No Post, No Boot, Black Screen

[RobertG81]

Was cleaning the fans in my PC, removed heatsink and processor came out with it.

Carefully placed processor back onto mobo after ensuring no pins were bent or broken. Reapplied thermal paste, heatsink, and everything else. Went to boot up, and it won't even goto POST -- just black screen. Fans, Mobo light, HD all start up just fine. It just doesn't appear to be loading BIOS or anything.

Everything was working fine before this. RAM was functioning properly, PC was running, etc.

Currently, I've removed the mobo battery and am letting it sit in an attempt to reset CMOS.

Anyone have any ideas?

Reinstalled mobo batter, but it had no affect. Everything turns on, but no beep, no bios, nothing. Just black screen as if the monitor is receiving no output.

 

[knight_of_baawa]

Reseat the RAM (and graphics card if you have one).

 

[RobertG81]

Tried it without any RAM and using the onboard video port. No change, no beeps.

If I'm not hearing a beep without any RAM in, assuming the mobo speaker is working (not sure how to check this), would that indicate that the mobo is dead?

 

[knight_of_baawa]

Reseat all your power connections as well. If you don't get any beeps without RAM, reseat your processor. If still no beeps without RAM, it's either the processor or the board.

 

[RobertG81]

Reseat all your power connections as well. If you don't get any beeps without RAM, reseat your processor. If still no beeps without RAM, it's either the processor or the board.

Has a ton of connections associated with the power supply, so many that I'm not quite sure a novice like me would reconnect everything properly. Do you mean to unhook everything from the board except the barest of essentials and try that way?

Just seems confusing since basically all that happened was it was running/working just fine, removed process and put it back during cleaning of heatsink, now it just doesn't boot.

Could replacing the processor like that cause my mobo not to recognize it?

 

[knight_of_baawa]

At least just disconnect and re-connect the two main power connectors (ATX24 and ATX-12V--the small 4-pin one). And it is possible that the processor isn't seated properly.

 

[RobertG81]

At least just disconnect and re-connect the two main power connectors (ATX24 and ATX-12V--the small 4-pin one). And it is possible that the processor isn't seated properly.

reseated all listed, no change.

 

[eldapeeze]

Tried it without any RAM and using the onboard video port. No change, no beeps.

If I'm not hearing a beep without any RAM in, assuming the mobo speaker is working (not sure how to check this), [red]would that indicate that the mobo is dead?[/red]

Don't think so because you said you're getting power to things like the fans and HDD. If you're not getting a POST, I wonder if it's the BIOS firmware somehow got corrupted.

 

[knight_of_baawa]

Well, it looks like the processor or board is crapped. Sorry.

 

[RobertG81]

Tried it without any RAM and using the onboard video port. No change, no beeps.

If I'm not hearing a beep without any RAM in, assuming the mobo speaker is working (not sure how to check this), [red]would that indicate that the mobo is dead?[/red]

Don't think so because you said you're getting power to things like the fans and HDD. If you're not getting a POST, I wonder if it's the BIOS firmware somehow got corrupted.

Any way I could check this?

 

[knight_of_baawa]

If your motherboard has a backup ROM, you could try that one. But you can get power to the fans and hard drives and still have a dead board (processor socket could be messed up).

 

[Calvin7]

Thermal Pads that are used between the heatsink and CPU need to be unstuck by gently twisting the heatsink back and forth after releasing the hold down mechanism. The CPU is stationary in the socket. If the thermal pad isn't freed up, you can pull the CPU out of the socket breaking the socket and possibly damaging the CPU too.

It may not be economical to try and have the socket repaired. Replacing the motherboard may be cheaper. In the future you should look into using thermal compounds like Artic Silver 5 and get away from using thermal pads. Instructions on how to use it are on their website.
http://www.arcticsilver.com/as5.htm

 

[RobertG81]

Thermal Pads that are used between the heatsink and CPU need to be unstuck by gently twisting the heatsink back and forth after releasing the hold down mechanism. The CPU is stationary in the socket. If the thermal pad isn't freed up, you can pull the CPU out of the socket breaking the socket and possibly damaging the CPU too.

It may not be economical to try and have the socket repaired. Replacing the motherboard may be cheaper. In the future you should look into using thermal compounds like Artic Silver 5 and get away from using thermal pads. Instructions on how to use it are on their website.
http://www.arcticsilver.com/as5.htm

Didn't have a thermal pad, was already using Artic Silver 5 from a previous re-application of the thermal paste.

As an update. I completely disassembled the machine and did a breadboard boot, with the same results -- still no beeps.

CPU - appears to be free of any damage, all pins look flawless.
HSF starts fine.
Mobo LED lights up.
PSU passed paper clip test.

Having done this with and without any RAM (RAM that was working perfectly before this incident), I have to assume that either the mobo is unfixable or the processor has died, correct?

 

[eldapeeze]

Thermal Pads that are used between the heatsink and CPU need to be unstuck by gently twisting the heatsink back and forth after releasing the hold down mechanism. The CPU is stationary in the socket. If the thermal pad isn't freed up, you can pull the CPU out of the socket breaking the socket and possibly damaging the CPU too.

It may not be economical to try and have the socket repaired. Replacing the motherboard may be cheaper. In the future you should look into using thermal compounds like Artic Silver 5 and get away from using thermal pads. Instructions on how to use it are on their website.
http://www.arcticsilver.com/as5.htm

Didn't have a thermal pad, was already using Artic Silver 5 from a previous re-application of the thermal paste.

As an update. I completely disassembled the machine and did a breadboard boot, with the same results -- still no beeps.

CPU - appears to be free of any damage, all pins look flawless.
HSF starts fine.
Mobo LED lights up.
PSU passed paper clip test.

Having done this with and without any RAM (RAM that was working perfectly before this incident), I have to assume that either the mobo is unfixable or the processor has died, correct?

I do suggest trying another motherboard. I know they aren't always cheap, but it's a good way to see if it's a dead board causing your issue.