Computer Spontaneously Shutting Off After Thermal Paste Replacement

[ottod66]

I recently replaced my CPU's thermal compound and cleaned the dust out of my computer. After I plugged my computer back in, it booted straight to windows, but then shut off on its own. After trying to turn it back on, all the fans started up (Heat sink fan, case fan, and GPU fans), but revved at full power. The computer then shut itself back off in under 20 seconds. It repeated this process twice. I then waited a little longer, turned it back on, and windows prompted me to boot in startup repair mode. I did, but then the computer shut off again.

While changing the thermal paste, I did not remove the CPU or any component aside from the heat sink and the case fan for cleaning. I used an anti-static wrist band bonded to my PSU every time I was in the case. I double checked the wiring, and it is all set (and if it wasn't, I wouldn't expect my computer to post and boot straight to windows the first time it turned on).

I used arctic silver 5 thermal paste. I followed their directions online for my CPU, using a rice sized bit of compound on the center of my CPU and tinted the bottom of my heat sink.

My computer is an upgraded version of the HP Pavilion Elite HPE 400-y, with a 3gb GTX 1060 (yes, I know cpu throttling. I was expecting to have the money to use it in a different build by now) and Thermaltake smart series 500 watt PSU. The CPU is the AMD Phenom II 4x 945. The rest of the parts, if needed are listed on this website:
https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c02481314

I suspect that I applied the thermal paste wrong. Would this be correct, and if so, what should I do next time to ensure that I do it correct? And if not, what else could cause this issue and what should I do?

Things I think I could have done wrong:

1) Since it has been over 7 years since anyone removed the heat sink in this computer, I had to run it under water to get all of the dust out. I made sure it was dry before putting it back together, but water and short circuiting may be an issue

2) I didn't have a coffee filter or lens cleaning cloth available, so I improvised with tissues to clean off the old thermal compound.

3) I am a little twitchy, and as such I accidentally smeared the heatsink while reinstalling it. It was by accidentally rotating it about 45 degrees clockwise, and intentionally rotating it to get it back in place.

Thanks in advance for help.

 

[jr9]

The shutdowns are most likely a result of overheating due to issues with the cooler installation.

- Does the CPU fan spin when the PC is powered on? Is it plugged into the CPU fan header?
- Did you clean both the cooler metal plate and the CPU metal cap with isoprobyl alcohol before applying thermal paste? Water not recommended.
- Non lint free cloth can leave residue but it would take a large amount of it to cause thermal shutdown. Coffee filter strongly recommended. Cheap.
- Ensure that you didn't get thermal paste in the CPU socket when you twisted the cooler.

I would uninstall the cooler, check for paste around the socket, clean the CPU can and cooler, add the paste again and remount the cooler and try not to twist it. Make sure it is making contact properly with the CPU cap and ensure the fan spins when the system is powered on. If you can get into your BIOS check your CPU temp on startup.

Side Note: Tinting the cooler isn't essential so don't worry about doing it.
Side note: Thermaltake smart series 500 watt is a really unreliable power supply. Consider replacement.

 

[ottod66]

The shutdowns are most likely a result of overheating due to issues with the cooler installation.

- Does the CPU fan spin when the PC is powered on? Is it plugged into the CPU fan header?
- Did you clean both the cooler metal plate and the CPU metal cap with isoprobyl alcohol before applying thermal paste? Water not recommended.
- Non lint free cloth can leave residue but it would take a large amount of it to cause thermal shutdown. Coffee filter strongly recommended. Cheap.
- Ensure that you didn't get thermal paste in the CPU socket when you twisted the cooler.

I would uninstall the cooler, check for paste around the socket, clean the CPU can and cooler, add the paste again and remount the cooler and try not to twist it. Make sure it is making contact properly with the CPU cap and ensure the fan spins when the system is powered on. If you can get into your BIOS check your CPU temp on startup.

Side Note: Tinting the cooler isn't essential so don't worry about doing it.
Side note: Thermaltake smart series 500 watt is a really unreliable power supply. Consider replacement.

I just replaced the thermal paste. The socket was clean. I got some on the Mobo and cleaned that up, but that didn't change the problem. I did use isoprobyl only this time (the water was only used last time b/c huge chunks of 7 year old dust, and I made sure to dry it). I also didn't tint this time.

I'll try to get cpu temp

EDIT: It appears that my Mobo's bios doesn't have CPU tempature monitoring. Yay.

 

[jr9]

CPU temp will tell you a lot. The CPU cooler fan is spinning right? If you see high temperatures like 90C+ it may be that the cooler isn't making contact or the fan isn't spinning. Sometimes you can get into the BIOS settings quickly before it overheats.

 

[ottod66]

It appears that my bios doesn't let me see the CPU tempature. I googled my mother board for hopes to find some bios documentation but so far I have found none. The CPU fan is indeed stil spinning. I am going to try to tighten the heat sink in case it is not making contact.

 

[ottod66]

CPU temp will tell you a lot. The CPU cooler fan is spinning right? If you see high temperatures like 90C+ it may be that the cooler isn't making contact or the fan isn't spinning. Sometimes you can get into the BIOS settings quickly before it overheats.

I cannot find CPU temp in the BIOS. I tried to tighten the cooler to make sure I am getting proper contact, and it wouldn't tighten any further without breaking anything. I took off the heat sink to make sure that it was put together properly, and it was. The pattern in the fresh paste shows that it was making contact. The CPU fan was also spinning properly.

Is it possible that I got a defective syringe of thermal paste?

 

[jr9]

Temp should be there somewhere, even the most basic BIOS should give you CPU temp if you dig for it in the menus.

You could try a different paste to see if that helps but I've never seen defective thermal paste. The CPU is likely overheating though, few other things cause shutdowns like you describe.

If necessary you could buy a cheap hyper 212 cooler and mount it to the CPU to see if that helps.

 

[ottod66]

Temp should be there somewhere, even the most basic BIOS should give you CPU temp if you dig for it in the menus.

You could try a different paste to see if that helps but I've never seen defective thermal paste. The CPU is likely overheating though, few other things cause shutdowns like you describe.

If necessary you could buy a cheap hyper 212 cooler and mount it to the CPU to see if that helps.

I'll try again tomorrw. Thanks for all the help.

 

[ottod66]

Temp should be there somewhere, even the most basic BIOS should give you CPU temp if you dig for it in the menus.

You could try a different paste to see if that helps but I've never seen defective thermal paste. The CPU is likely overheating though, few other things cause shutdowns like you describe.

If necessary you could buy a cheap hyper 212 cooler and mount it to the CPU to see if that helps.

I got it to work. I just reapplied the thermal paste one more time, and this time I waited a half hour or so before turning it on. My computer is now functioning well enough that I can type out this response using it. Thank you for all the help mate.

 

[kokshi]

To put it simply the cooler is not cooling the cpu
In my case one of the plastic things that the cooler uses to hook itself to the cpu was broken so to fix it i had to break all 4 and place the cooler directly flat on top of the cpu just make sure that metal to metal is touching and isn't being lifted on eighter side by something if you have to remove all stabilizers like i did,that way there is nothing that can happen to the cooler it will be forced by gravity to lay flat on the cpu.