Multiple computer problems after cpu cooler install

R

Rev. Night

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Mar 30, 2004
Messages
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I apologize for the wall of text, but it's needed. Cat/Corgi tax at the bottom.

So, my AMD FX-6300 (6 core, 3.5ghz) was getting kinda loud after I overclocked it to 4.2ghz via the overdrive utility. Beyond that, it has been working just fine for the past few years I've had it. The overdrive overclock is a recent decision, like last week. I decided that a third party cpu cooler was in order, so I bought an CoolerMaster 212 Evo based on reviews. This was the biggest pain in the ass to install, but eventually I did. I plug everything back in, it goes to bios, then says gives me a disk read error. I restart, go to bios, make sure that the harddrive with Win 10 is the first object to boot from. Still get the same error.

I turn off the machine and unplug everything. I see that the cooler is not perfectly over the cpu by the widths of a few millimeters. So I readjust everything and get it as square as I can, and thats where I discover that the coolermaster base is smaller than the cpu. I doublechecked, coolermaster says the cooler is quite compatible AM2,3,3+ sockets. After I plug everything back in, I can get past bios but the pc just sits there with a blackscreen, I dont even get the check disk error.

At this point, I'm seriously getting concerned about the perceived lack of CPU coverage. I go into bios and I decide to test my theory that the CPU is on purpose preventing win10 from loading due to heat concerns. I decide to underclock the hell out of my cpu. I change the 'Process Max Freq' from 'x31.5 4700mhz' to 'x4 800mhz'. I do the same thing for 'North bridge max freq' to the same 'x4 800mhz'. Then at 'Processor Max Voltage', i figure that too many volts is too much heat, i lower it from the '1.#' that it was to the lowest setting of '0.6'. I save and quit.

The cpu at this point gets super, super loud. It won't even post, or go to bios. It just sits there black screen. After like 10 seconds of this I get freaked out and I press the Off button, holding it, to turn it off. It does. I turn it back on and again it gets really really loud, no post, no bios. Shit.Time to reset the bios. I turn it off, unplug everything, unplug psu from mobo (both cables), remove gpu, reset CMOS via jumpers, remove battery, wait a few minutes, replace battery, reset CMOS again via jumpers, press the power switch in case that matters, and plug everything back in.

Now the computer wont even turn on. Yes i've doublechecked all connections.

Did I royally f up my CPU? Is a new one needed now?

Cat/Corgi Tax:
corgi-cat-sleep.jpg
 
I think it sounds more like you may have done something to the motherboard, since it won't even turn on.
 
The CPU cover can be way bigger than the base of the heat sink and everything will work fine. The actual CPU cores only occupy a tiny space in the middle of the cover. It is only important that the heat sink contacts the center area and everything would be fine.

What cooler are you using? The cooler probably just couldn't handle the heat output from overclocking.

Though at this point it sounds like you physically damaged something while mucking about in there. Or you just didn't plug something in :p

Go double check that the CMOS jumper isn't still in the reset position.
 
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I would make sure everything is seated properly. If it's not even powering on, you're likely missing a connector in the frustration.

Side note: a CPU die is actually pretty small and just has a large cover over it. This should alleviate your concerns regarding heatsink coverage.
 
Pull power from the wall, pull the BIOS battery, press the power button a few times.... then leave it alone for at least 30 minutes.

Disconnect all the drives, pull all but one stick of RAM, and see if it'll POST then.

Come back and report results.
 
what silent said. and don't worry about the 212's base. it is smaller than my fx-8120 chip too.

edit: fixed silent's name, sorta. still too lazy to type peoples full usernames.
 
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Ocellaris said:
OP never came back, drive-by help request right here!
Click to expand...
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he posted last night. give him time. there are other threads were its been days/weeks with no response from the OP. those are drive-bys or trolls.
 
UPDATE:

1. I didn't know that the pc had to be turned on with the CMOS jumper set to reset. I thought I just had to move the pin over and back and that would be that. So after correctly reseting the CMOS, the pc turned on, and I got into BIOS. CPU specs were the same etc. I save and quit, and see how it will handle booting up windows
2. To my surprise, the 'disk read error' wasnt there. It actually shows a windows prompt, and it asked me which OS i wanted to load. This was a wtf moment as i only have windows 10 (upgraded via win 8.1) on there. My 3 options? Win 7, Win 8.1, Win 8.1 Pro. Two of these 3 choices I never had, and the one OS i currently had on there isnt listed. Long story short, I selected Win 8.1 Pro, desktop came up, and its my Win 10 OS. I look around to make sure everything is fine, reboot, and win 10 desktop loads just fine.

How the fuck can all of this happen via a cpu cooler change I'll never know. Thanks for the input gents
 
So.... time for a full format? Or if you got $100 spare, get a 250+GB SSD and just start fresh on that.
 
no need for a format, my pc is just fine now. But i still have no idea why changing the cooler prevented windows from loading in the first place. Nor do I know why clearing my CMOS got the windows repair feature to come on
 
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