Alright, I need your help bad. I really screwed up, but I can't pinpoint what screwup it was. I have an older gateway system (PIII 933Mhz, 384Mb, 40GB, DVD, CDRW, Nvida 64Mb GeForce2 GTS). I noticed some strange noises coming from inside the case, thinking it was just a mass collection of dust on the PSU and Chipset fans. I was right, it was pretty disgusting in there, so I decided to start unhooking power and IDE cables and removing various components (something I have done before without any problems on this system).
I noticed that the heat sink and fan on the chip was covered in dust. I removed everything from the case leaving just the mobo in there. I unclipped the HS fan and cleaned that off. I then unseated the heatsink itself (something I have not done before on this system). I saw the thermal gunk on it (light amber color sticky stuff that only contacted the chip around a spot about .25 x .5 inches. Didn't even cover the center of it, just kind of went around the matching area on the chip itself. Anyway, I cleaned everything in the case and put it back together the same way I took it apart. I didn't reapply any thermal paste or pads, cause I don't have what I needed to clean off the old stuff, and I don't have any new stuff to put back on.
So, I go to fire it up and I don't get a signal to the monitor, and it just beeps at me twice. I can see the fans running, I can hear the hard drive, but nothing coming to my screen. I try this agian a few times and the same thing happens. So then I start to take out components again and I end up back at just the graphics card and hard drive connected to the mobo. Now when I start it up it sounds like everything is fine, but now no beeps.
This is where I am really stuck, I have no idea what this means or what steps to take next. Any of you with any constructive suggestions? I would really appreciate it.
Thanks,
RS
I noticed that the heat sink and fan on the chip was covered in dust. I removed everything from the case leaving just the mobo in there. I unclipped the HS fan and cleaned that off. I then unseated the heatsink itself (something I have not done before on this system). I saw the thermal gunk on it (light amber color sticky stuff that only contacted the chip around a spot about .25 x .5 inches. Didn't even cover the center of it, just kind of went around the matching area on the chip itself. Anyway, I cleaned everything in the case and put it back together the same way I took it apart. I didn't reapply any thermal paste or pads, cause I don't have what I needed to clean off the old stuff, and I don't have any new stuff to put back on.
So, I go to fire it up and I don't get a signal to the monitor, and it just beeps at me twice. I can see the fans running, I can hear the hard drive, but nothing coming to my screen. I try this agian a few times and the same thing happens. So then I start to take out components again and I end up back at just the graphics card and hard drive connected to the mobo. Now when I start it up it sounds like everything is fine, but now no beeps.
This is where I am really stuck, I have no idea what this means or what steps to take next. Any of you with any constructive suggestions? I would really appreciate it.
Thanks,
RS