Being you stated
HoodieBae :
I have a computer that was working before but was building a lot of dust, so I took it apart and cleaned out the CPU heat sink and GPU.
So my question is when you cleaned these things what method did you use specifically?
And to go a bit further... since noticing the issue what exact things have you tried doing to fix the situation thus far.
I notice your reply to gergguy that you re-seated the GPU several times and this has resulted in no change to your problem..
Giving a good description of the things you've done up till now can go quite a ways to getting you the best help usually. The more info I have to work with the better as I am not there to do an assessment and run through some basic troubleshooting steps as I'm sure you know but I am stating the obvious. But even if I was able to be there the first best thing that could help me to hopefully getting the problem fixed would be to ask you these same simple questions.
I can't really tell you if you damaged anything myself. You will have to do some basic troubleshooting steps to determine what exactly the issue could be due to and hopefully be able to resolve it for yourself. I'm fairly confident you can correct the issue as long as something hasn't been critically damaged in some way. But depending on what exactly you did to clean out the dust can give me a better direction in where to point you to focus your search for the issue.
In the meantime a few quick tips on cleaning a PC
-Turn power off and unplug the system before doing anything to the PC. Yes I am including the super obvious.
-Using a dust eliminating furniture cleaning chemical like endust, pledge etc. Unless specifically designed for this use, (I just saw endust has a whole for electronics line of products out, too bad they don't pay me for this ad LOL) is beyond a very bad idea. I'm pretty sure this is obvious as well.
Most Liquids/Chemicals + Computer = Bad Stuff
-For something like this Isopropyl alcohol and q-tips are your friend.
When I perform a quick clean of a system typically I will remove the dedicated video card if present as well as the CPU heatsink from the CPU socket and out of the PC so as to be able to visually inspect the extent of cleaning needed and to remove the items with the most buildup present without sending any of the dust bunnies found in the heatsinks of these items back into the case. It can be a hassle getting out from around all the various internals of a case. This also helps you get all that dreaded dust off of every component as you can be able to see every angle and even use q-tips on that stubborn buildup usually found on the underside of fan blades and those tight places underneath that get covered up by the heatsinks themselves.
A little Isopropyl on the Q-tip can cut through the most hard to reach stubborn messy dusted fuzz filled surfaces pretty easily and it is safe for electronic circuitry if any spills onto the actual motherboard. I like to clean off around capacitors and the VRM's and other components of the motherboard that the dust can get cooked onto pretty good like this.
Just make sure everything is completely dried out before firing the system back up of course (no worries alcohol evaporates very quickly).
I always thoroughly remove all thermal paste present from around the CPU on the motherboard as well as from the CPU heatsink using q-tips and isopropyl alcohol and then re-apply fresh thermal paste when I am finished with all the cleaning and put everything back together.
Though completely removing the CPU heatsink from the CPU socket of the motherboard is not absolutely required for a quick cleaning usually and skipping this step can save you the hassle of having to replace the thermal compound for the CPU heatsink this is the method I prefer as it is the most thorough and you have the peace of mind that the thermal compound is not all dried out and has lost any of it's effectiveness. It's like another 5 minutes added to the job in most cases.
I always have some thermal paste or other lying around my workbench so for me it's not an issue of availability. If you don't have any handy I don't recommend removing the heatsink at all. Once you've broken the original seal that is created of an existing application of thermal paste or grease on a heatsink of a CPU or GPU you can't ever guarantee that it's going to be doing the same job it was before you pulled it apart. At that point it should be completely removed completely and a fresh application applied.
I go with Arctic Silver myself as it has proven it's effectiveness for me, it's relatively cheap and it is easy for me to get, but I have used everything under the sun at one time or another. Any high temperature thermal paste/grease made for CPU heatsinks should be adequate. Doesn't need to have a fancy name or be too pricey.
You will find compressed air in a can to be very useful. It is especially good at getting those long finned heatsinks such as you find on reference GPU's unclogged. This does work fine in the vast majority of instances to remove the majority of buildup found in the heatsink fins and all around the inside of the PC really but it can get a bit pricey if you need to use several at a time.
Also a vacuum can be quite handy if your careful with it. Though I don't like to overdue it inside the case with the vacuum especially if your not too familiar with stuff in the PC case and what everything does and where it should be. You could disconnect wire header cables or other various components if your getting in there too vigorously and with too much zeal. That kind of stuff can happen when your hunting dust bunnies. LOL
Whenever using those dust off cans of compressed air or a vacuum to clean I make a point to hold any fans in the general area I'm cleaning in place when blowing air through (or sucking through depending) the fan so I am not spinning up the fans which can build up quite a bit of erratic current and that kind of thing going back into a component in the direction it wasn't designed to travel is never good. If the fans are carefully disconnected from the header where they are attached this shouldn't be a problem but I still don't like spinning up the fans too much when cleaning components. And of course you have to be certain you remember where they connected and to reattach everything when you are done if you choose to do this.
No two systems have the same exact dust issues though typically they will follow the same trend depending on number of fans present sucking air into and drawing air out of your case. Dust tends to stick on most surfaces where the air is being forced past and through those surfaces most directly and frequently. It's nice having filters at air intake points though this doesn't mean your case will be 100% dust free and cleaning your PC is highly recommended at least every 6 months more or less depending on severity of buildup noticed. Some PC's can go several years if in a good dust free environment.
Cleaning the dust out of a PC is a very simple routine maintenance that can have a big effect on the performance of a system as well as making sure it is reliable for years to come. Though it usually gets overlooked. The majority of people buying a store bought PC in a box never give it a thought that it is actually important to do this kind of stuff. Even when there seems to be no dust present in the case the GPU and CPU aluminum fin heatsinks do like to hold onto a lot of microscopic dust that can build up in time due to electrostatic attraction and the high thermal operating temperatures of these components as well as the continual direct air from the case being forced through them by the fans which are usually attached directly to the devices in order to cool them. Too much dust buildup as you know equals less cooling and more heat.
So you were very right to decide to get busy doing a little preventative maintenance. One bit of advice I could suggest is look at some instructional videos around the web before jumping right into something like this next time. It's probably a bit late to mention you don't want to learn the hard way.
It shouldn't be something that you are afraid to do ultimately and things can go wrong for so many reasons really.
When it comes to computers undoing something that feels like the end of your machines existence can be as easy as making sure your monitor is plugged directly into the GPU's output and doesn't happen to be accidentally plugged into the on-board video drivers output instead.
You might want to check that by the way though I'm not sure it would create your specific issue your describing.
Some things I would try if you haven't already is to remove all the RAM and install only a single stick then try restarting. If you only have one stick try moving it to an adjacent slot.
Also if you did remove the heatsink from the motherboard did you clean off all the old thermal compound and replace it with a fresh application.
Same go's for the GPU though it's not very common you would completely remove a video cards heatsink under most routine cleaning conditions. Just thought I'd add that as well.
If for some reason you created an issue where the heatsink is not providing it's full potential of cooling protection for the CPU or the GPU you could notice some very crazy behavior as described because it usually takes a matter of seconds for a processor to reach beyond it's required thermal parameters of safe operation if not cooled adequately.
If you think that you may have caused an issue with the video card you should be able to remove it completely from the PC and try running your display directly through the on board graphics of the motherboard to see if the computer itself is fine or not.
Okay I'll wrap this up with that.
Hope any of this can help with your issue.
Let us know if anything changes.
-John
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram