Del 8400 won't boot up unless I press down on cooling tower. I cleaned and re greased with silicon but no joy.

Radio 1

Reputable
Feb 4, 2015
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4,510
I can not boot up unless I press and sometimes wiggle cooling tower on CPU. Sometimes it takes several tries. My fingers getting sore. How does the CPU know the tower is attached?
I cleaned and reapplied silicon grease but no joy...This is the Dell 8400...
 

Eximo

Titan
Ambassador
Did you take the CPU out of the socket? Might just need to be re-seated. Could be a bent pin in the socket as well.

The CPU does not know if the cooler is present except for the fan wire. There are no sensors on the physical attachment.
 

Matthew Fox

Honorable
Jul 7, 2013
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10,510
I agree with Eximo: The seating of the CPU itself looks pretty suspect. To investigate, you can look around the cooling superstructure and make sure the CPU cradle's lock itself is not damaged / bent. If the clamp isn't uniformly holding the CPU in place it can make it do wonky things. If it is bent, replacement cradle locks are relatively cheap.
 

Radio 1

Reputable
Feb 4, 2015
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4,510
Have not removed CPU. Not sure how too. I did push down on it and then tried booting but same result. Would it be wise to remove and re-install CPU after grounding myself of course.
 

Matthew Fox

Honorable
Jul 7, 2013
14
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10,510
When you mean boot, do you mean it won't load into windows or do you mean it won't beep and show the black and white text as runs it's diagnositcs / discovery process--you just hear the fans run and see nothing on the screen?