[SOLVED] Computer broken did not know what category to post in

[TheGameCheese]

Hello everyone I am in trouble becuase my computer is broken. I was cleaning it becuase it was VERY dusty and my cpu was getting high temps. I use toilet paper and blowing to clean it. Now the problem is that it will turn on but nothing works. The lights go on the fans start up but my monitor, keyboard and mouse just dont work. I really dont understand. Sorry for trash formatting on mobile. Please help open to any suggestions. Thank you.

 

[kurdtnz]

People will need to know your full system specs before being able to help you out.

 

[TheGameCheese]

People will need to know your full system specs before being able to help you out.

Well I have a ryzen cpu but idk exact I use integrated graphics from ryzen cpu and I have 16 gb of ram and a mother board from asus and 1tb storage and a keyboard and monitor and stuff and I remove the cooling from the cpu to dust it off I did not remove the cpu from the socket but I did put the cooler back on when i was done and that's how it started I think becuase after that my computer stopped working and it still turns on though

 

[kurdtnz]

Did you re-apply thermal paste to the cpu before putting the cooler back on?

 

[jasonf2]

The thermal paste reapplication is a must. Do not power the computer up without it. Did you pull or unseat anything else when cleaning? Are you getting a post screen at all or just idle monitors? Any errors? Are all of your fans spinning?

 

[drea.drechsler]

Check all wires and connectors that they are fully inserted into the locations. Especially CPU fan since some motherboards won't start up if it doesn't detect a fan attached to the CPU header.

Did you experience any difficulty removing the heatsink from the CPU?

 

[TheGameCheese]

The thermal paste reapplication is a must. Do not power the computer up without it. Did you pull or unseat anything else when cleaning? Are you getting a post screen at all or just idle monitors? Any errors? Are all of your fans spinning?

I dont have any thermalpaste and all my fans are spinning just my keyboard and mouse and monitor dont go on

 

[TheGameCheese]

Check all wires and connectors that they are fully inserted into the locations. Especially CPU fan since some motherboards won't start up if it doesn't detect a fan attached to the CPU header.

Did you experience any difficulty removing the heatsink from the CPU?

No not really, my pc still turns on but the peripherals dont work

 

[TheGameCheese]

Did you re-apply thermal paste to the cpu before putting the cooler back on?

I dont have thermal paste

 

[kurdtnz]

NEVER run a cpu without thermal paste..

 

[hang-the-9]

I dont have thermal paste

Buy some, I'd have someone that knows how to work on computers look over the system with you to make sure things are plugged in properly. If you did not know to clean up the CPU and heatsink and use thermal paste it's quite likely you will need someone to look over what is happening with the system with more experience. Does the motherboard have error LEDs on it?

 

[drea.drechsler]

I dont have thermal paste

It should start up even without thermal paste. It just won't be very long before it over-temps and BSoD's (black screen of death)-- shuts down and reboots. And if you run it that way very much permanent damage to CPU is inevitable.

BTW...in a pinch...nothing else on hand...you can use toothpaste. Maybe not as well, but it really works. It will dry out pretty quick too, so just get some of the real stuff as soon as you can.

 

[jasonf2]

Computer stores or best buy will have the thermal paste. It comes in a tube that kind of looks like a syringe. It isn't expensive. You have to make sure to clean the old stuff off good. I will typically do this by wiping off the gunk that I can and then finishing up with a cotton rag with rubbing alcohol on it. Make sure to let it dry (it doesn't take long). Once clean with most CPUs apply a pea sized amount of thermal paste directly on the center of the cpu package. Don't smear anything around. Install the heatsink in a straight down fashion over the CPU and screw down the brackets. The most important thing here is no air bubbles. Drawing lines or squiggles on the CPU with the paste has a nasty tendency to make air pockets and a pea sized glob in the middle should do the job. Your thermal paste will have instructions, follow them. If you ever remove a heatsink for any reason thermal paste has to be reapplied because it will thin out when you are tightening the brackets and the paste won't cover right afterwards. I am not going to make any claim on the toothpaste thing but personally I would just wait until you have thermal paste for a number of reasons. Common household bleach has as good or better thin film lubrication characteristics compared to motor oil, but its other characteristics don't make it a good thing to put into your car engine. Similarly toothpaste may transfer heat just fine, but it is made for brushing teeth not keeping an expensive CPU safe. All of this being said once you have your CPU ready to go again the thing worrying me here is that you aren't getting any post screen at all. Make sure all of your fans are at least spinning. I am guessing things were pretty dirty in there for what you are describing. There are alot of things that could be causing your bigger issue but one of the things I look for when a machine won't boot after a clean out is a bad fan. They can over pull amperage and prevent post. With the integrated graphics though your APU may be tripping thermals so bad you aren't getting video so get the thermal paste in there and see what you get. Never run a computer without thermal paste. If you are interested in what can happen look it up on Youtube and you will understand.
Good luck.

 

[M3rKn]

Did you actually remove the cooler from the CPU? Everyone jumped to the conclusion you need thermal paste, but all I got from your post is that you dusted your PC off with toilet paper, and blew on it.

Sorry I know this is serious, but its too funny. And if you didn't remove the cooler from the CPU then you don't need thermal paste (right now, but you should replace it). Even so your PC would still post without thermal paste, the CPU would get pretty toasty, but if anything it would post and then shut off to protect itself from overheating.

What I understand is your PC turns on, but your peripherals don't work. I would just switch off the power supply, unplug & plug everything back in and see if that fixes it. But really we have very limited information like, did you unplug anything from the motherboard? Were your mouse and keyboard plugged into the IO panned or the front panel? There are several variables.

 

[kurdtnz]

Did you actually remove the cooler from the CPU? Everyone jumped to the conclusion you need thermal paste, but all I got from your post is that you dusted your PC off with toilet paper, and blew on it.

Sorry I know this is serious, but its too funny. And if you didn't remove the cooler from the CPU then you don't need thermal paste (right now, but you should replace it). Even so your PC would still post without thermal paste, the CPU would get pretty toasty, but if anything it would post and then shut off to protect itself from overheating.

What I understand is your PC turns on, but your peripherals don't work. I would just switch off the power supply, unplug & plug everything back in and see if that fixes it. But really we have very limited information like, did you unplug anything from the motherboard? Were your mouse and keyboard plugged into the IO panned or the front panel? There are several variables.

'' I remove the cooling from the cpu to dust it off I did not remove the cpu from the socket but I did put the cooler back on when i was done and that's how it started''

 

[M3rKn]

'' I remove the cooling from the cpu to dust it off I did not remove the cpu from the socket but I did put the cooler back on when i was done and that's how it started''

dang that was an easter egg, still funny as hell... lol

 

[jasonf2]

TheGameCheese we have all been there, especially in the beginning. There is nothing more frustrating than having a marginally working machine and trying to improve it only to make things worse. I think the best advice is that I can give is that when you do anything inside of a computer case do your research before hand. Youtube videos and tutorial pieces from Toms are great places to go. So if you are going to unplug, remove or reseat anything read up on the component before hand. I would be willing to bet that everyone helping in this forum has at least one story of messing something up. Most of the time you don't do real damage, just a lot of frustration. Attention to detail is important though and getting in a hurry can be bad. I go back in this game far enough that many of the plugs were not directional by nature (dummyproof) so you had to pay attention to pin orientation. I was doing freelance work and had contracted out to a local business for about 10 new workstations and a local area network. It was a rush job so I brought a friend in to help with the assembly. He didn't know much about computers so I walked him through the first one or two machine assemblies and got him going on that. OS install (back in the Win NT days) took a long time and because of a scsi interface and the fact that the 3com cards were giving me some issues on a jumper set IRQ (in the days before PCI) I was having some issues getting the drive to mount for the OS to load so after he completed one or two properly (that I verified) I let him go on that to chase my other demons. So as he was finishing I was finishing up jumper sets, loading OS, configuring bootloader files and hooking into the network. It was on about our 8th or 9th machine, probably around midnight, that I flipped the switch and smoke rolled out of the side of the open case. After a whole bunch of excitement and the rancid smell of burning electronics what had happened was the floppy drive power cable had been installed upside down. The funny thing was that on those 3.5" drives it was a dummy plug, but you could force pins without too much effort. My apprentice made it fit. Fortunately all it cost me was a new floppy drive but the lesson I learned from it carries to this day. Every plug, pinout, jumper set, cooler, and card seat in that case has to be done correctly, and if you don't know what you are doing take the time to verify it before you turn on the switch. Ever since that moment the running joke is "smoke testing" a computer when you turn it on the first time. It sounds funny but it really can happen. Again don't get discouraged, it happens to the best of us.