PC Not working after reapplying thermal paste

[AlexKedz]

A few hours ago i put new thermal paste on my CPU ever since my pc is not powering on
SPECS
gtx 950 FTW
RYZEN 3 3200G
600 watt power supply
1 tb hdd
500 gb ssd
Please help i have no clue what i could have done wrong i followed all steps. (i did not use isopropyl alcohol when cleaning off old thermal paste as video said it is not necessary).

 

[AlwaysHope]

Is the mobo in a case?

 

[AlexKedz]

Is the mobo in a case?

yes

 

[AlwaysHope]

yes

Ok, so I take it you had to remove the mobo in order to remount?

 

[AlexKedz]

Ok, so I take it you had to remove the mobo in order to remount?

I did not take it out at all. should i have?

 

[AlwaysHope]

I was asking cause' I've seen situations where when installing the mobo again, it wasn't done properly & short circuit took place thus resulting in system not turning on.

 

[AltCapwn]

Happenned to me once; my friend had a AIO liquid cooler and I tightened the screws too much. You can try to un-tight the screws a bit.

Else check if the thermal paste got spilled a bit if it's a conductive one.

*Update - What happens when you press the power button?
And how did you clean the thermal paste tho?

 

[AlexKedz]

Happenned to me once; my friend had a AIO liquid cooler and I tightened the screws too much. You can try to un-tight the screws a bit.

Else check if the thermal paste got spilled a bit if it's a conductive one.

*Update - What happens when you press the power button?
And how did you clean the thermal paste tho?

Nothing happens at all when pressing the power button, i do remember wiping a little bit of the old thermal paste on the motherboard by accident. I cleaned it up to my best, do you think this could be the reason? also when i was plugging back my 24 pin the PC powered on for half a second, do you know if that’s what helps. i also cleaned thermal paste with Q-tips

 

[AlwaysHope]

Nothing happens at all when pressing the power button, i do remember wiping a little bit of the old thermal paste on the motherboard by accident. I cleaned it up to my best, do you think this could be the reason? also when i was plugging back my 24 pin the PC powered on for half a second, do you know if that’s what helps. i also cleaned thermal paste with Q-tips

Could very well be, hard to tell without pics. But in any case be sure its absolutely clean, never hurts to double check. All it takes is the minutest particle to touch some vital component & problems occur.

 

[AltCapwn]

Well, does the little light power up on the motherboard when unpowered? If not, you might want to replug the 24 pin connector. Sometimes there's a lot of stress on the connector when the length of the cable is tight.

Check if the little pin connector for power butten hasn't disconnected, just for luck.

 

[AlexKedz]

Could very well be, hard to tell without pics. But in any case be sure its absolutely clean, never hurts to double check. All it takes is the minutest particle to touch some vital component & problems occur.

I see, if this is the problem how do you suggest getting it off. but like i said before, replug gong in my 24 pin it turned on for a split second and turned back off

 

[AltCapwn]

Could very well be, hard to tell without pics. But in any case be sure its absolutely clean, never hurts to double check. All it takes is the minutest particle to touch some vital component & problems occur.

@AlwaysHope right, if you send some pictures we may check if there's an obvious issue.

 

[AlwaysHope]

I see, if this is the problem how do you suggest getting it off. but like i said before, replug gong in my 24 pin it turned on for a split second and turned back off

I don't know what part of the world your in, but in my country I'd use a product called "methylated spirits" (ethanol based solution ) its an excellent cleaner even for electrical items. I used it once on an old HD 7870GHz card when condensation on the back panel had make the system flaky & unstable. However a thorough dry out was in order before letting electricity into it. Since then, the card has performed flawlessly.

 

[AltCapwn]

I don't know what part of the world your in, but in my country I'd use a product called "metholated spirits" its an excellent cleaner even for electrical items. I used it once on an old HD 7870GHz card when condensation on the back panel had make the system flaky & unstable. However a thorough dry out was in order before letting electricity into it. Since then, the card has performed flawlessly.

Zippo Lighter Fuel works flawlessly too, and you can find that pretty much anywhere .

 

[AlexKedz]

Well, does the little light power up on the motherboard when unpowered? If not, you might want to replug the 24 pin connector. Sometimes there's a lot of stress on the connector when the length of the cable is tight.

Check if the little pin connector for power butten hasn't disconnected, just for luck.

no but as i was plugging it in it lit up for a second the turned off.

 

[AltCapwn]

no but as i was plugging it in it lit up for a second the turned off.

Hmmmm it means you haven't turned off or unpluged the power supply before unpluging and working in your PC, or before finishing plugging everything? This may have troubled peace in your desktop ecosystem.

 

[AlexKedz]

I don't know what part of the world your in, but in my country I'd use a product called "methylated spirits" (ethanol based solution ) its an excellent cleaner even for electrical items. I used it once on an old HD 7870GHz card when condensation on the back panel had make the system flaky & unstable. However a thorough dry out was in order before letting electricity into it. Since then, the card has performed flawlessly.

do you think an alcohol wipe / isopropyl alcohol would work

 

[AlwaysHope]

Zippo Lighter Fuel works flawlessly too, and you can find that pretty much anywhere .

Dunno, never used it, but no naked flames near it.

 

[AlexKedz]

Hmmmm it means you haven't turned off or unpluged the power supply before unpluging and working in your PC? This may have troubled peace in your desktop ecosystem.

100% did. i turned off my power supply and unplugged it before working on my pc

 

[AltCapwn]

do you think an alcohol wipe / isopropyl alcohol would work

It would work perfectly. I did use it plenty of times in the past.

Dunno, never used it, but no naked flames near it.

Don't do that on CPU that generates more than 95W . Nah my PC never caught fire, nor did smoke.

100% did. i turned off my power supply and unplugged it before working on my pc

Oof okay, it might just mean that your PSU still had juice in it .

 

[AlexKedz]

It would work perfectly. I did use it plenty of times in the past.


Don't do that on CPU that generates more the 95W . Nah my PC never caught fire, nor did smoke.


Oof okay, it might just mean that your PSU still had juice in it .

I will try cleaning around it. will let you know how it goes
Update, nothing worked.

nothing has worked at this point. if you guys have any other suggestions that would be very nice otherwise i am out of ideas

 

[AltCapwn]

1. Do you have light on your motherboard? You should have little light that is on where there's power.
2. You can turn on your PC manually, if it's an issue with your button, with just a screwdriver. Take a flat screwdriver and make a short with the 2 power pins.

3. Have you untight the screws?
4. At this point, if nothing works, I always tell my friend to unplug everything, then do the job to zero, even unscrew everything and screw back. There might be a short somewhere.

 

[AlexKedz]

1. Do you have light on your motherboard? You should have little light that is on where there's power.
2. You can turn on your PC manually, if it's an issue with your button, with just a screwdriver. Take a flat screwdriver and make a short with the 2 power pins.
View attachment 167865
3. Have you untight the screws?
4. At this point, if nothing works, I always tell my friend to unplug everything, then do the job to zero, even unscrew everything and screw back. There might be a short somewhere.

i’ll try all of this tomorrow it’s very late now thank you though

 

[de.das.dude]

make sure the CPU power is connected back in, along with the cpu cooler fans. Many mobos wont post without a CPU fan connected to its header.

 

[Bill_Bright]

also when i was plugging back my 24 pin the PC powered on for half a second

So you didn't unplug the power supply from the wall before even thinking about reaching inside the case? Did you touch bare metal of the case interior to discharge any static in your body before touching the cooler or reapplying the new TIM (thermal interface material)?

Zippo Lighter Fuel works flawlessly

I would not recommend that. Lighter fluid is a petroleum by-product and therefore, will leave a residue film. And if accidently spilled, could easily eat away at many plastics (such as the CPU socket or materials in many components) or the protective resin coatings applied to PCBs.

I recommend 91-93% isopropyl alcohol - available at most pharmacies - for cleaning off old TIM.

***

Why did you feel the need to apply new TIM in the first place? Unless the cured bond between the mating surfaces is broken, there is no reason to replace it just because it is X number of years old. Not one TIM maker, cooler maker, CPU maker, motherboard maker recommends replacing TIM just because a certain amount of time has passed. TIM can easily last 5, 10, 15 years or long AS LONG AS the cured bond is not broken.

And it is important to remember the purpose of TIM is to fill the microscopic pits and valleys in the mating surfaces - pushing out any insulating air. The only reason TIM comes in a semi-liquid form is so it can easily be squeezed out of the tube and evenly spread across the die. So even if the TIM dries out, the solids left behind are still occupying those pits and valleys, preventing any insulating air from seeping back in.

If you "need" the few degrees a fresh new layer of TIM might provide to keep from crossing over thermal protection thresholds, you have bigger cooling issues to deal with - like insufficient case cooling.