So I might have killed my botherboard

[krazy_olie]

So I got hold of a second hand q6600 as my e6300 was just not cutting the mustard/fancied a performance boost.

Talking out the processor things went a bit wrong and thermal paste sort of got in the pins (though apparently it's non conductive so "hmm!"), and I think it's trashed. It won't boot properly, just sort of has fans spinning hard drive going for a variable amount of time before it decides to turn off.
Will first try cleaning/changing stuff out etc, but will NOT try the new cpu in there for fear of frying it .

So firstly suggestions for anything I can do here before I give up and go one to part 2

If I can't get it working I believe I have found a replacement motherboard

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/gigab...a-ii-micro-atx . Which seems to support everything I have and supposedly allows for overclocking (even encourages you to overclock to get 1066 MHZ RAM if you have it , I have some coming in the post so the fsb must be good enough for it) but I really don't want to do a fresh install of windows!

I've heard Windows 7 is quite good at upgrading motherboards(I once tried it abd failed on '98 once... though I was about 12!), and it's currently a gigabyte 965p, so intel to intel... If I absolutely have to I think I left an unformatted partition on my hard drive for special occasions so would not be the end of the world Or if not I never use my ubuntu partition anymore either. But wondering if anyone has had any luck just swapping the motherboard and running the repair install? Little annoyed I got the cpu now though,I probably would have gone for a 45nm one if I knew I was going to change the board as mine wouldn't take one.

I think if I did change the board the only thing that would remain from the original 2006 build is my sound card!

Many thanks, Oliver

[GoNz0]

blast the socket with alcohol (IPA) spray to remove that crap you left.

leave it overnight to dry out and try again.

[eyezpy]

I would also check if any of the pins were bent. Good luck!

[Mama Sumae]

So I might have killed my botherboard

Why bother then?


Sry couldn't resist


After you made sure the pins are properly clean and if it still not working you might want to clean your motherboard's memory. Shouldn't be the problem (since you said you haven't used the new CPU yet) but PCs work in mysterious ways, just check how to do it in the mobo's manual. Just remember to cut the power off and that all Bios settings will go back to default, you should make sure you can navigate and properly configure your Bios beforehand.

[krazy_olie]

ok so looks like the pins were bent. A bit of fiddling and it turns on!

However shortly after it shuts off, because bios says vcore fail and cpu temp is at 80 or something. I think simply the fan is not 100% on properly :/. Has this likely damaged the cpu or is it just unable to run that hot and automatically shuts down?

Still the old cpu so will not cry if it is damaged but will make testing much easier!

[DR]

It won't have damaged the CPU - unless your motherboard is totally screwed and put a bit too much voltage in.. but honestly - should be fine

[c.ruel]

I have an AMD system so the pins are on the cpu rather than vice versa. I managed to get a load of thermal paste goo stuck in the cpu pins. I got off what I could with alcohol like gonzo said, but couldn't get it all off ... gave up and just stuck it back in the socket turned it on and ... it has worked fine ever since. I overclocked it to 3.6 (2.8 is default) on the same crappy motherboard and it worked fine for quite a while. Started getting random shut downs so lowered clock to 3.5ghz and it has been fine ever since ... no problems.

I have obviously been a very lucky boy (so far). But point is unless it is conductive the thermal paste then I reckon as long as you get most of it off you should be fine. Bent pins are more likely imho.

goodluck.

[watercooled]

I think this is a good reason to play it safe and stick with properly non-conductive/capacitive pastes like MX2. I've also had a PGA CPU with some excess paste bridging a few pins - did what I could to get most of it off with some IPA but it works fine with some still bridging the pins. If it was necessary I could have rinsed the rest off. Or as gonzo says, an aerosol would be useful for this.

Basically, provided it's non-conductive you should be fine, just you might need to clean it off the contact points, also because it's not conductive.

[krazy_olie]

Thank's for all the advice people! Just booted up in to windows with the new cpu! feeling the quad core goodness