I feel like killing myself

[longhorn88]

I recently bought a Zalman cpu fan and just installed it. After i finish installing it, i turned the computer on but when i do that nothing happens. the monitor shows a black screen and the fan spins but other than that nothing. it doesnt even make that beep noise when you turn your computer on. please help;(
i got a p4 478 3.06

 

[satch919]

When installing it, make sure you didn't accidentally disconnect any plugs or inputs. You didn't smell anything burning did you?

Just check all your connections again. Good luck.

 

[Glirk Dient]

Check to make sure you have both power plugs plugged into your mobo and one into your vid card if it needs it. If it doesnt work after that un plug everything you can and see if the mobo runs.

 

[huntingbear]

make SURE everything is screwed down and grounded....sounds like what I did to my mobo when i only put 1 screw in to test the setup....didn't startup after a few tries, but the fans all spun up, then after about 3 tries POOF! PSU blew so check those grounds

 

[longhorn88]

the screws came with the fan were too small for my mobo so i had to use my own. i also tested the fan after putting only one screw. however now the screws are tightly done and all the connectors and connected properly. i also tried the older fan and heatsink but same thing happened. im scared now. did i just **** up my cpu? there is nothing wrong with it visually but i struggled getting the old fan/heatsink out and had to use some physical force. i feel like shit....

 

[Glirk Dient]

Did you get too much thermal paste on the cpu? That could cause it to leak over and short your mobo.

Chances are you didn't plug something in or something is messed up. This type of problem is almost always some dumb mistake. Reset CMOS and un plug everything from the mobo then go from there.

Also...make sure the power switch in the back is set to on. Sometime PSUs get messed up and you can turn it on when its set to off and it does this. Also if it is on switch it to off and let it sit for a long time to drain.

 

[WhiteZero]

Did you make sure the little black "O and |" switch is on the | setting.


i.e. the power switch

 

[longhorn88]

i hope its a dumb mistake (like not connecting something or anything that doesnt cost you money to fix)... this is the first time im doing this.... i have small experiences with computer hardware. what does resetting cmos do and how do i do it? i googled cmos and all i found was some technical jargon. dose "short you mobo" mean stuff up the mobo? the fans are spinning and the led light of my lan card is on so i dont think it stuffed my mobo.

 

[WhiteZero]

Find the nickel sized battery on the mobo. Pop it out for 10 seconds and put it back in.

 

[longhorn88]

Find the nickel sized battery on the mobo. Pop it out for 10 seconds and put it back in.

what does that do?

 

[Lou]

what does that do?

it resets the cmos


Maybe you just disconnected a cable. Try again.

 

[longhorn88]

im just replacing the heatsink and the fan of my cpu in my current computer. its been doing fine for 2yrs but the fan was dying so i replaced the stock cooler with zalman. i installed it and tried to turn the computer on but wont do anything. what does resetting the cmos do?

 

[Krynn72]

Basically resets the start-up settings.

But it really just sounds like its not getting any power.

 

[psyno]

Take it apart. Try again. Don't connect unnecessary peripherals (HDD, CDROM, floppy, extra memory, PCI cards). Keep it simple: motherboard, CPU, graphics adapter, and power.

 

[sinkoman]

I wouldn't be too surprised if you just fried the thing.

I mean, from the way you describe it, it sounds like you just dove in without know what you were really doing.

 

[longhorn88]

took the machine to the professional, will cost me $150 (thats what they said). cpu was not fried but the mobo was stuffed. i would have welcomed it if the cpu was fried cus it came with 3 year warranty and could have replaced it with a brand new one without a charge. im taking this chance to upgrade from agp 4x to 8x. i wanted to upgrade to pci-e but there arent any mobos that support 478 and pci-e and also my graphics card is agp 8x...

so anyway thanks for all the advice guys, you been great help

 

[Glirk Dient]

Yep...as we said possible mobo being fried. Didn't need to spend $150 for that unless that also includes a new mobo then it isn't too bad if your getting a nice new mobo.

 

[Cole]

It was either the CMOS(most likely, whenever you buy a new fan it's good to reset this), It wasn't grounded properly. Sometimes certain places on your case, if they have a wire touching them(the inside of the case), will cause it not to be grounded properly. I've dealt with 3 cases like this and yeah....sometimes I have to take the computer, take the cover off put it on it's side and take all the wires and take them out of the case(without unplugging anything) then plug the power cord in and a monitor and start it up. This just makes sure it was a grounding issue, then after that I just be carefull where the wires.