Need help please (Slightly urgent)

[DeathScytheVT]

I've been running my freshly built computer for two months solid since I made it. The other night I decided that I'd like to know how the temperatures were running (out of curiousity, it was always running nice and cool for me). Installed the CoreControl from my MSI board's driver disk and it showed me running at 27 degrees C (idle) and 38ish while under load (from gaming and such). Was fine up until today.

I left this morning to go help on a camp, and my computer was running normally. I got back to find myself on the windows "welcome" screen. Upon inquiring with my family, there had been a power flicker. Everything seemed fine, except my temperature for the CPU was showing at 51. Thinking it was a fluke (after all, nothing had changed) I restarted. Still the same, so I restarted again and checked the BIOS. They showed it as the same... 50-52 or so. So I asked a friend online, we checked things such as fans, etc. All the fans were running, though things felt a little warm. Heatsink was a lil warm to the touch, so he suggested re-setting the CPU and working from there.

I pop the lock on the heatsink and find it's being a little stubborn about coming up. Apparently my processor had STUCK to the bottom of the heatsink and came up with it. I got it off (wasn't forceful, it was enough to pull it out, but not do damage. All the pins are there, etc) but now I have thermal tape gunk all over the top of my processor and the heatsink.

So I'm going to take a random guess and say that it wouldnt work as well to just stick the heatsink back on and hope the gunk matches back up. So questions are:

1) It's not normal for the processor to get stuck to the heatsink, right?
If it's not:

1) Could the power flicker have done something to overheat everything a lot and make my processor stick?
2) What should I do about cooling now? Find a new heatsink/fan combo?
3) clean off the gunk on the processor? And how?

I'm still fairly new, it just seems to me that the thing shouldnt have yanked out of its socket like that when I pulled up the heatsink. And i'm afraid of doing anything stupid for fear of ruining my parts.

System specs:
AMD Athlon 64 3200+ @ 2.2GHz
MSI "K8T NEO-FSR" MoBo
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 256 MB
1GB RAM

Hope yall can give me some insight!

 

[DeathScytheVT]

Ok seems I may have not needed to fully spaz and panic. I guess thermal tape stuff's sticky to start with. I was able to smear it back around a lil bit and start the comp back up, but its still idling at about 46'C (isn't that a little high? Im not very clear on ideal temperatures, especially at stock specs).

If I looked to upgrade the cooling on my processor, what should I be looking for?

 

[RadeonGuy]

Does your PSU have PFC and overload protection. If it doesnt it might have damaged your processor a little bit. If it does have protection i recomend getting a better HS/F and some Artic Silver 5 is you wont you old temps back

 

[DeathScytheVT]

Alright cool, thanks. Any ideas on what would be a good HS/F to go for?

I'm new to upgrading cooling, how would I go about getting the thermal tape gunk off my processor? And will a new HS/F fit on the AMD mount it came with, or would that have to be changed around?

And a final question... any idea why my processor temps are so much higher? As far as I know the ONLY difference between tonight/last night is the power flickered. Doesnt seem to me like such a huge deal to cause 20-30 degrees difference in temp

 

[daveybrat]

Doesn't sound like that power flicker did anything to your hardware. You are fine.

However, i am a huge worrywart about my computer, and i've had it go off in power flickers before.......so i recently went out and purchased a UPS for my computer.

They are very inexpensive nowadays. You should invest in one. A battery backup will prevent stuff like this from happening again, and you can get an APC brand for $59 or less.

Good luck!

 

[sal69]

you should definitly clean the cpu and the cooler and use new thermal paste and then reatatch it. if you didnt do so dont wonder it gets so hot.

 

[Dough1397]

use isopropyl with a % i think anything above 90% is good....

 

[DeathScytheVT]

Originally posted by: sal69
you should definitly clean the cpu and the cooler and use new thermal paste and then reatatch it. if you didnt do so dont wonder it gets so hot.

Well it was running very hot before I pulled it off as well, and now its still holding the same basic temps. I'm still going to apply new stuff, but i'm just thoroghly confused as to what could have caused it. I've got my comp plugged into a surge strip and everything, so i'm just baffled.

 

[o1die]

51-52c isn't anything to be concerned about. My p4 ranges from 39-62 celcius, depending on the room temperature and application. It's overclocked 33%, so the temps are normal.

 

[DeathScytheVT]

For idle temperature? Ok, I had just heard that it was best to stay fairly far below 60... and i'm still very confused as to WHY its running so hot all of a sudden >.<