Simple cleaning job, becomes a nightmare

Kalidas

Reputable
Jun 3, 2015
7
0
4,510
As the thread states this is all started with a very simple cleaning job. I just wanted to clean the dust out of my pc with some of that pc can air stiff.

Well I did something not very smart(I realize my mistake now). I removed the heat sink to get to as much dust as possible. But like an idiot I did NOT add new thermal paste. Pligged everything back in and booted the pc up. No problems,actually was running quicker than usual (it was REALY dusty). Then it shutdown, this happened about3times before I looked up the issue, bought some paste and applied it. It booted I ran real temp to be sure the heating was fine and it hovered atound 40-48c depending on the activity. It would run fine for about 2 or 3 hours and then crash. This happened about 3 times and then things got really bad.

Now it takes HOURS to boot. Always asks for startup repair, always runs a dskchk. One time I sat and waited for hours to get into the pc, it ran fine after that long boot up time, but ran regular after that. I checked the system errors and delted some programs that were causing errors and slow boot time(no windows files just things like apps or programs nothing crucial). So I shut it down to see if that worked. Nope ever since than I have not been able to get into the pc. Boot up takes up to 6 hours. Sits at "starting windows" alone for 2 hours. Then there are the start up repairs, dskchks, and I get to the profile select and it juat goes to black(I can see and control the mouse)and just never loads anything.

So at this point there are 3 things I think could be the problem. Motherboard, harddrive, or the cpu(oh please Gods let this mot be the case.)
Any advice troubleshooting tips, or general knowledge much appreciated.

CPU is listed here http://m.newegg.com/Product/index?itemnumber=N82E16819115072

Motherboard
http://m.newegg.com/Product?itemNumber=N82E16813138357

Windows 7

Its a custom pc. If you need any more info let me know. Thanks in advance for any help you offer.
 
Ditto the above. I don't know which CPU you have (the above link doesn't work for me) but these days all CPUs have 'thermal throttling', where the CPU runs more slowly if it starts to overheat to prevent damage. It's vanishingly unlikely that you've damaged the CPU or any other hardware as a result of this.
 

Kalidas

Reputable
Jun 3, 2015
7
0
4,510
I realized I never returned to let everyone know this problem was solved. Got a new HDD(the one I had was still on warentee). That worked thanks for the help everyone.