Thermal Compund on CPU pins. Fried CPU and Motherboard?

[mike5622]

Hello
I've been building a new computer and can't get it to POST. Nothing happens at all. None of the fans spin up for even a split second. No signs of life...

I took it apart and realised I had inadvertently got some Thermal Compund on a few of the CPU pins. This would have been there when I was powering on the system. Would this have shorted the CPU or Motherboard? Would either one of them be salvageable or am I better to give them up for dead?

Any help or suggestions are appreciated. Thanks.

[miceri]

Sounds like it shorted. If you had cleaned the pins gently with isopropoyl and a soft toothbrush it might have survived. The pins are fairly durable, but not if you have already put charge across them.

Have you got a spare you could check with to ensure it is not the motherboard at fault?

[mike5622]

No spare to test the motherboard unfortunatley. Is it likely the motherboard is fried too?

As there has never been any signs of life I can't be 100% sure that a charge has gone through the board at all, but it would probably just be wishfull thinking that it hadn't...

If the CPU had shorted would this have stopped any fans spinning up too? None of the fans ever started spinning at all. Would the CPU have died instantly preventing this?

[mattneighbour]

I'd try giving it a thorough pin clean whilst being antistatic grounded. It shouldn't fry unless a power voltage got somewhere it shouldn't; putting logic voltages where they shouldn't be probably wouldn't cause damage. If that happened then the processor wouldn't run, it might not be fried. It could even be that the compound messed up the I/O impedance for high speed digital signals, again, meaning it wouldn't run. Remember the BIOS needs the processor to POST, so all you know at the moment is that the processor won't run.

If you have no luck with cleaning the pins you'll need to try another CPU to eliminate the motherboard. Have you checked the socket for gunk?

Matt

[Paul Shirley]

Usually the power switches off instantly if the CPU fails to startup, there's a very good chance nothing got fried. Clean the CPU carefully and the CPU socket and try again. Also be aware you'll get the same symptoms with a CPU badly seated in the socket, if it fails first time reseat the CPU and try again before giving up.

[mike5622]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I've given it a good clean and no dice I'm going to get a cheap CPU and test the motherboard next before writing off the CPU and/or board. I'll probably be posting back with more questions soon!

cheers

[GLP1]

What mobo are you using?
When you said "no signs of life", does that include the power supply too?

To be honest you are far more likely to get thermal grease on pins taking it apart rather than building it. So you may be lucky

Hope you get it sorted.

Gavin