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Is my T-bird fried?

A

Akumajo

Junior Member
Last week, I ordered a 1.33GHz T-bird with a Thermaltake Volcano II HSF from Newegg, and it arrived yesterday. I was finally able to give it a run earlier today, and everything was ok...for about 5 seconds.

Right after it booted up, I went into the BIOS setup only to find that it locked up. I powered down and tried booting it up again, only to find that it wouldn't post. There weren't any beeps or anything being displayed on the screen, though everything powered up just as normal (fans, HDs, etc.).

I spent the next few hours trying every single combo I could try, and not even having only the cpu, ram, and vid card seated would work. I thoroughly looked through the motherboard's manual (which is an Asus A7V133, btw) and still had no luck. After searching all through these boards (as well as elsewhere), I finally came across one thing that is most likely my culprit. While responding to another person's problem, someone mentioned that you need to make sure that the little paper label covering the thermal, uhh, 'stuff' on the bottom of the heatsink is removed.

Not knowing that some heatsinks come that way, I didn't even bother to think that it wasn't meant to be there. All my previous HSFs (though none for Socket A) didn't come this way, so I thought nothing of it. So, after reading that info, I removed the HSF and found that there was a nice 'imprint' on that little paper cover on the bottom of the heatsink. I took it off and put the heatsink back on, and tried booting it up again; still no luck.

So, what seems to have happened is that the cpu lasted all of a few seconds on the first boot-up before it got fried since the paper cover wasn't removed. It would easily explain why I had no success on getting a post afterwards. Now with the HSF properly seated, it's still not working at all. I've even tried resetting the CMOS and it did nothing.

Is there any hope at all for the cpu? If not, is it returnable in its current state? Or is this just one of those fun lessons that I was bound to learn from? =]

Also, let me know if you need any more info.

Thanks a ton for any help!!
 
You fried it good and proper! If you got the heatsink with the cpu, you could return both and tell them that they didn't tell you go take the paper off. If you didn't get it there and it was just your mistake, well, try and return it, they might exchange it. Good luck 😀
 
Thanks for the quick replies!

I figured that was the case, but was hoping somehow there would be a way to resurrect it, heh.

After learning about having to take the paper cover off, I checked the box of the HSF, and it had no mention of that at all. I'll give Newegg a call in the morning, and hopefully they'll exchange it for a new one. If not, I'll go cry for a couple hours. =[

Thanks again for the help!
 
You'll remember the paper next time, wont you?!?😀 Actually, you should have taken the entire lot off (paper and pad) and put Artic Silver on it. Oh well, you can do that when you get the new one 😛
 
Hehe, knowing my luck, I'll be too anxious to get it up and running again and forget about it altogether. =]

I'll have to look into the Artic Silver. I've never been on OCer, so I wouldn't ever bother with more than just seating the HSF.


Ahh well, only another week of waiting, heh.
 
Is there any evidence of damage to the chip - burn marks etc? Did you smell anything?
 
The T-bird does smell a bit like it's been burnt, but not overly strong. I couldn't smell it until I took the HSF off and put it close to my nose.

Also, I'm not sure how the core looks normally, since I didn't get a good look at it before I put it in. Some of the thermal paste did get stuck to the core from the bottom of the heatsink though.

I'll be giving Newegg a call in just a minute to see if they'll agree to a replacement CPU or not. I hope...
 
Yeah, it didn't seem to like the paper at all, heh.

I called up Newegg and asked for a replacement, and I was surprised that they didn't even ask for an explanation or anything else. They'll be sending out another one when they receive the one I have, and I guess at that time I'll find out if they need more info from me or if they'll change their minds.

Regardless though, they handled it very well, and I should be getting another one real soon. And hopefully I won't be charged for a whole new CPU.

Thanks again for the help!!
 
Can anyone explain why not taking the paper off the heatsink fried the CPU? I can understand if it was used for an extended period like that, but only for a few seconds. Anyone have thoughts?
 
cause hte paper is more like a plastic "covering"... and what happens is the stuff prevents thermal transfer to teh heatsink. Since this was a 1.33 t-bird, it only takes a few seconds to fry it.



Mike
 
Buy youself some good Artic Silver with that new heatsink. You'll probably have to scrape the thermal pad off of it too. Artic Silver's website has a very detailed explanation on how to apply AS.
 


<< Can anyone explain why not taking the paper off the heatsink fried the CPU? I can understand if it was used for an extended period like that, but only for a few seconds. Anyone have thoughts? >>



The 1.33Ghz TBird has a massive heat output. If it cant get rid of that heat QUICKLY then it will fry. If you left the paper on a heatsink and you put it on say, a Celeron 466, well, I think the Celly would still work anyway, a bit hotter, but it wouldn't die! The paper would have been kinda waxy as well, which wouldn't have helped. Oh, dont try this just to find out either 😛 😀
 
Newegg.com is real good with rmas. I only had to rma one board which I think I accidently fried when one of the cheap ass plastic risers slipped down and let the mobo touch the bottom of the case. But next time you should remember to take that plastic off. I wonder why the Volcano II doesn thave a warning about that paper. A lot of people are frying their chips because of this. Anyways good luck
 
rmaed a dead p3 to newegg before. everythin went fine. hehe, another dead t-bird.. how tragic 🙁
 
I very nearly did the same thing myself today - I havn't actually mucked around with a cooling fan since overclocking the last chip I got (AMD k6-2 350) to 400, and very nearly missed the thing on the bottom of the cooling fan (a Volcano II). Absolutely no instructions on the box on how to install the thing. I still havn't managed to get the second end of the bracket over the notch on the socket.


I'm beginning to think about just buying these things preassembled instead ofgoing for cheap price and putting things together myself. DAmn counterstrike, damn you!
 
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