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Question System not booting anymore after replacing stock cpu cooler with a Noctua NHU9S AMD cooler ?

Mar 5, 2023
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I am having a weird issue i have not experienced before. I have replaced several cpu coolers before, usually without any problems. But this time it is acting weird.

I removed the stock cooler, took out the CPU and cleaned the thermal paste from it, remounted the CPU, added new thermal paste, mounted the new cooler(after removing the stock mounting brackets of course) without touching or removing anything else. Plugged the cpu fan cable in the same socket as the stock cpu fan cable was plugged in.

Then booted up, everything starts fine, it says that i have to go into BIOS because of new cpu detected, as usual and expected. Entered BIOS without any problem and checked everything was working and reading fine, which it does. No errors of any kind and then i hit "save and exit".

The startup where it says "hit F2 or DEL to enter bios" shows for a few seconds, then the screen turns black and there it just stops! No error of any kind, everything still runs inside the computer, the monitor doesn't give any indication it isn't detecting any signal or anything at all! It just stays black with no text or anything. I wait for 10-15 minutes, just to see if the pc just needs some time to adjust//install or sort some <Mod Edit> out or whatever, but nothing happens.

I press the off switch and it turns off almost instantly. Then i turn it on again and after a few seconds when the monitor says it isn't detecting any signals any more and everything is off, just to see the same screen again where it says "press F2 or Del..." and then the completely black screen again and still nothing happens.

I turn off again, wait a little while longer before i turn on again, but this time i press the buttons to enter bios again, but nothing happens and it just continues to the black screen again and nothing happens still...

After this i took out the CMOS battery and got it reset, then put back the battery and then started it up again. Now i get the "new cpu is detected, enter BIOS..." again, as i did the first time. Entered without problem and checked again that everything is reading and working properly. It reads my cpu, ram, graphics card and all the drives and the chassis fan and cpu fan is shown correctly and working, with a cpu temperature steady on 40 C degrees.. Again, i hit "save and exit" without having done any changes, same as the first time, and the same thing starts again! Showing the "press F2 or DEL to enter BIOS.." first, and then black and nothing happens... And again it won't let me go back into bios either at this point.

What can it be that causes this? It doesn't seem to be any hardware error, since there is no sounds or error codes coming from or showing on the motherboard either and the fans and everything seems to start up as normal.

Any other suggestions what i could try? I thought of going through all of the connectors and reseating the RAM and the CPU, but then again it all seems to work properly according to BIOS the first time booting up! Is there anything i need to DO in the BIOS first time when i actually get access in there maybe? I can't remember having to do that the other times i changed coolers. Since it is only after that first time accessing BIOS after it "detects a new CPU" and i hit "save and exit", is where the problem starts, and it won't let me even back into the bios after that, unless i reset the CMOS again it seems...

All help is appreciated! Thanks in advance!
 
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Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

I removed the stock cooler, took out the CPU and cleaned the thermal paste from it, remounted the CPU, added new thermal paste, mounted the new cooler(after removing the stock mounting brackets of course) without touching or removing anything else. Plugged the cpu fan cable in the same socket as the stock cpu fan cable was plugged in.
You could've easily removed the thermal paste without removing the CPU, regardless of the platform(AMD/Intel). While you're here, you should pass on images of the CPU socket and if there are any bent or broken pins.

On that note, you didn't include the specs to your build which is a vital part of troubleshooting, knowing what we've got to deal with before we can administer a solution. Please list the specs to your build like so:
CPU:
Motherboard:
Ram:
SSD/HDD:
GPU:
PSU:
Chassis:
OS:
Monitor:
 
Hi there!

Ok, so i have filled in as good as i can in your list below, mostly by memory though. I have used this computer without any problems for more than 2 years now and the only reason i wanted to change my CPU cooler is because it started making more and more noise, even after i cleaned it! So the ONLY thing i wanted to do was to change the cpu-cooler. Nothing else was touched or removed/changed. I only took out the cpu because it was much easier to clean it then, rather than inside there because it is not that much space inside the cabinet.

And as i explained earlier, after it detected a new cpu, it shows it is working just fine inside of the BIOS... So it does not seem like there is any pins broken or anything else out of order. But when i then hit "save and exit" the problem starts, and i can't get back into BIOS again even, without resetting the CMOS.

And now recent development today, for the worse, is now not even THAT is working anymore either... I can't reset the CMOS anymore. Could it be that i need a new CMOS battery maybe? But would that cause this problem to begin with?

Again, appreciate the help! I USUALLY figure out most technical issues myself, but this one was something i found myself struggling with. I have built a few computers in my time and i am not exactly unfamiliar with troubleshooting. But this one came from nowhere so to speak. I didn't manage to google anyone else with this particular type of case either, without any error messages or symptoms... Just a black screen and nothing.

Kind regards, Tom.

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

I removed the stock cooler, took out the CPU and cleaned the thermal paste from it, remounted the CPU, added new thermal paste, mounted the new cooler(after removing the stock mounting brackets of course) without touching or removing anything else. Plugged the cpu fan cable in the same socket as the stock cpu fan cable was plugged in.
You could've easily removed the thermal paste without removing the CPU, regardless of the platform(AMD/Intel). While you're here, you should pass on images of the CPU socket and if there are any bent or broken pins.

On that note, you didn't include the specs to your build which is a vital part of troubleshooting, knowing what we've got to deal with before we can administer a solution. Please list the specs to your build like so:

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 (I THINK it is the 3400 version, MAYBE 3600! So long since i built it!)

Motherboard: Don't remember model, but it's an Asus brand. I THINK it's some version of the 490 chipset? Does that help? I did a BIOS update sometime in 2020.

Ram: 8 GB (1 x 8)

SSD/HDD: Several different ones. Some mechanical, some SSD but the one Windows is installed on is an M.2 Samsung Evo 970 (Plus?) if i don't remember wrong. With 1 TB storage.

GPU: Asus Geforce GTX 1650-4GD6

PSU: Not sure, i don't see what kind it is because it is encased inside the cabinet and i can't see what it is or how much it is producing. This is the only part that i haven't changed from what was included inside the stock cabinet.

Chassis: An old stock midi tower from Asus, It was originally a factory built model named GL10DH-NR080T. But i switched out everything inside it (except for PSU) sometime between 2 or 3 years ago.

OS: Windows 11(Updated from Windows 10 maybe 2 months ago), latest update. Checked and installed the latest updates again just a few days ago, earlier this week, so quite recently.(Don't remember the version number)

Monitor: Using an Samsung TV, Model Q9 from 2018, connected by a HDMI to DP cable.