Potentially dead motherboard after replacing stock cooler?

[Orbit Storm]

First, hardware specs:

- MSI 760GM-P34(FX)
- AMD FX-6300
- MSI GeForce GTX 950
- 2x 8GB G.Skill RIPJAWS DDR3 1600
- Corsair CX430 PSU

Recently ordered the Hyper 212 Evo to replace my stock cooler as my CPU was having some awfully warm idling temps (40-50 C). I went through the standard process using this video. I did have to clean the CPU and heatsink twice because I initially seated it facing toward the RAM but realized the fan wouldn't fit so I removed the heatsink, cleaned both the processor and heatsink, then seated it facing downward toward the GPU (exhaust would be toward top-back of case).

After everything was installed and plugged in, I turned the system on but never got a POST beep. All LED case lights turned on, fans were running for the power supply, video card, case fans, and new cooler.

These are the troubleshooting steps I've taken:

• 
  - Ensured all pins are connected: 8-pin for motherboard, 4-pin CPU, and new cooler fan pin.
  - I removed/replaced the CMOS battery.
  - Reseated the RAM sticks.
  - Removed the cooler (without cleaning off paste) and turned on system, still no POST.
  - Removed remaining thermal paste, still no POST.
  - Removed the processor, cleaned up any lingering dust, checked for bent pins, reseated it.. still no POST.
  - Removed RAM sticks entirely to see if mobo would beep about it but still nothing.

To be clear, I never removed the processor while cleaning. I was gentle and careful not to spill any liquids. I'm fairly certain that I seated the cooler properly and if that had been the issue, just removing it would have allowed the system to POST (to my knowledge).

At this point, I feel it's safe to assume the motherboard is dead but perhaps there is something I've overlooked. Absolutely maddening because I assumed replacing the cooler would be a boon and it's seemingly the end of my system.

 

[Sedivy]

- Removed the cooler (without cleaning off paste) and turned on system, still no POST.

Trying to run a system without a cpu cooler installed is a quick way to fry your cpu. Do NOT do this. In the happy offchance that your cpu is still alive lets try troubleshooting.

What thermal paste did you use and how much did you put? May sound silly but I gotta ask, did you peel away the clear plastic from the bottom of the cpu cooler (the contact surface).

 

[Orbit Storm]

- Removed the cooler (without cleaning off paste) and turned on system, still no POST.

Trying to run a system without a cpu cooler installed is a quick way to fry your cpu. Do NOT do this. In the happy offchance that your cpu is still alive lets try troubleshooting.

What thermal paste did you use and how much did you put? May sound silly but I gotta ask, did you peel away the clear plastic from the bottom of the cpu cooler (the contact surface).

Thanks for the response. CyberPower tech support is who advised turning the system on without a cooler, for a few brief seconds, to see if the system will POST or not.

I used Arctic Silver 5 and added the same small line that the guy did in the YouTube video I linked to but you can see here (starts at 5:32):
https://youtu.be/vO4yokgcOY4?t=5m32s

And yes, I peeled away the plastic cover. No troubleshooting step is too silly at this point. This is the first time I've tried replacing a cooler and despite doing everything by the book so to speak, I've still bungled it somehow.

 

[Sedivy]

Ok. Next thing to ask would be when you put on thermal paste and tightened, if any of the paste squeezed out the sides onto any other components?
Another basic question though it seems silly, did you ground yourself before attempting any of this and throughout the procedure?
Also, what did you use (both the liquid and for physical removal) for cleaning the paste?

 

[Orbit Storm]

Ok. Next thing to ask would be when you put on thermal paste and tightened, if any of the paste squeezed out the sides onto any other components?
Another basic question though it seems silly, did you ground yourself before attempting any of this and throughout the procedure?
Also, what did you use (both the liquid and for physical removal) for cleaning the paste?

I noticed there was a tiny bit on the metal lever that clamps the processor down and it did look like I added a bit too much (whole processor was covered) but I didn't see any paste on the board itself or on the underside of the processor.

I'm fairly certain I was grounded. Definitely didn't sense or hear a zap or feel any static electricity.

For the cleaner, I used the cleaning solutions that come with the Arctic Silver kit:
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835100010

 

[atomicWAR]

@sedivy

You can actually turn on your system for POST without a cooler without damaging your system. You cannot however do more then that. Basically does it beep, does bios/boot screen show up....turn it off immediately. I have done this many many many times over the years. I don't exactly encourage it unless you know to immediately turn off system but it is a fairly normal troubleshooting mechanism.

To the OP

sedivy is very correct in asking if you grounded yourself during your work. Whether using a wrist strap (best solution) or at least touching the metal case at all times you touched the computer parts. Also did you unplug your system every time? If the answer to any of those is no, then you could have well fried your system. The unplugging part is straight forward and guessing your did. The touching part less so. The amount of static it takes to damage a computer you will not feel leave your finger (ie not like touching someone/door knob where you feel and/or hear the zap). It is this reason alone that you should always be grounded when working on PCs. I advise you to buy a wrist strap for future work/upgrades.

 

[atomicWAR]

Also what type of thermal paste did you use? Or was it the stock paste with the cooler?

 

[Sedivy]

Did you use a q-tip or some cloth or kleenex?

Also, did you try putting back your stock cooler? yes I know it requires unmounting the back brackets and all that but it may be worth testing if your cpu cooler is actually lying flat and cooling effectively and you know the old one works, even if it isn't perfect. Just to see if it's the cooler itself or if it's now some other hardware issue.

 

[Orbit Storm]

Also what type of thermal paste did you use? Or was it the stock paste with the cooler?

It's been raining cats and dogs here so I didn't want to take it outside where I normally work so I just stood barefoot in my den and avoided touching anything that might generate a static charge. I'm 99.99% certain of this.

Yep, system was unplugged each time.

I used Arctic Silver thermal paste.

 

[Orbit Storm]

Did you use a q-tip or some cloth or kleenex?

Also, did you try putting back your stock cooler? yes I know it requires unmounting the back brackets and all that but it may be worth testing if your cpu cooler is actually lying flat and cooling effectively and you know the old one works, even if it isn't perfect. Just to see if it's the cooler itself or if it's now some other hardware issue.

I used a paper towel for the initial cleaning of the thermal paste but then switched to a soft lens cloth for the finishing touches.

I haven't tried replacing the stock cooler because I assumed that since the system isn't POST'ing at all, even with everything removed, that it can't be the cooler itself.

 

[Sedivy]

Well...you are mounting in an unusual mount configuration (pointing down instead of to the side), and I'm uncertain if there are any differences between mounting brackets for AM3 vs intel the way there are on AM4 vs Intel and so if maybe wrong ones were used.
The issue is I think to establish if this is a cooler thing, or if this is hardware on the fritz, and rather than troubleshooting further and guessing on whether you may have messed up the procedure, it'd be nice to see if the old one makes it boot so we can discount the cooler as the source of issues.

 

[Orbit Storm]

Well...you are mounting in an unusual mount configuration (pointing down instead of to the side), and I'm uncertain if there are any differences between mounting brackets for AM3 vs intel the way there are on AM4 vs Intel and so if maybe wrong ones were used.
The issue is I think to establish if this is a cooler thing, or if this is hardware on the fritz, and rather than troubleshooting further and guessing on whether you may have messed up the procedure, it'd be nice to see if the old one makes it boot so we can discount the cooler as the source of issues.

Hyper 212 Evo actually supports both directions (facing RAM or facing toward GPU). Mounting bracket that comes with this cooler also supports both Intel and AMD. If you skim through the tutorial video that I followed, you'll see what I mean. I settled on this particular cooler because of its versatility given my current setup.

To be clear, are you recommending to go through the process of remounting the old cooler? I'll give it a try as I don't have much else to lose here but as I mentioned above, it's my understanding that a system will POST without a cooler regardless and if the new cooler is DOA (shouldn't be since the fan powers up), then just unplugging the new cooler should give me a clear indication as to whether or not the new cooler is the issue.

 

[Sedivy]

I know technically both directions should work just fine. I did watch the video so I thought, probably same brackets, but at this point, you start nitpicking at things.

Yea, unless it's very hard to do, I'd re-mount old cooler, simply cause when you troubleshoot, you want as few compound problems as possible at once otherwise, any troubleshooting steps are ambiguous to interpret, cause you have multiple reasons they could be happening. You know old configuration worked for sure. If you're going to continue troubleshooting might as well do it with the system you know worked, even if running a bit hot (yes I do know it isn't likely but...again, running out of options).
There's few things to test when system won't even boot is the issue. Reset bios? Done. Reseat cooler? Done. Reseat memory sticks? Done. What else is there to do but to start replacing individual parts? (cpu, gpu, psu, memory) I'm guessing you don't have alternatives handy so this will have to be done in a repair shop. So...I'd try if it was my system, simply cause there wouldn't me much left for me personally to try.

 

[atomicWAR]

Well...you are mounting in an unusual mount configuration (pointing down instead of to the side), and I'm uncertain if there are any differences between mounting brackets for AM3 vs intel the way there are on AM4 vs Intel and so if maybe wrong ones were used.
The issue is I think to establish if this is a cooler thing, or if this is hardware on the fritz, and rather than troubleshooting further and guessing on whether you may have messed up the procedure, it'd be nice to see if the old one makes it boot.

Nah he is right. If it didn't post with no heatsink, using the old one won't add a meaningful "number" to the troubleshooting equation. Just be doing busy work that doesn't change a thing. That said an argument could be made for removing not only the new heatsink but any braces he had to add (if any) to the back of the motherboard to mount it. It is possible something caused a short there. Whether the mount itself or something that slipped under it when he wasn't looking. However if the mount didn't need any extra hardware on the back on the motherboard and just used the same screw points as stock, again wouldn't be worth the time IMHO.

Which brings us back to static. Being 99.9% sure isn't positive. The fact you didn't use a wrist strap or touch the case left you open to static damage. Now seeing as you didn't feel any leave your hand doesn't mean it didn't and it doesn't mean you actually had to touch it. You could have arc'd (ie jumped from you to board without physical contact). Likely you would have felt an arc but that isn't 100%, maybe 85%. Point being your not totally in the clear there. I can't tell you how many seasoned techs I know static damaged a board and swore up and down they never touched it. This is why we are a paranoid bunch (I own like 3 wrist straps and almost always use one, yes I get lazy too).

You're in a tough spot. It is hard to say what to do next. The thermal paste you used is non-conductive so it shouldn't have been an issue even if it did hit the motherboard. You could pull your CPU and make sure it didn't manage to get to your pins. That could cause you trouble. You might check that one out since you (me and everyone else posting) is running out of ideas. Non-conductive thermal paste on a thread/contact would insulate it and potentially cause your system not to boot. The last and biggest pain in the back side thing you could do is a barebones build. Pulling everything out of your case, building it on a hard non-conductive surface to ensure you didn't ground something out on the screws connecting your motherboard to your case while trying to mount the fan. You easily could have shifted the motherboard a millimeter or so which is all it takes. If building it outside the case works then you know you didn't static fry it or otherwise. If not...static looks more and more likely.

 

[Orbit Storm]

I gave it a shot anyway, just in the event that perhaps the system wasn't booting because it couldn't detect a cooling fan but as was expected, it didn't have any effect.

Difficult part is, without extra components, I can't say for certain if the motherboard or processor work. There are absolutely no computer repair shops in my area (50+ miles) so, my only option at this point is to buy a new motherboard and processor and that's going to be tremendously difficult given that my case is a Micro-ATX.

 

[Sedivy]

Ouch...that's rough. My guess would be also mobo then cpu in order of likelihood for static charge fry but...that's a very expensive test to conduct if it turns out it's neither. I guess finding a friend or family who has a an am3 board that can support your cpu is out of the question?

 

[atomicWAR]

Before you order new stuff. Try the barebones build. It the first thing I do when i build a new PC and the last thing I try when fixing an old one. It is worth the shot, at the least your case is emptied out for you and ready for new parts should you need them. I hate being backed in corners but you seem to be in one. Nothing to lose trying it at this point but some time.

 

[Orbit Storm]

Ouch...that's rough. My guess would be also mobo then cpu in order of likelihood for static charge fry but...that's a very expensive test to conduct if it turns out it's neither. I guess finding a friend or family who has a an am3 board that can support your cpu is out of the question?

As unbelievable as it might seem, my wife and I don't have much family in the area and of my few local PC friends, none of them use AMD (family or friends). Unique circumstances, for sure.

 

[Orbit Storm]

Before you order new stuff. Try the barebones build. It the first thing I do when i build a new PC and the last thing I try when fixing an old one. It is worth the shot, at the least your case is emptied out for you and ready for new parts should you need them. I hate being backed in corners but you seem to be in one. Nothing to lose trying it at this point but some time.

The way this case is designed, I'm afraid that if I pull everything out, I won't be able to reassemble the darn thing. It's a pre-built system that I purchased from CyberPowerPC by way of NewEgg and the case is a Micro-ATX (which they didn't disclose on the listing page). Very little in the way of hand space and rather flimsy. This system has been one life lesson after another, starting with never buying a pre-built system from CyberPowerPC ever again.

 

[Sedivy]

It was a stretch that someone would have exact board that can support your cpu, granted. I really feel bad for this. Seems like you did things right and carefully for the most part. Static damage is rare but can happen and it's still a best guess that it's what happened. It could be something else failing too.
How often do you go by a major town/city with a repair shop? Once a month? More rarely?
I've heard of cyberpowerpc, mostly in a negative way. Pre-built systems will skrimp most often on quality of psu, motherboard and memory, since they never disclose what they are quality wise, just how much power/memory/connections you get. Also, as you have seen yourself, on coolers.

 

[Orbit Storm]

I live in central-PA and the closest thing would probably be in State College (next to Penn State) or in Harrisburg. I don't really travel to either if I can help it. Can't afford the replacements at the moment anyway so all I can do is start searching for a board+processor that will fit this case and be compatible with everything else, for when I can. The hilarity of all this is that the firm my wife and I worked for closed earlier this year and tomorrow is my birthday. My head is imploding with the ridiculous timing of it all.

I appreciate the kindness and responses.

 

[Sedivy]

Ahh I totally sympathize. I went through a stretch of months having only tablet at home until I had enough for a brand new desktop after both my machines failed.
On the flip side, I haven't remembered reading that many books in such a short span of time in years

 

[atomicWAR]

As can i. I lived in Nevada a number of years ago and had crap for computer stores anywhere near close. And as far as the PC itself. Yeah this super sucks. We are only guessing here. Without parts to swap it could be anything at this point. But your right about the first lesson, never buy pre-built...if you can avoid it at least. As for worrying about damaging stuff when you take it out. It's already broke am i wrong? Can't make it worse. Unless you have any warranty left on it that is. If so use it, if not. You want to learn building PCs. Start by tearing this one down and at least trying to put it back together, assuming you get it working. Like I was saying, at least the case will be empty to start your new build...or throw your old one away.

 

[Orbit Storm]

I grabbed an old power supply out of storage and connected just the motherboard, CPU, and HDD but it still didn't post. At least I've ruled out a potentially faulty power supply.

Outside of swapping components into another system, are there any other methods to testing a motherboard?

Thanks for all of the responses thus far.

 

[atomicWAR]

Not without another CPU or motherboard. Sorry.