner then you would be reapplying a good application of the paste used. By monitoring temps and eventually seeing them climb the first thing is dust build up and clogged fans and the eventual hardening up the paste used which could take upto a couple of years depemding on use.

For systems left running 24/7 that could reduced to 6 months to a year. OCing which generally will stress and see higher temps will also tend to speed up the hardening of a paste used. For stock use you shouldn't have to worry about that for some time unless you apply too much and start seeing higher temps.
 
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