Question connected AIO cooler to cpu with the plastic still on. Thermal paste has glued the cpu to the cooling plate. How much of my pc did I break?

[Send_Help]

I cannot believe I made this mistake. I installed my Ryzen 3900x cpu, then installed, the plate of my ml360 AIO on the cpu without removing the plastic, something that every beginner guide says to check for. I’ve tried turning this PC on a dozen or more times and it didn’t post. I finally removed the cooler and the cpu is glued firmly to the plastic cover on the cooling plate. The pins don’t appear to be bent.

how much damage have I done? Have I totally wrecked the cpu, the AIO, the motherboard?

the computer turns on, RGB on the ram and gpu lights up if that’s any indication of how much damage has been done.

do I try to remove the cpu by diluting the thermal paste or has the plastic melted together and totally warped the whole thing?

the motherboard is an am4 asus tuf x570. If the cpu is destroyed but the rest is intact, is it worth upgrading to an am5 motherboard and cpu?


thank you. Sorry for the long post.

 

[XxDarkMario20xX]

Could you take photo off the CPU to see how bad damanged is

 

[Send_Help]

Yep, should have started off with that sorry.

 

[bill001g]

You can likely cut the cpu off the cooler with dental floss. It worked for me on some that had been on for 5 years just be careful it likely will pop loose rather suddenly.

I would use your phone and take photos as close as you can get it to focus and then zoom them on your pc to be really sure all the pins are straight.

You never really know but modern cpu have a lot of protection in them. I doubt you hurt the motherboard or the cooler.

 

[XxDarkMario20xX]

There should be away to gently

You can likely cut the cpu off the cooler with dental floss. It worked for me on some that had been on for 5 years just be careful it likely will pop loose rather suddenly.

I would use your phone and take photos as close as you can get it to focus and then zoom them on your pc to be really sure all the pins are straight.

You never really know but modern cpu have a lot of protection in them. I doubt you hurt the motherboard or the cooler.

was going to suggest the same dental floss

 

[Send_Help]

Thank you for all of the answers. If the pins are not straight, will installing the cpu damage anything more than the already damaged cpu?

 

[USAFRet]

Thank you for all of the answers. If the pins are not straight, will installing the cpu damage anything more than the already damaged cpu?

You MUST get all the pins straight before you introduce to the motherboard.

It won't break the motherboard, but it might break the CPU beyond any repair.

Currently, the only real problem is that the CPU is stuck to the cooler.
Don't make things worse.

 

[Send_Help]

Thanks to everyone for the advice it worked, but now there is a tiny “ strand” of thermal paste on the pins. Possible to clean?

 

[Send_Help]

I see. I thought one pins are bent it’s all over no fixing it. Thanks for clarifying. But possible to clean paste from the pins?

 

[XxDarkMario20xX]

Thank you for all of the answers. If the pins are not straight, will installing the cpu damage anything more than the already damaged cpu?

brush and isopropyl alcohol very gently brush away the paste




1. Pour a little bit of isopropyl alcohol into a cup or glass

2. Soak the toothbrush in it for up to a minute

3. VERY GENTLY scrape the thermal paste from the inside of the processor outwards

4. When the toothbrush gets dirty, wipe it off on the paper towel and add more alcohol

5. Once you think all of the thermal paste has been wiped off, let the CPU dry for 2 minutes

 

[Send_Help]

Thanks for everyone’s responses. I successfully cleaned the cpu and the cooling/base plate, I reset the cpu. Still doesn’t post. I’ve gone through every “won’t post” step except for flashing the bios. Really don’t want to do that. I guess I’ll make a separate post for that issue. But really, thanks for everyone’s help.

 

[drea.drechsler]

Thanks for everyone’s responses. I successfully cleaned the cpu and the cooling/base plate, I reset the cpu. Still doesn’t post. I’ve gone through every “won’t post” step except for flashing the bios. Really don’t want to do that. I guess I’ll make a separate post for that issue. But really, thanks for everyone’s help.

Has the system ever actually turned on and run with that CPU in it? If you haven't reset CMOS with a battery pull too.

Are you confident the BIOS is compatible with a 3000 series CPU? It should be but you may have gotten an old stock motherboard.

It may have damaged some pin sockets in the CPU socket. You'll have to take the CPU back off to examine them all very closely.

 

[DRagor]

I would like to point out that no matter how badly your thermal paste application was it should not stop the PC from booting up as the system has no way of 'knowing' that the application was bad. It should start just fine and then promptly overheat. If it was not starting at all then you have completely different problem from just forgetting to remove plastic from AIO. Of course removing CPU while it was stuck to cold plate could have damaged pins and possibly add yet another problem here, but your original problem must be somewhere else (unless the original problem actually was bent pins on CPU form the very beginning, even before you installed it).

 

[Send_Help]

First of all, thanks to everyone for continuing to respond.

First, this exact configuration had previously worked without issue. I built this PC in 2020 and it worked fine after some debugging. Then I didn’t use the PC for years due to reasons and it remained in the corner of my living room. I decided to move the PC into a new case (fractal north) and in doing so, I repurchased the exact same AIO cooler and motherboard because I was worried about air bubbles and also that i scratched up the mobo badly when I pulled it out of the first case (I’m not made of money but I didn’t want to mess anything up).

regarding this build:

Before I realized the plastic cover mistake and subsequent to removing it, the PC would fire up all of the fans and the AIO pump, and turn on the RGB on the ram and graphics card.
The mobo error LEDs never lit up and a separate mobo speaker I purchased didn’t make any beeps.

then I started going through each step of the POST debugging (except for bios flash and also not sure if I did breadboarding right)

I have done these steps before and after removing the plastic. This has included:

resetting the graphics card, trying every permutation of the two ram sticks, ie one or both stick in every dimm slot multiple times, making sure I hear the click each time.

I have tried to start the pc with only the cpu installed, even one time without the fans installed in the cpu fan plugged in.

I have tried cpu with each permutation of the ram stick without graphics card or storage. My cpu doesn’t have integrated graphics so I was really just checking if I see qled or mobo beeps. No luck.

I have tried DisplayPort and hdmi connections into every available port on the graphics card and cpu (just in case, desperation). I have also tried two separate monitors.

with regard to the cpu, to the best of examination, I don’t see any bent pins. Maybe I don’t know how to look for them. For what it’s worth, the last time I tried to re seat the cpu and it popped in with no resistance immediately.
Sorry for the long post. Thanks again to everyone.

 

[DRagor]

I have tried to start the pc with only the cpu installed

Let's stop here for a moment. In such configuration the system should start booting and then stop with some debug LEDs lit and/or beeps indicating missing RAM. If it had not done so, and as I understand your CPU was working before, this would likely mean your new motherboard has a problem. And it can't be BIOS version issue as this board supports 3900X from the very first BIOS version.

 

[drivinfast247]

First of all, thanks to everyone for continuing to respond.

First, this exact configuration had previously worked without issue. I built this PC in 2020 and it worked fine after some debugging. Then I didn’t use the PC for years due to reasons and it remained in the corner of my living room. I decided to move the PC into a new case (fractal north) and in doing so, I repurchased the exact same AIO cooler and motherboard because I was worried about air bubbles and also that i scratched up the mobo badly when I pulled it out of the first case (I’m not made of money but I didn’t want to mess anything up).

regarding this build:

Before I realized the plastic cover mistake and subsequent to removing it, the PC would fire up all of the fans and the AIO pump, and turn on the RGB on the ram and graphics card.
The mobo error LEDs never lit up and a separate mobo speaker I purchased didn’t make any beeps.

then I started going through each step of the POST debugging (except for bios flash and also not sure if I did breadboarding right)

I have done these steps before and after removing the plastic. This has included:

resetting the graphics card, trying every permutation of the two ram sticks, ie one or both stick in every dimm slot multiple times, making sure I hear the click each time.

I have tried to start the pc with only the cpu installed, even one time without the fans installed in the cpu fan plugged in.

I have tried cpu with each permutation of the ram stick without graphics card or storage. My cpu doesn’t have integrated graphics so I was really just checking if I see qled or mobo beeps. No luck.

I have tried DisplayPort and hdmi connections into every available port on the graphics card and cpu (just in case, desperation). I have also tried two separate monitors.

with regard to the cpu, to the best of examination, I don’t see any bent pins. Maybe I don’t know how to look for them. For what it’s worth, the last time I tried to re seat the cpu and it popped in with no resistance immediately.
Sorry for the long post. Thanks again to everyone.

Have to checked the locations of the motherboard stand-offs? What about assembling the PC outside the case and see what happens?

 

[Send_Help]

Have to checked the locations of the motherboard stand-offs? What about assembling the PC outside the case and see what happens?

So, the Fractal North has the stand offs pre installed. If I was supposed to add to those stand offs then I made a second huge mistake.

 

[Send_Help]

Let's stop here for a moment. In such configuration the system should start booting and then stop with some debug LEDs lit and/or beeps indicating missing RAM. If it had not done so, and as I understand your CPU was working before, this would likely mean your new motherboard has a problem. And it can't be BIOS version issue as this board supports 3900X from the very first BIOS version.

I guess I’ll try to return the mobo then? This is helpful thank you. Any chance I fried the mobo with the cpu /plastic mistaken? Or ESD? I didn’t wear a strap but I always grounded myself on the case.

 

[DRagor]

Any chance I fried the mobo with the cpu /plastic mistaken?

No chance of that happening.

Or ESD? I didn’t wear a strap but I always grounded myself on the case.

Always possible, rarely happens.

So, the Fractal North has the stand offs pre installed. If I was supposed to add to those stand offs then I made a second huge mistake.

You always have to check if all standoffs line up with holes on mobo. Missing standoffs are not a problem, but a standoff placed where there is no hole in mobo is a big problem.

 

[Send_Help]

No chance of that happening.

Always possible, rarely happens.

You always have to check if all standoffs line up with holes on mobo. Missing standoffs are not a problem, but a standoff placed where there is no hole in mobo is a big problem.

They all lined up and the center “control” standoff for lack of a better term fit into the motherboard cutout for it perfectly.

 

[Send_Help]

Have to checked the locations of the motherboard stand-offs? What about assembling the PC outside the case and see what happens?

is there a functional difference between testing out each component inside the case and doing it outside of the case? I’m paranoid about scratching the bottom of the mobo when i take it in and out. Is that a real concern?

 

[drivinfast247]

is there a functional difference between testing out each component inside the case and doing it outside of the case? I’m paranoid about scratching the bottom of the mobo when i take it in and out. Is that a real concern?

Just set it on the motherboard box. It can rule out any possibility of a short.

 

[Send_Help]

I see. So that’s the difference, understood I’ll do that. The North case comes with one stand off per the manual and the contents of the box. I figured this was an extra stand off for a different kind of motherboard. Perhaps I’ve fried the board after all. I’ll try it outside.