mobo issue?

[phillpower2]

Regarding the broken cable: I might have used some rough wording. The metal bit never actually fell. It was the rest of the cable that got disconnected and the metal bit remained inside the hard drive. Essentially what I’m asking is if it’s safe to rule out a possible short circuit of the broken SATA cable (that is if it’s even possible, I’m saying this with my extremely superficial level of electronics knowledge) that’s the cause of the misbooting.

I merely replied to what you post, if you tell us that something metallic fell that is all that we have to go on.

I doubt I could find a PS/2 keyboard anytime soon, but even so, what help would it have if at no point it displays anything? Or is that presuming I’m using a different PSU?

If you don`t have a working keyboard hooked up the power on self test ( POST ) will fail when the BIOS fails to detect it, this regardless of you having a good quality appropriate spec PSU.

Anyhow, I could borrow the PSU of my relative and do some testing tonight. If i understood correctly, should I keep only the vitals connected

You need to do exactly as advised and provide all required feedback.

describe how and what you used for the cleaning and application.

You never told us how you cleaned off the old compound only that you used 99% isopropyl) + you likewise never told us how you applied the new thermal compound, the fact that it spread onto the MB suggests that it was not done correctly.

How did you clean off the old compound and how was the new stuff applied.

Also let me know if it’s wrong or not using “old” thermal paste.

Sorry but no idea what you mean.

[phillpower2]

Regarding the broken cable: I might have used some rough wording. The metal bit never actually fell. It was the rest of the cable that got disconnected and the metal bit remained inside the hard drive. Essentially what I’m asking is if it’s safe to rule out a possible short circuit of the broken SATA cable (that is if it’s even possible, I’m saying this with my extremely superficial level of electronics knowledge) that’s the cause of the misbooting.

I merely replied to what you post, if you tell us that something metallic fell that is all that we have to go on.

I doubt I could find a PS/2 keyboard anytime soon, but even so, what help would it have if at no point it displays anything? Or is that presuming I’m using a different PSU?

If you don`t have a working keyboard hooked up the power on self test ( POST ) will fail when the BIOS fails to detect it, this regardless of you having a good quality appropriate spec PSU.

Anyhow, I could borrow the PSU of my relative and do some testing tonight. If i understood correctly, should I keep only the vitals connected

You need to do exactly as advised and provide all required feedback.

describe how and what you used for the cleaning and application.

You never told us how you cleaned off the old compound only that you used 99% isopropyl) + you likewise never told us how you applied the new thermal compound, the fact that it spread onto the MB suggests that it was not done correctly.

How did you clean off the old compound and how was the new stuff applied.

Also let me know if it’s wrong or not using “old” thermal paste.

Sorry but no idea what you mean.

[jmarket]

At this point I would be suggesting you start asking around to see if you can borrow a PSU to swap in for testing purposes, if you were to remove the add on GPU from the MB altogether and hook up the appropriate video port on the MB to the screen you will get away with any good quality brand 500W PSU for testing the system with no add on GPU involved.

This is the testing that’s not clear to me. Should I just boot it on after swapping out the PSU and removing the GPU and see what happens?

You never told us how you cleaned off the old compound only that you used 99% isopropyl) + you likewise never told us how you applied the new thermal compound, the fact that it spread onto the MB suggests that it was not done correctly.

How did you clean off the old compound and how was the new stuff applied.

Removed the cooler, cleaned the thermal paste off the conductive part of the cooler with a microfiber cloth that’s been sprayed with some isopropyl alc and did the same with the CPU (at no point did I remove the CPU when cleaning). When reapplying, I put a very thin layer of thermal paste on the center of the CPU, leaving a ~2mm gap in-between the thermal paste and the edge of the CPU. Afterwards, I reinstalled the cooler and that’s about it.

Also let me know if it’s wrong or not using “old” thermal paste.

The thermal paste tube had been opened a year prior. I assume it’s fine to use.

[jmarket]

At this point I would be suggesting you start asking around to see if you can borrow a PSU to swap in for testing purposes, if you were to remove the add on GPU from the MB altogether and hook up the appropriate video port on the MB to the screen you will get away with any good quality brand 500W PSU for testing the system with no add on GPU involved.

This is the testing that’s not clear to me. Should I just boot it on after swapping out the PSU and removing the GPU and see what happens?

You never told us how you cleaned off the old compound only that you used 99% isopropyl) + you likewise never told us how you applied the new thermal compound, the fact that it spread onto the MB suggests that it was not done correctly.

How did you clean off the old compound and how was the new stuff applied.

Removed the cooler, cleaned the thermal paste off the conductive part of the cooler with a microfiber cloth that’s been sprayed with some isopropyl alc and did the same with the CPU (at no point did I remove the CPU when cleaning). When reapplying, I put a very thin layer of thermal paste on the center of the CPU, leaving a ~2mm gap in-between the thermal paste and the edge of the CPU. Afterwards, I reinstalled the cooler and that’s about it.

Also let me know if it’s wrong or not using “old” thermal paste.

The thermal paste tube had been opened a year prior. I assume it’s fine to use.

[phillpower2]

We now know that the thermal compound cleaning and reapplication was a mess so best to address this first.

The age of the thermal compound is fine but the cleaning off and reapplication not so.

To clean off you use the 99% isopropyl and either coffee filter papers or a lint free cloth, anything else leave fibres behind that cause air pockets, the compound that you used should have been a pea sized amount applied directly in the centre of the CPU.

As it stands you are looking at having to do the below;

Get yourself a P/S 2 keyboard if you can.

Borrow a PSU.

Remove the present PSU.

Remove the add on video card from the PCI-E slot on the MB,

Remove the CPU cooler, properly clean off and reapply the correct amount of MX in the centro of the CPU, when mounting the cooler do not wiggle or rock side to side the heatsink else it will cause air pockets.

Fit the test PSU.

Make sure that the RAM and connections to the MB are secure,

Make sure that you have connected the CPU cooling fan to the correct header on the MB.

Connect the screen to the appropriate videoport on the MB.

Connect the keyboard.

Connect the PSU to the power outlet, press the case power on button.

Post back with an update for us.

[phillpower2]

We now know that the thermal compound cleaning and reapplication was a mess so best to address this first.

The age of the thermal compound is fine but the cleaning off and reapplication not so.

To clean off you use the 99% isopropyl and either coffee filter papers or a lint free cloth, anything else leave fibres behind that cause air pockets, the compound that you used should have been a pea sized amount applied directly in the centre of the CPU.

As it stands you are looking at having to do the below;

Get yourself a P/S 2 keyboard if you can.

Borrow a PSU.

Remove the present PSU.

Remove the add on video card from the PCI-E slot on the MB,

Remove the CPU cooler, properly clean off and reapply the correct amount of MX in the centro of the CPU, when mounting the cooler do not wiggle or rock side to side the heatsink else it will cause air pockets.

Fit the test PSU.

Make sure that the RAM and connections to the MB are secure,

Make sure that you have connected the CPU cooling fan to the correct header on the MB.

Connect the screen to the appropriate videoport on the MB.

Connect the keyboard.

Connect the PSU to the power outlet, press the case power on button.

Post back with an update for us.

[Bruce]

And this all may be made easier if you remove everything from the case and reassemble on a piece of cardboard on a table.
This will not only allow easy access to all components but also give you the opportunity to inspect (and clean) each part as you disassemble and reassemble.

[Bruce]

And this all may be made easier if you remove everything from the case and reassemble on a piece of cardboard on a table.
This will not only allow easy access to all components but also give you the opportunity to inspect (and clean) each part as you disassemble and reassemble.

[jmarket]

Will do. I’ll be back in the next couple of days with an update

[jmarket]

Will do. I’ll be back in the next couple of days with an update

[phillpower2]

(y)

[phillpower2]

(y)

[jmarket]

It worked. It was most likely a problem with the thermal paste, as you said. Ran into bios with perfect temps. After using the borrowed PSU (RM650) and seeing it worked just fine I swapped it back to the NJOY, which also worked. Considering your “disliking” of the NJOY, I’ll get it swapped out soon for a better PSU, even though it was not the problem.
Right now I’ll be placing everything back into the case. I’ll be back as soon as I finish and make sure everything’s up and running. Thanks to all of you for the tips. Thinking I put the thermal paste wrong would have been one of my last ideas.

[jmarket]

It worked. It was most likely a problem with the thermal paste, as you said. Ran into bios with perfect temps. After using the borrowed PSU (RM650) and seeing it worked just fine I swapped it back to the NJOY, which also worked. Considering your “disliking” of the NJOY, I’ll get it swapped out soon for a better PSU, even though it was not the problem.
Right now I’ll be placing everything back into the case. I’ll be back as soon as I finish and make sure everything’s up and running. Thanks to all of you for the tips. Thinking I put the thermal paste wrong would have been one of my last ideas.

[phillpower2]

Considering your “disliking” of the NJOY, I’ll get it swapped out soon for a better PSU, even though it was not the problem.

Not a case of me disliking the PSU but to say that it is garbage would be an understatement, there is one thing that is possibly worse than using a known poor quality brand of PSU and that is using one that is unheard of, for brands of PSU to trust and brands to avoid please refer to the links in my sig.

Cheap PSUs exploding when being properly tested

Jonny Guru video