For those of you who've fried a chip or board before

[mrtristan]

Is it possible to fry the motherboard if the heatsink of the cpu is not properly making contact with the cpu surface?

In the past two weeks, I've fried two cpus, possibly four. It's driving me nuts, because I don't know what I'm doing wrong. This is the first time that I've cooked a cpu or board.

After I built my new computer, I wanted to change a heatsink on one of the processors. I took the old one off, scraped off the thermal pad residue, cleaned with isopropyl alcohol, and applied a thin layer of thermal grease. That's where things went bad. Really bad.

When I tried to start up, the machine wouldn't boot. I eventually got it to boot up, but it wouldn't recognize the chip that I changed the heatsink. I didn't smell anything burning and the BIOS readings of the chip were normal. I also switched the second processor to thermal grease and it ran fine. I switched position of the cpus, to see if the socket on the motherboard was bad. The second processor still worked, but not the first.

So I called AMD and got a replacement chip. According to my own rudimentary diagnostics, the chip went bad, right? That's where I became confused. I installed the replacement chip with the known working processor and expected to be online again. Nope. This time, the computer gave me RAM beeps. I know for a fact that both sticks of RAM are not broken. I tried ever possible combination of positions, including single and double, but the booting would not go past the RAM check. The computer would also make some weird noises, like disposable cameras do, when they charge up the flash. It sounded like they would only go halfway, though.

I also found it odd that the known working processor didn't work anymore. I was pretty sure that it was the motherboard, but I don't have any professional expertise or tools, so I took the computer to a local shop.

They confirmed my suspicions and told me that the board was probably bad. They got it to boot sometimes, so at least I know that something was working.

Anyway, so I've been without a computer for two weeks and I decided to revive my old system, so that I can finally do some freaking work. I installed the same heatsink that it was working with for two years, but then it crashed during the bootup. I could smell something burning this time. I took off the heatsink and inspected the chip. Nothing seemed to be discolored. Instead of installing the same heatsink that had previously functioned for two years, I installed a different one. I figured I had nothing to lose. That one didn't work either, because I couldn't even boot anymore.

Is it common to break cpus this easily, or am I just lucky?

[WeedVender]

Well before we start to go into Detail.....

Did you rid yourself of any static electricity before touvhing the components?

Did you overclock anything?

How many watts is your power supply? (its possible you may have overloaded the system)

Now into detail...

I recently saw a video on Tom's Hardware.com that showed how various chips reacted to temps..
When the Vid got to the AMDs (both p4 and p3 survived without heat sinks and fans)
as i said, when they go to the AMD's..
1600 failed 1 second after they removed the heat sinks and fans and TOOK OUT the motherboard as well, temp was around 700*F
the 1900 failed less than Half a second after they took away the heat sink and destroyed the Motherboard...
Note, they had just lifted the heat sink a couple centimeters and the cpu just failed.

that maybe your problem since Dual AMDs will generate an enourmous amount of heat..

That may be your problem...

[Bumstead]

I'd say it's not possible to fry a board just by having a CPU without good contact to the heatsink. Unless the CPU melts into the socket of course.

I did manage to ruin a board once while installing a heatsink though. My screwdriver slipped when I was trying to push down the clip and I jabbed the board real good. I've also heard of people damaging the board while installing the heatsink on a board mounted in a case without proper support. The excessive pressure needed to clip on modern heatsinks can bend a board so much that it cracks. It is best to remove the board from the case and install the heat sink on a flat, foam covered surface.

I know a couple additonal ways to damage the CPU while installing a heatsink. There is that fact that the Atlon chips ship with 4 rubber feet. So if your heatsink also has 4 rubber feet, you've got to remove them or you won't have good contact and your chip could overheat. Another way to fry a CPU is to use a whole bunch of grease. Just enough to cover the raised square in the middle of the CPU is correct. If grease gets far enough towards the outer edge of the ceramic it can bridge the imprinted circuits and the chip will fry.

[mrtristan]

I thought that I might have fried both chips, but I found it very odd that the working processor would fail, even though I didn't move it. I also don't know why I started getting RAM beeps, when the cpu was the theoretical broken component.

It seems something on the board that controls the RAM and/or dual cpu communication is broken. I did slip and hit the board with a screwdriver, but I couldn't see any physical damage. I'm guessing that I might have cracked a small connection when I was installing the replacement processor.

Hopefully I didn't burn out both chips, because I'm going to have one hell of a time convincing AMD to replace two more cpus, after receiving a brand new replacement.

[Bumstead]

I got ASUS to RMA my board. They no ask - me no tell about the screwdriver. Try a new board. Maybe you have two good CPUs.

[zzyzzx]

Yes. However I had one that fried itself for no appareant reason other than I was using it.