can heatsink/fan blow motherboard/cpu?

[Joe Befumo]

I had three no-name machines, each with Athlon XP CPU, no overclocking or
anything, that were all experiencing heat problems (shutting down
unexpectedly.). Actually, I first thought it might be power supply, so I
replaced it with a good unit, but the problem persisted, so, I went out and
bought big thermaltake heatsink/fan combos for two of them. Installed them
as per instructions, used thermal grease, etc. That seemed to take care of
the heat problem, but after a month or so, one of them just died. Power
would come on, I could hear the drives spinning up, but no BIOS, no Video --
nothing.

So, I moved all my drives, new power supply & such to the second machine &
experienced the same problem -- almost. This time it would boot if I didn't
have the network card plugged in to the network, but as soon as I connected
the network cable, it wouldn't boot again. I tried swapping out various
components, but nothing worked.

So, I figured I'd at least use one of those spanking new cooling fans/heat
sinks, and installed it in the third machine, which was also having heat
problems. It worked fine for a month or so, but this morning, IT died
too -- same deal as the others.

So, at this point the only thing I'm sure of is that the motherboard and/or
the CPU is dead. (I moved all of my peripheral cards, disk drives & power
supply into an old Dell 450, and haven't had any problems.

I figure I'll buy a new motherboard for one of them & see what happens. If
it still won'r run, I'll conclude that it's the CPU & will try replacing
that (getting to be an expensive way to diagnose it, but I can;t think of
anything else to do.

So, the question is: could installing those Heat-Sink/Fans have caused the
problem? If so, is it more likely to have blown the motherboard in some
manner, or the CPU (i.e., which should I try replacing first)?

Thanks,

Joe

 

[JohnS]

So, the question is: could installing those Heat-Sink/Fans have caused the
problem? If so, is it more likely to have blown the motherboard in some
manner, or the CPU (i.e., which should I try replacing first)?

Thanks,

Joe

Anything is possible. It sure sounds screwy though.
What motherboards are they and what CPUs?
Frankly after the Tbirds all the AMDs Ive gotten were retail units
that came with the stock coolers and they all worked great. None of
them came even close to overheating. They ran much cooler than the
earlier AMDs when I was using noisy screamer high rpm fans etc.

My barton 2500 OCed to 3200 no sweat. The temp was the same either
way.

Im asking cause maybe you bought some real crappy cheapo MBs like
ECSs, PC CHIPS , Jetways? The one from the nforce2 era --- there were
a lot of bad caps. I bought some refurbs from Newegg and the Leadtek
and some other brands all developed bad caps. And if you do a search
youll see lots of Epox owners, Abit and other brands all had them.

The other point --- all your systems shouldnt be overheating unless
you live in some really hot climate or your room is hot. Or may you
are running some ancient Tbirds and other old AMDs.

Its rare for everything to go out like that. Of course if it was
really overheating badly for long lengths of time who knows.
Too bad you dont have some old parts you can swap out to check things.
Its getting to the point if you have Socket A it may not be worth
buying various parts for it in the US. Some sempron/754 combos are
going for real cheap now. At Compusa there was a clearance sale free
after rebate on some DDR2 512 megs. I was trying to get that today
just in case I move to a Pent 805D soon if I see a dirt cheap deal.

 

[JohnS]

The other point --- all your systems shouldnt be overheating unless
you live in some really hot climate or your room is hot. Or may you
are running some ancient Tbirds and other old AMDs.

Forget that. I see you wrote you are running AMD XP Athlons.

 

[Joe Befumo]

I'm sure the motherboard is the cheapest thing to be found -- an Asrock.

I agree -- the whole thing is absolutely screwy. I've been working with
computers for a good number of years, but this has be absolutely baffled.

Joe

 

[pjdd]

I had three no-name machines, each with Athlon XP CPU, no overclocking or
anything, that were all experiencing heat problems (shutting down
unexpectedly.). Actually, I first thought it might be power supply, so I
replaced it with a good unit, but the problem persisted, so, I went out and
bought big thermaltake heatsink/fan combos for two of them. Installed them
as per instructions, used thermal grease, etc. That seemed to take care of
the heat problem, but after a month or so, one of them just died. Power
would come on, I could hear the drives spinning up, but no BIOS, no Video --
nothing.

So, I moved all my drives, new power supply & such to the second machine &
experienced the same problem -- almost. This time it would boot if I didn't
have the network card plugged in to the network, but as soon as I connected
the network cable, it wouldn't boot again. I tried swapping out various
components, but nothing worked.

So, I figured I'd at least use one of those spanking new cooling fans/heat
sinks, and installed it in the third machine, which was also having heat
problems. It worked fine for a month or so, but this morning, IT died
too -- same deal as the others.

So, at this point the only thing I'm sure of is that the motherboard and/or
the CPU is dead. (I moved all of my peripheral cards, disk drives & power
supply into an old Dell 450, and haven't had any problems.

I figure I'll buy a new motherboard for one of them & see what happens. If
it still won'r run, I'll conclude that it's the CPU & will try replacing
that (getting to be an expensive way to diagnose it, but I can;t think of
anything else to do.

So, the question is: could installing those Heat-Sink/Fans have caused the
problem? If so, is it more likely to have blown the motherboard in some
manner, or the CPU (i.e., which should I try replacing first)?

Thanks,

Joe

Everyone seems to agree that you have an unusual problem.
I've come across all kinds of screwy, "impossible"
coincidences. In some cases, those coincidences turn out
to have an underlying common cause and turn out to be not
coincidences at all.

Have you checked or replaced the BIOS batteries ? Some
motherboards boot up fine with a good CMOS battery or
none, but refuse to do so with a weak one.

 

[Joe Befumo]

A flash of insight ---

These heatsink/fan units were REALLY heavy, and the fans are pretty
powerful -- I'm wondering of the weight hanging off the CPU socket might
have, after a time, caused a connection to fail in the motherboard? Seems
like the only thing that remotely makes any kind of sense.

Joe

 

[Vic Smith]

A flash of insight ---

These heatsink/fan units were REALLY heavy, and the fans are pretty
powerful -- I'm wondering of the weight hanging off the CPU socket might
have, after a time, caused a connection to fail in the motherboard? Seems
like the only thing that remotely makes any kind of sense.

Not likely if the is properly attached to the MB anchors. More likely
that flexing the MB after repeated installing and removing could
damage a trace/joint. Same for mem modules, which sometimes
require considerable force to insert.
I've taken to doing all CPU/heatsink/mem module changes with the MB on
the workbench. When I don't have a spare PS I'll pull the PS from the
case to use on the bench. By bench I mean any solid flat surface. I
use an extra kitchen table in the basement, well lighted. My "real"
benches usually have metal windings, chips and dust on them, just too
dirty for a MB.even when clean. I suggest keeping a power switch and
speaker from an old case to hook up to the MB. You can quickly
assembly and test every component, even booting up a HD if you want.
I just had an entire system running without a case in sight.
It can be a pain pulling cards out because the MB is free, so I always
enlist a second pair of hands for that.
At the same time you can give your case a good cleaning. I use a
1 1/2" soft nylon bristle paint brush to loosen dust and grunge from
boards and fans, top to bottom, then vacuum it up.
Anyway, using a clean piece of typical box cardboard as the base under
the MB, after assembly you'll see plenty of MB backside indentations
and maybe some holes punched in the cardboard from your efforts.
Of course you'll also be exposing the backside traces/joints to the
cardboard, but I haven't had a problem with that so far.
You can then put your MB in the case with the heatsink and memory
already installed, and won't have to flex the board. If you have big
hands, this makes everything a bit easier. AGP and PCI insertions
always go easy in my experience.

--Vic

 

[Rod Speed]

A flash of insight ---

Nar, just a brain fart ---

These heatsink/fan units were REALLY heavy, and the fans are pretty
powerful -- I'm wondering of the weight hanging off the CPU socket
might have, after a time, caused a connection to fail in the motherboard?

Guess that might be possible, the vibration producing a dry joint over time.

What is the story with how they attach to the motherboard proper ?

Seems like the only thing that remotely makes any kind of sense.

Dunno, incorrectly installing them all the same wrong way would do it too.

The NIC problem may well have been something as basic as
managing to set that one up to boot from the net instead of
locally. Once the NIC is removed, it skips attempting to do that.