There are no posts - is there a CPU problem?
There are no posts - is there a CPU problem?
I don't feel like a complete idiot when someone asks me to look up answers online. I've already tried that before coming across these solutions in this forum. Youtube often has videos from certain countries, with titles only in English and the rest in another language or hard to understand.
I rely on advice from genuine, selfless people here instead of from mysterious clickbait sources.
I had a comparable situation with my 10-year-old PC just last week, but in my case I managed to get the motherboard up once after fixing things. But it kept refusing to post again, even after trying all possible solutions.
I ended up spending $130 on a new PSU, then another $500 for a replacement motherboard, CPU, and RAM. I think the problem was with the motherboard, not my CPU.
I used the troubleshooting instructions in the "sticky" section of this forum. Because taking the CPU out of the slot made the motherboard light up while the power supply stayed on, it was likely the CPU. I cleaned the CPU contact points many times and reinstalled it, but the issue keeps happening. It seems carbon or dirt had returned to those contacts. Recently, I cleaned the CPU slot with a toothbrush soaked in isopropyl alcohol. I accidentally bent some pins in the slot, and even after cleaning the contacts, the system still won't boot. I need to carefully straighten those bent or displaced pins and try again. The contacts on the CPU looked like they had been covered with sandpaper, so I’m considering getting a different CPU (perhaps a 4790K) and hope it will fix everything.
I carefully adjusted those bent pins in the CPU slot and the system started up. This time, an alert appeared during start-up — "New CPU installed. Press F1 to enter setup to configure your system." I went into the BIOS, saved my changes, and exited, then the system booted into Windows as before. It was strange what might have caused that message. Also, as usual, the system won't boot again after a few hours.
Fellas, thinking about my earlier comment (see picture below), do you think I should replace the CPU after all?
I replaced my old 4430 with a 4790 this morning and, finally, the problem is solved. I used thermal paste this time, and the idle CPU temperature now stays below 40 °C. The insufficient cooling had caused corrosion at the CPU contact points. There are no more issues.
The key takeaway for me and others is that the main problem was not having enough thermal paste.