A client asked if I could look at his home PC which I've done work on in the past, including upgrading the drives, replacing ram and reinstalling XP.
He said the system had just suddenly shut down whilst he was using it, and when restarted it only stayed running for another 10 minutes before it then shut down and wouldn't start up again.
I plugged it in and it powered up to the desktop without a problem so I thought it might have just been one of those odd things that sometimes happens. But I then noticed the back of the case was getting very hot so opened it up to discover the graphics card fan wasn't spinning due to dust build up.
I cleaned the dust from the case and graphics card fan and the fan then started spinning again but was definitely on its last legs due to that horrible squeaking noise you get as they are failing.
Then the system shut down as he described and wouldn't power up again. I unplugged the system and had a good look inside, but everything seems to be plugged in firmly. I connected the power again and without pressing the soft power button on the front of the case the cpu and graphics card fans started spinning which is a bit odd. And the cases front power led was flickering instead of being constant.
I ended up trying a different graphics card but that wouldn't power on anything. I did get the system to sort of power up once with the keyboard num lock light coming on but nothing else, and the monitor didn't get a signal.
So now I'm thinking the PSU is faulty along with the graphics card. What do you all think?
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Forgot to add something else.
I thought I would fully disassemble and rebuild this PC so I know everything is connected and correctly installed before I do go and get another PSU. So I thought I would remount the CPU as the heatsink and fan were quite clogged up with dust. So I unclipped the heatink and tried to take it off but it came out with the CPU firmly stuck to the base of the heatsink.
On looking at it closely it actually looks like the original installer has stuck the CPU using some sort of glue.
Not sure how I'm going to get this off the heatsink! It is a P4 though so does have the big metal heatspreader on the CPU. Would have been worse had it been the older AMDs that didn't have a heatspreader fitted.
So now I have to find a way to get the CPU off the heatsink. Ideas?
I am going to try some 100% alcohol to see if I can dissolve the stuff holding it on. If not I will have to try and pry it off somehow.
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Think you can cut through the glue using one of those knives with long thin razor-sharp blades (don't know what they're called exactly, kinda like those Stanley-knives but much longer blade)? That'd still leave residual glue on the CPU though, but it'd be easier to get off with the heatsink gone.
This definitely sounds like a toasted PSU to me, but there's always the chance that it's the motherboard itself that's acting up.
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Hmm, but the glue would have been heated up and cooled down numerous times, so it would require a lot of heat to melt that hard glue. Wouldnt that damage the components? It sounds like you'll have to dissolve it....my best choice would be hydrochloric acid. That dissolves everything!
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