Real N00b, thinks he might have just broken his CPU!!!!!

[blazingoat]

Alrighy, I'm having the worst day ever. I just recieved my nice little fed-ex package containing a new WD raptor HD, two awsome Lian-Li bezel covers for my DVD-RW and CD-RW drives, and also one of these nifty vantec Nexus panels http://www.vantecusa.com/product-peripheral.html# (Click on NXP-101).
Cool eh?

Now here's what I (the complete moron) ended up doing. First I somehow lost the screws for my bezels.. grrr.. AND THEN... then... I FREAKING BROKE MY CPU.. i think.

The nexus has a temp probe to be inserted under the CPU heat sink. I have a P4 2.0ghz 400mhzfsb that has been o/c to 2.6 on 533fsb on AsusP4s533 mobo. I've had this for over a year now. When I bought it, I was bran new to o/c'ing, and everything was installed by the store where I bought it. (I have since upgraded everything ie, case , p/s.. as I became more familiar with computers. Now, stupid me assumes that it is easy to take off the stock Intel heatsink to attech the temp probe. WRONG. I pulled the retntion clips back and slipped off the bracket thingie. Next i pulled up on the heatsink, and heard a nice loud crackling sound. YIKES! I thought as the HS pulled away. I was staring down at an empty socket. "WHERE THE HELL IS MY CPU?".. I think as I turn over the HS. There it is. THE LITTLE BASTARD WAS STUCK TO THE Heat sink. IT PULLED RIGHT OUT OF THE ZIF Socket!!!.....

I shat my pants.

I assumed that the thing was probably toast, as it had pulled out of the socket, however none of pins had been bent, and the ZIF socket still moved when i pushed on the lever. I wasn't sure how to get the chip off the Heat sink.. uhhhhh... so I kinda just gently tried to nudge it. It eventually popped off.. er but it took some of the "black stuff" with it. I'm not sure what the black stuff between the HS and the CPU is.. Is it this infamous "thermal pad" I always hear about? or is it some kinda thermal paste?....

Anywas, after re ataching everything I boot up. To my surprise, it WORKS!!!!!!.... uhh.. the BIOS had me reset stuff cause it said "You have changed or upgraded your CPU".. (How did it knnow that)?1... temps seem to be a few degrees higher than they used to be .. MBM says 45C Idle... haven't tried a load yet.. frankly, I'm scared to!!!!

So yeah, uh.. Is it bad that my chip was stuck? Is it bad that that black stuff kinda got dislodged? Is my chip/socket ok? Will it die soon? Should i reaply some kinda thermal paste?

I'm planing on upgrading to a 2.6 and an Abit Ic7 in a few months, but I need this to last me until then!!!!.. I really hope it does!!!!

What do you guys think?!...

Oh and also, the freaking Nexus thing? .. yeah. IT DOESN'T work..... I just called 'em.. they said they had a bad batch or something.. so I gotta send it back!!!
Seriously.

ARGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh, and I dropped my new Raptor HD down the stairs! .... J/K.... LOL. That would SUCK.

Hehe,, but yeah.. i think my CPU is toast.
Advice would be appreciated.

 

[sswingle]

I would reapply thermal grease. Make sure all the old is wiped clean first. I don't think you will have any problems, sounds like you got lucky.

 

[high]

Yeah aslong as it is booting and not failing Prime95 at all, you should be ok.

 

[blazingoat]

so the black stuff was thermal grease? How do i remove it before applying new stuff?

 

[beatle]

Originally posted by: blazingoat
so the black stuff was thermal grease? How do i remove it before applying new stuff?

Try acetone or isopropyl alcohol.

 

[pspada]

This happens every time I try to remove the hsf from a Pentium 4 ~1.6 processor. Broke the socket one time, and it was a PITA to get the pins straight again, but the cpu still works just fine.

 

[AkumaX]

that infamous black thermal pad == crap

will hurt you in the long run

if you have oven degreaser, goo gone, or goof off, that would rub it right off

then use isopropyl to wipe it clean

and use REAL thermal paste!!

 

[boyRacer]

Originally posted by: AkumaX
that infamous black thermal pad == crap

will hurt you in the long run

if you have oven degreaser, goo gone, or goof off, that would rub it right off

then use isopropyl to wipe it clean

and use REAL thermal paste!!

ive been told that goo gone is citrus based... so use goof off instead.

oddly enough... this isnt the first time ive read about something like this happening. glad it works though.

 

[blazingoat]

This has happened before? wow...

Update: Passed P95 for 10 hours over night. woohs... I'm glad.

I'm freaking glad. I thought I had seriously broken it or something.

To be perfectly honest, I don't feel that confident in opening my box up again. Do you guys think it would be ok not to remove thermal pad and add thermal paste (Just leave it the way it is)?, If I'm only going to be using this for another month or so, until I upgrade to a 2.6C ?

 

[Shimmishim]

 

[Shimmishim]

 

[Shimmishim]

Originally posted by: blazingoat
This has happened before? wow...

Update: Passed P95 for 10 hours over night. woohs... I'm glad.

I'm freaking glad. I thought I had seriously broken it or something.

To be perfectly honest, I don't feel that confident in opening my box up again. Do you guys think it would be ok not to remove thermal pad and add thermal paste (Just leave it the way it is)?, If I'm only going to be using this for another month or so, until I upgrade to a 2.6C ?

i think it would be fine... but i would personally remove it...

it's happened to me before as well... my 2.4C was stuck onto my waterblock...

popped it back in and everything was fine...

 

[sswingle]

Originally posted by: blazingoat
This has happened before? wow...

Update: Passed P95 for 10 hours over night. woohs... I'm glad.

I'm freaking glad. I thought I had seriously broken it or something.

To be perfectly honest, I don't feel that confident in opening my box up again. Do you guys think it would be ok not to remove thermal pad and add thermal paste (Just leave it the way it is)?, If I'm only going to be using this for another month or so, until I upgrade to a 2.6C ?

I wouldn't. The thermal pad isn't doing its job as well as it should, and as well as it should isn't nearly as good of a job the thermal paste.

 

[KillaKilla]

Exact same thing happened to me w/ my celeron. Just pried off the thermal pad (with CPU attached!) Applied whiskey to the place where the old TP was, cleaned it up, used heat grease, and it worked fine. Just use a razor to pry the TP from the CPU or the TP from the HS and youll be fine. be carefull not to cut yourself, I dont thing P4s like blood, only XPs...

 

[Optimummind]

Even if you were to scrap off the remnants from that thermal pad and apply, let's say, Arctic Silver 3 or 5, you wouldn't be able to get a maximum benefit out of it. That's because when that thermal pad melted, it crept into the microscopic crevices (invisible to you) on the bottom of the heatsink and the top of the CPU.

You could lap it or sand it down with heavy-duty sandpaper and polish it anew though.

Next time, take the thermal pad off from the bottom of the heatsink and apply a layer of Arctic Silver 3 or 5.

 

[AnyMal]

Zif sockets are spring loaded so it's completely possible to yank the CPU out without raising the lever and not causing any damage. Not that I would try it intentionally.

 

[Mitzi]

Originally posted by: blazingoat
To be perfectly honest, I don't feel that confident in opening my box up again.

Don't let small setbacks and problems put you off tinkering with your PCs innards! The more you break (and then fix!!) the more you'll learn and the more confidence you'll gain in the process.

Anyway, hope all is well and thanks for the story....brightened up a boring Thursday lunchtime

 

[CrazyAL]

Or you can be REAL lazy and go to eBay and buy a new stock heatsink and install that. Lapping or sanding the heatsink you have is just retarded when you can buy a new one for under $10! Then sell your old heatsink off and the net cost might be under $5. Personally, I think artic silver is a big PITA, you have to have the thinest of layers, and you need to reapply every so often. (But then I am no an overclocker, and I know this kind of talk around here ain't all that popular). Either way, I wouldn't keep using the heatsink that you already pulled off since that probably screwed the thermal pad, and your 45C idle temp tends to support that view. Good Luck!

 

[Evdawg]

well dude, id have to say.... thank God shes ok!!!! Ive fried a cpu before a time or two... its a scaaaary feeling, especially when u have no money in your wallet =\. AC3 is very important, IMO.... ihad some crappy paste that amd send you in the retail packages, well i wiped that crap off and applied some ac3...... it dropped 4 or 5C in my bios. Now i dunno if its just me, but id be happy with 5C drops with just some paste.

Goat, gl with keeping her safe ;D

 

[phpdog]

HI ,

You know what ... i have a P4 2.0a AND THE EXACT SAME THING happens everytime i try and take the HS off to try new HS or Thermal Grease ... the CPU COME STRAIGHT OUT THE ZIF ON THE BOTTOM OF THE HS .... exact same CPU thats a crazy coincidence .... i thought i was the only one to do that .... i think its if you like pure cake the HS with Grease i started putting on just a tiny lil thin film of grease and it dosent do it as much but sometimes if the computer is cold and the grease is sticky and cold it does it .

::: heres a tip , you should run your system a lil while before removing the CPU cause it heats up the grease and makes it less likely to take the CPU with it ... bye take you CPU out