Burning smell comming from cpu

[helppls]

Hi, I got a used cpu, motherboard and hsf in the mail today, and installed everything. But within a few minutes of booting the computer up a burning smell comes from the cpu. The hsf was used, and so it didn't come with a pad, so I applied thermal paste to the area. Is this a bad thing? Or is it just a normal thing that happens as the paste is being broken in?

 

[helppls]

It's definately not the power supply, it's a new Antec.

 

[WarCon]

Did you check the direction of the heatsink? Is it an AMD? Socket A has a raised lip on one side and if you don't put the indentation in the heatsink that direction the heatsink won't contact the core and you will end up burning your processor.

You might also check all the larger capacitors around the socket to see if any are leaking (brown gunk) or just swollen looking. There was alot of boards in the last several years that were plagued with bad caps.

Otherwise you might check you mobo installation to make sure you don't have any spare standoff's (motherboard mounts) or make sure that none of those little metal springs on the back plate of the case are poking in usb ports or any other opening.

Good luck..........