have i destroyed my desktop?

chris1976

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Hi guys, id appreciate a bit help, basically iv just done "one of those jobs and wish i hadn't started"

My pc was running slow and i noticed my processor used percentage was right up so i reset windows but the same programs i used to run with ease are still very slow.

So i thought id open the case and clean my processor, not knowing what i was doing iv took the heat sink off and hoovered it out, then tried to refit it but the pins are now all bent and the pc is powering up but no display.

Iv tried straightening all the pins but it still wont work,have i done irrepairable damage?

its an asrock motherboard and amd processor

thanks in advance
 
It could be that you've made a mistake on reassembly - something isn't quite in it's slot etc.

People have got away with hoovering the inside of their PC before as well as re-straitening bent pins but they can quite easily be fatal. And it could be something else entirely, with your lack of knowledge and apparently no instruction sheet you may have pushed or pulled something in the wrong place or wrong order.

It's a difficult thing to judge without seeing it and feeling it. Do you have any friends or relatives that could check it?
 
so do all the pins need on the heat sink need to be perfectly straight into the cpu then?

im sure its nothing else as i just undid the clips and pulled it off and refitted it.

however i can still see some of the pins are not completely straight so when refitting it im having to force the locking latch back in place.... and iv only just read about the paste, would not applying fresh make a difference?

cheers for the reply
 
Cleaning the CPU was never going to fix this. If you're forcing the latch to put the processor back in the pins are still bent. You should be able to seat it with no effort at all. I bent a couple of pins once and managed to straighten them and it still worked so you may be able to fix it.

If you've removed the heatsink though you need to clean the processor and heatsink and reapply some thermal paste.
 
so do all the pins need to be straight for it to fire up?

im tempted to just get another processor anyway for the performance upgrade

which is the best processor out of this lot?
  1. Support for Socket AM2+ / AM2 processors: AMD Phenom™ FX / Phenom / Athlon 64 FX / Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core / Athlon X2 Dual-Core / Athlon 64 / Sempron processor

or do i just get another motherboard and cpu? but how would that affect my windows 10 licence? i currently have 8gb of ddr2 ram it would be nice to go 16 or even 32
 
so do all the pins need to be straight for it to fire up?

They have to be straight enough to go into the matching hole and make contact.

which is the best processor out of this lot?
  1. Support for Socket AM2+ / AM2 processors: AMD Phenom™ FX / Phenom / Athlon 64 FX / Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core / Athlon X2 Dual-Core / Athlon 64 / Sempron processor

Check the CPU support list rather than the spec page. It may support the AM3 Phenom II X6 processors, otherwise specific Phenom II X4 AM2+ processors such as the 920/940 may be the fastest option.

or do i just get another motherboard and cpu? but how would that affect my windows 10 licence? i currently have 8gb of ddr2 ram it would be nice to go 16 or even 32

The Phenom IIs are six years old now though, so not exactly state of the art and a new processor is worth considering if you want more performance.

It depends on what type of windows licence you have. If you bought the retail version separately then you can transfer it as you like. If it was an OEM version bought with the PC then you can't transfer it as you like but you are allowed to transfer it to an 'equivalent' replacement motherboard in the case of a failure.

Windows 8 (but not 8.1) was a bit different.
 
the pc didnt come with windows, so i bought a 7 key from ebay then updated last year.

might just be easier if i get a new heatsink and processor then which is the best one out of that list which will fit my board?
 
the pc didnt come with windows, so i bought a 7 key from ebay then updated last year.

Ebay sellers sell both types and I think the version stays the same through the upgrade so it could still be either. Did you get it in the proper retail box with glossy brochure etc? If you did it's probably a normal (retail) key, if it came in any other sort of packaging it's probably a system builder (OEM) key and tied to that computer.

might just be easier if i get a new heatsink and processor then which is the best one out of that list which will fit my board?

Yeah, assuming the motherboard isn't broken.

That's only a list of ranges, without knowing which specific models it supports I can't say. Searching for that phrasing suggests it's from an ASRock board so if you look up your motherboard on the ASRock website then the CPU Support List link is in the upper left of the page.
 
it was just the system builder key i think...and its this motherboard ASRock > K10N78hSLI-GLAN

but im not sure which processor i had,i think it was a quad core,so i may have even had the best processor available to that motherboard? as the easiest option where would i get a new heat sink from? are they cpu or just brand specific?
 
Heatsinks are generally specific to a group of sockets. They'll fit on all CPUs in that socket but the weaker ones may not be sufficient to cool all of them. They should be available in most places second hand CPUs are.

The fastest CPU that board supports is the Phenom II X6 1090T or the C3 stepping (125W) version of the Phenom II X4 965.

You should be able to identify your current chip from the markings on top of it.
 
Why did you take the CPU out of the board? If the heatsink needed cleaning, then a small brush (soft unused paint brush or makeup brush) and a hoover hose attachment are the best tools to clean out the dust from the heatsink fans. You shouldn't even need to take the heatsink off, let alone the processor out and bend up the pins on it!! Good grief!! Pins cna be very carefully straightened but it's likely you killed the CPU. They should only go in one way round, normally there's a little notch in a corner so you can line it up properly.

Strongly suggest you don't refit a new CPU yourself. Get someone in the know to show you how it's done properly. Also you will need to clean the heatsink of thermal paste and apply new paste. This should be a thin but full coating over the top of the CPU, a credit card is ideal for spreading. Again, get someone who knows to show you or check youtube videos. Too much paste is bad, as is not enough.

Hopefully you can sort out without too much more grief and chalk it up to expensive lesson learnt. Good luck!
 
i didnt take the cpu out,when i saw it just unclips i thought id take out just the heatsink and give it a good clean.

not sure whch cpu i have it just says "socket am2" its this motherboard though ASRock > K10N78hSLI-GLAN

thanks for the help guys
 
What are the bent pins you're referring to then? The Heatsink will sit flush over the CPU to draw the heat away, it's a big metal chunk with fins and often a fan on top to draw away the heat and blow it out of your case. Heatsinks don't have pins. But they often have legs (usually 4) to secure them to the motherboard anchor points to lock it securely to the motherboard. Is that what bent?

Here's a pic of your motherboard showing the empty CPU socket, the silver CPU Locking Lever that secure the CPU into the board (when the CPU is in place and correctly aligned). The black plastic piece further out is for aligning and secure the heatsink over the fitted CPU.
ASRock MB.jpg

Here's a photo of the underside of a CPU, note the hundred of pins and the matching corner arrow, on the right, for orientation to the socket in the motherboard.
CPU.jpg


If it was CPU pins you bent then it's quite likely you killed the CPU. Careful straightening you might get lucky, but they are extremely delicate little pins.

Hope that helps explain things, as to me it sounds like you bent the CPU pins rather than damaged the heatsink itself. Am I right?
 
yes you are right and thank you very much for taking the time out to give me such a detailed explanation,thats what i love about this forum :smashin: if you ever need any advice about fitted kitchens, give me a shout, lol.

anyway, the cpu was stuck to the heatsink,they came out together and it says its a - amd athlon 2

so would the best processor my board will take combined with the 8gb of ram i have make much of a performance upgrade?
 
Your welcome. Thankfully we have forums to help us out when we mess up, used this and other ones plenty of times myself for help on things I don't know much about, so nice to give back when I can.

Well anyway, you could try putting the CPU back in properly if you can straighten the pins without breaking any? Separate the cpu from the heatsink, thermal paste is all that attaches them.

  • Clean off the thermal paste from the top of the cpu. Use a slightly damp microfibre cloth to wipe it away. Do the same for the remaining paste left on your heatsink. Lastly use a little iisopropyl alcohol to clean the now bare metal flat top of the CPU and again some more to finish cleaning the heatsink of any residue. Don't use any other cleaners, isopropyl alcohol is perfect as it evaporates away safely after use. When done no more touching those surfaces!
  • If you can then get the cpu back into the motherboard socket? Lever raised when putting in, remember the corner arrow's on cpu and board to get the cpu in the correct way, then lever down to secure the cpu into the motherboard. Shouldn't take much force to lock it, so if it's struggling something's not lined up right.
  • Now you need to reapply a thin layer of new thermal paste (arctic silver is good stuff), you need to use something like an old credit card to spread it so it's just a light thin layer completely covering the top metal surface of the cpu.
  • Lastly reattach the heatsink onto the cpu and secure it to the bracket on the motherboard so the heatsink stays in it's place. Then put reconnect the fan power and control lead to the motherboard and plug everything back in to test.
Now if it's dead, you're probably better off getting a newer pc than wasting money on another CPU and more memory. That's quite an old board now and won't support the latest CPU's. Yours has old DDR2 memory slots as well, DDR3 is common place, with DDR4 being the most recent.

If you've no budget for a new one, you could go on ebay for a cheap replacement cpu and hope the cpu is the only thing that's been damaged. Ramming the CPU in badly and trying to boot the pc may possibly of killed the motherboard too.

Helpful videos:
Fitting the CPU -
Spreading new thermal paste - People seem to be preferring the pea in the middle method, I personally like to spread it but I'm quite meticulous when it comes to getting an even smooth coating where as the spreads I see on youtube are a right slapdash job.
 
cheers for the write up again mate :smashin:

i v straightened the pins as best as i can but its not falling easily back into place so i dont want to force it and leave any broken pins behind.

must admit im tempted to get a new motherboard,cpu and ram but if iv got the hassle of changing it all and then getting a new operating licence i think ill just get a new cpu

are these about the best for my board then? amd phenom ii x6 | eBay
 
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are these about the best for my board then? amd phenom ii x6 | eBay

Yep looks like it and EndlessWaves agrees further back on the thread. Not massively knowledgeable on the AMD CPU range and tend to stick to Intel myself. Just don't get a Sempron AMD Processor as a replacement, they are awful budget CPU's!
 
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AM3 CPUs were compatible with some AM2+ motherboards. All Athlon IIs were AM3 for example so if your current CPU was an Athlon II X2/X3/X4 and not just an Athlon X2 you've already been using it.

The CPU support list for your board doesn't actually list the 1045T, only the 1035T and both versions of the 1055T. The 1045T was in the second wave of releases though, so it may be they simply stopped updating the list between the first and second lot.
ASRock > K10N78hSLI-GLAN

£60 is also a fairly steep, a quick check on ebay suggests the X4s are half the price, so £25-30 for a Phenom II X4 965 or similar that's as fast (slightly faster in fact) in anything that can't use more than 4 cores is worth considering.
 
Hi mate many thanks for the quick reply,sorry i didnt notice it last night :smashin:

this is my processor i have no idea which one it is,although iv read my board supports am3 with a bios upgrade. (i think) ?

can i be really cheeky and just to save time could you have a look on ebay and pick me whatever cpu you would buy and ill go along with that. and will my heatsink work with the new cpu.

one thing that has just occured to me when i removed them i never pulled the cpu lever back as i didnt know it was even there...however it still seems to be locking into place ok. heatsink levers are fine

thanks again
 

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Why on earth do you need 16GB of ram? Are you thinking of building a gaming pc? If so a powerful graphics card will be a core component and will ramp the cost up.

What do you current use and plan to use the pc for? Without knowing that we can only guess what you might need.
 
I use it purely for trading, i have a 6 monitor eyefinity graphics card set up and i run an extra 2 from a usb display adaptor giving 8 monitors in total.

i can have different charting packages open,as well as watching trading seminars and being connected to chat rooms and just general internet browsing

i currently have 8gb ram and never really had any problems but my charts were running slow and i noticed the cpu percentage was right up,so i rest windows but it didnt make any difference so i decided to take the cpu out and clean it and reset windows

im tempted by this one now CCL 4.0GHz Intel Quad Core i7 Home Desktop PC - 32GB RAM, 500GB HDD

but its a shame to think my old pc is now scrap
 
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From reading this I would look at the PC specs required for the software as that will give an indication of what you need. If you are throwing a lot of data round in large datasets you may be better off going for a six or more core processor in which case along with the memory.

If time and graphing costs you money in realtime then its worth investing in a decent machine.

I would not consider buying a machine these days that didn't have at least one SSD in it.

Without knowing the software its difficult to advise.
 
its just a 64 bit java program,my ram usage under normal conditions was i would say below 50% on 8gb but its just the fact the cpu was always up. and yes iv got a samsung evo ssd

id rather just but a new cpu for my existing setup if its an improvement on the one i destroyed. as it would be a shame to just scrap it all

however if i end up buying a new motherboard or whole pc id rather spend the extra and go overkill
i keep thinking i5 and 16gb or for a couple of hundred quid more a i7 and 32gb,lol

the phenom 2 x4 like endless waves suggested are all in china and iv been told by a couple of e bay sellers that the x6 isnt compatible with my board
 

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