My everyday computer died recently overnight. I'd left it on, and it had to be restarted. When I did restart it, it behaved normally, but died before getting all the way into Windows 7 on the ssd. I suspected overheating, of course. So got into the case, and first checked the add-on cooler. I do not remember whether I found it loose, or just thought I'd remove and replace it, depending on what I found. By the time I got it off, using no unusual force, I thought, three of the plastic retaining clips were broken. I re-installed the original Intel cooler for this six-year-old cpu, and tried another start. As the system had cooled, but not quite as much as overnight, it went further into the startup routine than my second, third, and probably fourth attempts, but not so far as the first attempt. I concluded that most likely the power supply was the culprit, and ordered a new one (new 650 watt to replace the old 600 watt). The new power supply arrived, was installed (and discovered to be half an inch longer than the original, requiring removal of an interior case panel), and the system tested only to find the same problem. When I test the old power supply by shorting out the green wire to a black, the fan only kicks. (And I cannot reconcile this fact with the fact that when the power supply was in the computer, it managed to run things for several seconds, or even a little longer.) But the new power supply does not change the behavior. When starting cold, the system runs long enough for me to get into setup, but then shuts down. Repeated starting efforts get shorter. So what most likely is the problem? CPU? Motherboard? How do I tell? I do not remember overclocking this cpu, but it's possible I did some sort of mild ASUS "automatic" overclock. Seems like if this were the problem, I could get far enough into startup to undo it. Never get a chance to put any real load on the cpu, much less the graphics card. I might sort of sidestep the whole issue by just buying a new mobo and cpu. If I do this, am I going to have much trouble reinstalling the operating system, and then again having access to all my e-mail and other files? Mike Biggs (did I mention that in the middle of all this frustration, elbow-deep in the system, my right hearing aid battery died?)
Can you provide a picture of your interior case (I think it would be helpful, but not a must if you can't). And importantly, can you provide your full system specifications, and products used. Are you using a water cooling system? Are you using a CPU heatsink replacement? If so how did you apply the thermal paste on your CPU. Did you try to clear the CMOS (BIOS settings), and go in your BIOS, once done, and select the option "Load optimized default". And set the SATA Controller to AHCI (well the setting it was else Windows will BSOD at startup, it should be on AHCI since day 1)
I'll upload a photo of the interior of the case later, if it appears necessary. Remember, though, that this computer died after more than a year of operation since the last change (installation of a solid state drive), and six years after initial assembly. That's the main reason I did not list the components - with the system down, I'd have to check NewEgg records to find out just what I bought, way back then. No water cooling. I did have a heatsink replacement, because I had overheating problems at first when playing graphic-intensive games (principally Crysis). The addon heatsink and improved graphics card took care of that problem years ago, and the system is no longer used for such games, so isn't especially loaded. When I tried to remove the addon heatsink, three of the four retaining pins broke, so I reinstalled the original stock Intel cooler. I cleaned the old thermal paste off with isopropanol, then applied one "rice grain" of Arctic 5 compound, spreading it with a chisel-shaped popsickle stick, then sliding the cpu around a little before fastening the clips. I did not try to clear the CMOS yet. I'd have to reread how that is done. Otherwise I do not get far enough into Setup to do anything before the system shuts down, presumably from overheating. I do not get a chance to set anything before this happens, and only get this far when the system is thoroughly cool. I do appreciate your attention, and will see about applying your recommendations in the BIOS when I get a chance to to anything at all with the BIOS.
Apparent overheating problem - solved Turned out that when I replaced the fine add-on heat sink, the one that developed broken plastic retaining clips, I did not get the original Intel heat sink properly seated. I thought I had, I tried hard to do so, but I didn't get it done. GoodBytes' question about how I applied the thermal compound was the initial spark directing me to check the heat sink again. I like to think that would have occurred to me anyway, as the symptoms were so consistent with that, but in fact it was his question that got me started again. Meanwhile, the original power supply still fails the shorted pin 14 (green wire) test, and I do not intend to reinstall it just to see. It's still curious that the power supply appeared to be okay until I removed it. Okay in hindsight, at least. That is, it supplied power to the system every time asked until the overheating cpu shut it down. Did I mention that I hate the Intel heat sink clips? My six-year-old system, that is still much more than adequate for e-mail, Internet browsing, and even photo processing, although I use a newer system for that, has been hot enough long enough that many of the plastic clips failed during this round of maintenance.
