[SOLVED] Computer not working properly like it did the day before I cleaned it

[blessatron225]

So I’ve posted before about this issue but I thought I’d figure another way to word it

A couple weeks ago I took out my heat sink and CPU and cleaned them up. I washed the heatsink in the sink with hot water and soap, and then dried it off. I used isopropyl alcohol on a paper towel and then reapplied thermal paste and then reassembled everything.

When I tried turning on my computer, the fans immediately ramped up in speed, and my power buttons‘ LED light continuously blinked orange, or was in standby mode in other words. I don’t even get a BIOS or Windows startup screen. My last computer had the complete opposite result after cleaning up the heat sink, fans and CPU. It would shut down, turn on, off again, then back on, and would work fine until a shutdown or restart event.

My old and new PC are both Dell OptiPlex 7010’s. So same motherboard, same power supply, same everything. Only difference are my HDDs.
Anybidy got any ideas as to what’s wrong? I thought about buying a new processor, but I don‘t really wanna buy one if it’s not necessary. But that very well could be the problem. Who knows. Just wanted to hear some opinions first

 

[Ralston18]

This:

"A couple weeks ago I took out my heat sink and CPU and cleaned them up. I washed the heatsink in the sink with hot water and soap, and then dried it off. I used isopropyl alcohol on a paper towel and then reapplied thermal paste and then reassembled everything."

What problem or problems initiated you doing such "cleaning"?

Update your post to include full system hardware specs and OS for both PCs.

Two immediate questions:

1) What PSUs' are installed: make, model, wattage, age, condition?

2) What thermal paste are you using and how are you applying the thermal paste?

 

[blessatron225]

Both computers:
OS: Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
RAM: 16GB Patriot Viper
Power Supply: 275 watts Dell brand
CPU: not sure, and I can’t find my previous post which had it
GPU: MSI ATI Radeon HD6450 1GB
Motherboard: KRC95 - Q77 LGA1155


Everything that I used before I cleaned worked perfectly fine until after. And the heat sink was dusty. And I didn’t think that I should just reuse the same old thermal paste. I used a cooler master brand thermal paste and I applied it pea-sized into the chip.

The first computer, my old one, was about a year old before I cleaned it up and it stopped working.
The second computer, my new one, I less than a 3 months old, but was certified refurbished and it worked fine when I hooked everything up when I get it. Only after I cleaned it did it not work anymore, and yes, it was a little dusty. Not much but not a lot either. Probably could’ve waited but I had nothing to do that day so I figured I’d clean up the inside a little

 

[Karadjgne]

Hd6450 was actually a very decent power card, you could expect @200w total system draw if really pushed. Shouldn't be an issue.

What gets me is every time you've cleaned a pc, it quits working. Are you 100% positive you plugged everything back in, all the power wires, didn't budge the ram and maybe need to reseat them, didn't pop the cmos battery out, or maybe those are already dead and need replacing since they are 7 years old and might have drained when you unplugged the power for too long.

Lga1155, there's absolutely nothing new about them, regardless of purchase date. It's a 7 year old platform that hasn't been new for 6 years. And 3rd party OEM like Dell or HP use the lowest grade boards they can get away with buying, and that includes the capacitor choices. Most were actually Asus manufactured, but many were Gigabyte or MSI who didn't put their name on the board because it was such a low quality mobo.

The only way I could see any issue with throwing a heatsink into the dishwasher would be if the fan was still attached, because a heatsink is nothing more than a chunk of aluminium. It might get discolored, but that's the extent of any damage.

 

[blessatron225]

I washed the heat sink by hand, and the computer was probably unplugged for less than 4 hours. Shouldn’t be too long for the battery to drain. I didn’t unplug any cables except for the fan screwed into the heat sink and the removal of the CPU chip.

 

[Karadjgne]

Ok. Then that's where I'd start. I'd pull it back out, check the pins in the socket with a magnifyer, make doubly sure that it's all good and dry (look for discolorations on the pcb underneath) and reseat the cpu. You'll also get the chance to see the results of your pasting job and can guage just how well (or not) you did and make any necessary adjustments, if required.