Fans Turn on For a Second then Off

[anthony_leanos]

Hi! This is my very first pc build and I really don’t know much about them. I just finished putting everything together but when I turn the computer on the case fan and my cpu fan turn on for a second and then they turn off. All of the parts are new and there shouldn’t be any damage to any of them. Any suggestions?

[veeg]

Hello

Make sure the mobo isn’t touching the case.. Also make sure the standoffs are installed correctly. Give us your complete pc spec’s and the same for the psu.

[Bruce]

usually indicates wrongly installed parts or incompatible parts.
I would be removing all parts out of the case, and reassemble them on a piece of cardboard on a bench/table.
this will give you the chance to double check your installation, check the connections, remove the case from the equation, and read up on part compatibility.
make sure you pulled the plastic cover odd the processor if it had one and have all the power cables connected to the motherboard.
also handy to have one of those small, round, black motherboard speakers attached to listen for any startup beeps that may indicate an error.

[Bruce]

@anthony leanos - any news?

[anthony_leanos]

@anthony leanos - any news?

Sorry for the late reply, but I reassembled the pc on my kitchen table and it still does the same thing. All the cables are labeled so it’s pretty hard to get them wrong, right? I’ll list the specs down though.

Mobo: MSI H81M-E33 Micro ATX LGA1150

Processor: Intel Core i7- 4770 3.4 GHz

Memory: Patriot Viper 3 8gb DDR3-1600 CL9

Storage: ADATA SU800 512 GB SSD

Video Card: Sapphire Radeon RX 550

Case: Cougar MX330

PSU: EVGA W1 600W

[anthony_leanos]

@anthony leanos - any news?

I just saw that my heat sink isn’t screwing in all the way. I screw one side in but the other side pops up. I didn’t notice it because it kinda happens slowly. I’m gonna return the one I have and get another one. Do you think that could’ve been the problem?

[Pyro]

Heat sinks need to be screwed in carefully and evenly, it’s possible that the unit was installed improperly and warped the motherboard.

If that is the case you would be best off replacing/warrantying the board and either carefully attempting to reassemble the unit or having a professional handle it.
Note: Remember to use a quality name brand thermal paste, there are no homemade concoctions that will do the job as well and they could cause damage.

[anthony_leanos]

Heat sinks need to be screwed in carefully and evenly, it’s possible that the unit was installed improperly and warped the motherboard.

If that is the case you would be best off replacing/warrantying the board and either carefully attempting to reassemble the unit or having a professional handle it.
Note: Remember to use a quality name brand thermal paste, there are no homemade concoctions that will do the job as well and they could cause damage.

If the motherboard is warped, how could I tell? Will it not work at all anymore? Or will the same problem persist even with a new Heat Sink?

[Bruce]

in my experience, an ill fitting heatsink would not show the symptoms you reported.
you describe CPU and case fans turning on for a second then stopping when you try to start the PC.

if the heatsink was not connected properly, I would have thought the PC would start as it should, but when the temperature got to a preset limit, the PC would shutdown, but we would be talking a couple of minutes at least.

but, computers being computers, I couldn’t 100% say the heatsink may not be the root cause, just doubtful.

it does however highlight your experience level in assembling PC’s.
and there is absolutely no malice intended by that.
shoot, my very first build, I dropped the socket 775 processor and bent 3 of the pins (some fine metal work with tweezers fixed it and she purred like a kitten once installed)

I’m saying, we have all been there and “you don’t know what you don’t know” - you won’t know that part A is not connected properly, simply because you haven’t done it before.

how about attaching some screen shots of the innards and we’ll see if anything sticks out?

[anthony_leanos]

in my experience, an ill fitting heatsink would not show the symptoms you reported.
you describe CPU and case fans turning on for a second then stopping when you try to start the PC.

if the heatsink was not connected properly, I would have thought the PC would start as it should, but when the temperature got to a preset limit, the PC would shutdown, but we would be talking a couple of minutes at least.

but, computers being computers, I couldn’t 100% say the heatsink may not be the root cause, just doubtful.

it does however highlight your experience level in assembling PC’s.
and there is absolutely no malice intended by that.
shoot, my very first build, I dropped the socket 775 processor and bent 3 of the pins (some fine metal work with tweezers fixed it and she purred like a kitten once installed)

I’m saying, we have all been there and “you don’t know what you don’t know” - you won’t know that part A is not connected properly, simply because you haven’t done it before.

how about attaching some screen shots of the innards and we’ll see if anything sticks out?

No offense taken at all! I can admit that I don’t know anything about building my own computer. This whole process is just a learning experience for me.

[anthony_leanos]

No offense taken at all! I can admit that I don’t know anything about building my own computer. This whole process is just a learning experience for me.

[Bruce]

whoa, looks like we went a bit heavy handed with the thermal paste.
(being there too)

take out the processor and clean up that whole area.
be extra careful around the innards of the processor socket with the pins and all.

when re-assembling, literally a drop of thermal grease in the centre is all you need, it’ll get spread out when the heatsink gets screwed down.

and the pics don’t show it, probably just so you can get better shots, but where is the heatsink and the power supply?
and add some wide angle shots so we can see the holistic picture! (y)

and start small, remove the graphics card and run the monitor off the motherboard video ports.
only use one memory stick, and if no luck, try the other stick, and still no luck, try another memory slot.

at this stage we are simply after a successful, sustained boot into BIOS, would be nice.

[anthony_leanos]

whoa, looks like we went a bit heavy handed with the thermal paste.
(being there too)

take out the processor and clean up that whole area.
be extra careful around the innards of the processor socket with the pins and all.

when re-assembling, literally a drop of thermal grease in the centre is all you need, it’ll get spread out when the heatsink gets screwed down.

and the pics don’t show it, probably just so you can get better shots, but where is the heatsink and the power supply?
and add some wide angle shots so we can see the holistic picture! (y)

and start small, remove the graphics card and run the monitor off the motherboard video ports.
only use one memory stick, and if no luck, try the other stick, and still no luck, try another memory slot.

at this stage we are simply after a successful, sustained boot into BIOS, would be nice.

I had my power supply outside the case because I took it out to make sure it was working and I don’t have a heat sink or cpu fan in there right now because it doesn’t screw in at all. I think I stripped some threads on the mounting bracket. I’m used to working on tractors at work so I’ve learned I need to be a lot more careful. Do you think we could continue this conversation next week when I get my new heat sink and fan?

[Bruce]

of course, we’ll leave this open until you get back to us.
good luck and update us as soon as you have news!

[Bruce]

@anthony leanos - any good news yet on the new hardware?