Question Could my CPU cooler be incompatible with my CPU (troubleshooting details inside) ?

[Deusdedit]

Hello!

I've had quite the time trying to get my partner's PC up and running again. We recently started gaming together after a long time of either of us making any PC upgrades, to the point where his was completely out of commission and mine needed some cheap and basic upgrades.

Its come to the point where we've cobbled together his and my PC with older parts. Mine is still working just fine after swapping many parts out, but I've hit a wall with his and I can't figure it out on my own.

We're both running this CPU: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00SMSREXI?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details
in this Motherboard: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008RPZ5H8?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

We're also running the same RAM and mostly the same PSU. The GPU differs slightly also (his is newer than mine), but I don't think any of those are the problems. Here's the gist of the problem I'm running into and I think it has something to do with the CPU cooler:

I'm using a CPU cooler that came with my old processor which I believe is this exact model (https://www.ebay.com/itm/133317144513?chn=ps&_trkparms=ispr=1&amdata=enc:1G_6qYkJaSdar54IBbu1gXg52&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-117182-37290-0&mkcid=2&mkscid=101&itemid=133317144513&targetid=1585159292091&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=9001667&poi=&campaignid=19894961968&mkgroupid=148855406073&rlsatarget=pla-1585159292091&abcId=9307911&merchantid=6531644&gclid=Cj0KCQjwzdOlBhCNARIsAPMwjbxHDhrx1eHXzigwZRk_wJSAAVHCNTKGwEr1omJi4EBFRS2fCjItgA0aAh33EALw_wcB_)

and I bought one for his PC which is found here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07X948NS8?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

When I tried to boot his computer, the fans would spin and the PC would "turn on" but the CPU light stayed solid red. I tried switching out his CPU for the one in my computer despite them being the same CPU, but the light was still solid. I then kept the CPUs in place and changed the fans, and his computer booted up just fine with my CPU fan (no solid red CPU light). That led me to believe the CPU fan could be the problem, so we bought a different CPU fan that was far more advanced than I've dealt with and we installed it only to find out that the CPU light still booted into solid red. It seems like the only thing that could be going wrong is that we're using the wrong type of CPU fan? When I used mine it booted fine, but I've used two different fans in his and the computer won't boot.

I hope this rant wasn't too confusing, but I can go into more detail if anyone needs additional info. I realize I may not have made perfect sense, but I hope I provided enough baseline information to at least start troubleshooting in places I'm unfamiliar with.

 

[Deusdedit]

Because it may be helpful, this is the second CPU fan we installed which still had his computer booting with the solid red CPU light: https://www.bestbuy.com/site/cooler...cooling-fan-jet-black/6506210.p?skuId=6506210

 

[Misgar]

The only times a CPU cooler is likely to cause a problem is when you plug the fan cable into the wrong header on the motherboard, or when the fan speed is too low.

The BIOS normally checks the CPU_FAN header for a working fan at startup. If the RPM reading from the CPU_FAN header is too low, the BIOS disables the CPU to prevent overheating.

It's also possible his BIOS is set to report an error when the CPU fan speed drops below a preset RPM limit, e.g. 600RPM.

If your fan runs at 1,000RPM, but the other fans run at 400RPM, your fan will be accepted and the other two will be rejected.

Open the BIOS fan settings and see if:

1). The CPU fan speed monitoring circuit is enabled
2). If there is a minimum acceptable speed
3). What action is taken if the fan speed is too low

A stock air cooler fan usually runs faster than a much larger after market cooler. Hence a cheap small (fast) fan will work, but an expensive large (slow) fan will "fail", even though it's spinning.

 

[Deusdedit]

The only times a CPU cooler is likely to cause a problem is when you plug the fan cable into the wrong header on the motherboard, or when the fan speed is too low.

The BIOS normally checks the CPU_FAN header for a working fan at startup. If the RPM reading from the CPU_FAN header is too low, the BIOS disables the CPU to prevent overheating.

It's also possible his BIOS is set to report an error when the CPU fan speed drops below a preset RPM limit, e.g. 600RPM.

If your fan runs at 1,000RPM, but the other fans run at 400RPM, your fan will be accepted and the other two will be rejected.

Open the BIOS fan settings and see if:

1). The CPU fan speed monitoring circuit is enabled
2). If there is a minimum acceptable speed
3). What action is taken if the fan speed is too low

A stock air cooler fan usually runs faster than a much larger after market cooler. Hence a cheap small (fast) fan will work, but an expensive large (slow) fan will "fail", even though it's spinning.

I imagine the best way to check this is by putting my CPU fan in and checking the BIOS from there?

 

[Misgar]

Yes, that's correct. You'll need to get into the BIOS and currently your's is the only fan that works.

If there is an RPM limit in the BIOS, you can usually change it to something slower.

 

[Karadjgne]

Those are all PWM fans, 4 wire, so regardless of what the fan is rated to spin at, it's going to spin at whatever speed the Bios sets it at, which is at least 50% at startup. Rpm is moot as default low signal is 200rpm.

Both the AMD coolers are high speed fans, 1200rpm+, as is the Hyper212, so liw speed signal is not going to be a factor.

User error when plugging in the fan is, those old motherboards were not exactly the best for fan headers, so it's always possible to plug the fan in, and only hit 3 of the 4 pins or even plug it in backwards.

It also helps to get the right header, the cpu_fan header is on the very top, there's 2x white headers there, the left header is cpu_fan, the right header is sys_fan 3. If you plug the cpu fan into the right header, the cpu reads as having no fan, throws a post error, no boot.

 

[Zerk2012]

Because it may be helpful, this is the second CPU fan we installed which still had his computer booting with the solid red CPU light: https://www.bestbuy.com/site/cooler...cooling-fan-jet-black/6506210.p?skuId=6506210

Setting something in BIOS is going to do nothing. Since you bought used old parts it's more likely a bad motherboard or bent CPU pins.

 

[Deusdedit]

Except I've swapped out enough things to assume it's something to do with the fan. The motherboard and processor work just fine when using my CPU fan.

 

[Deusdedit]

Lots of things to try here - when I get home from work today I'll try them and report back! Thanks for the help.

 

[Deusdedit]

The first fan I bought also didn't end up covering the entire CPU. I had read that it doesn't entirely matter, but I'm beginning to think that isn't the case. The second fan was also just a nightmare to install, so I'm beginning to place user error on that one.

 

[Misgar]

The metal plate on the bottom of the heatsink must make good contact with the whole of the CPU top surface. If only a small part of the heatsink is touching the CPU, it will start to overheat. You also need a very thin layer of thermal paste to improve heat conduction.

 

[Avro Arrow]

Ugh, the AMD AM3 cooler that sounds like a jet engine. I have two of them but I've never used them because the AM2+ cooler that came with my Phenom II X4 940 CPU was both cooler and quieter.

The good news is that ANY CPU cooler from AM2, AM2+, AM3, AM3+, AM4 or AM5 will work with that CPU as long as it's the type that hooks onto the bracket.

This cooler for only $22 would work just fine:

SAMA SC330 120mm RGB CPU Tower Air Cooler (4 Copper Heat Pipes): $22 until July 31, 2023

 

[BlaUno]

The new fans, do they work on your PC? I'd just use them on the working pc and give your partner your old fan, the working one. Then from there maybe i would troubleshoot if i still deem it worthy. As a bonus, that way you could easily compare the bios settings on the both PCs.