New system POSTS and lets you in BIOS then shuts down

[Datku]

Any leads on my problem would be great.

I am building a new computer. I have the Asus P4P800-SE motherboard and a Intel Pentium 4 2.8 Prescott CPU with 1G PC3200 Ram (2X512 with heat shields). The system has a 550W power supply in it. Other devices attached are a SB Live Sound card, GF4 Ti4200 video card (still waiting for my new vid card to arrive), a 120G WD SATA Hard Drive, a Maxtor 20G IDE HD, Mitsumi Floppy drive, Philips CDRW and Philips DVD. The Case is the Orge case with a huge case fan in rear and a fan on the side window. Power supply is dual fan. CPU is a Box Intell with intell heatsink and Fan. Thermal Gel was used applied to the bottom of the heatsink prior to mounting on top of CPU.

Problem I am having is when I start the system up and try to go to bios to configure it, the computer will run for about 25-35 seconds then shut down. CPU fan is spinning, case fans are spinning, Pwr Supply fans are spinning, side fan is spinning and I have a green light on the Mother Board. When the system posts it shows that it has a 2.8 CPU and 1024 Ram.

So far I have tried to unplug some of the devices attached (SATA drive, CDRW/DVD etc) and have even unplugged everything (all devices as well as case fans) and still have the same problem. I have tried only using one stick of ram and tried each stick by itself and still same problem. MB, CPU, Memory, SATA HD, Case w/ 550wPwr Supply are all new equiptment.

I have not flashed bios (Asus has a new bios out for this board released beginning of August).

Anyone have any idea's what could be the problem?

Thanks.

[MitaDC]

Sounds heat related to me... try opening your case and have a fan blow on your cpu, also make sure your HSF is seated correctly... GL

[Datku]

Don't know about heat. Brand new system with plenty of cooling (all fans working). The System has not stayed powered up for more than 30 secs on any attempt and the heatsink on the CPU isnt even warm....This is a brand new build, no OS or anything on it yet.

[13threaper]

it sounds to me like your heat sink is'nt making proper contact with your chip, you should try re-fitting it and see if it makes a difference.

another problem that it could be , is that you have used to much thermal gel!

[13threaper]

hint: if you can still see any gel on your heatsink then you used to much!

thermal gel (or paste as it's called in uk) is used to fill out the tiny gaps on your hs

imagine if you look at your hs through a microscope, due to the imperfections in the material it would look a little like a tiny mountain range, what the thermal gel does is try to fill the gaps between these mountains and turn it into a grassy plain.

when applying thermal gel, use the edge of a credit card or something similar and scrape up and down and from side to side a couple of times, once it looks like there's no trace of the gel on your hs, your set!

just remember, if you can see it then it's too much!

[John Prophet]

when u do boot up go straight into the bios and see if you can see the temperature of the cpu

the whole "heatsink not getting warm" is sort of a bad thing..it SHOULD get warm cuz it is supposed to "suck off" the heat from the cpu and transfer it to the surrounding air

[sweeper2]

when u do boot up go straight into the bios and see if you can see the temperature of the cpu

the whole "heatsink not getting warm" is sort of a bad thing..it SHOULD get warm cuz it is supposed to "suck off" the heat from the cpu and transfer it to the surrounding air

I agree....dble check your HSF to your cpu...make sure you don't have to much gel going onto your cpu etc. Just a light thin layer should do the trick...as posted in earlier post...

[Jarhed7276]

You said you put thermal paste on the CPU. Boxed Intel CPU's come with a thermal film or pad on the heatsink. Did you remove this from the heatsink before you applied the paste?

[John Prophet]

yep...cant use paste AND the thermal pad......

I think you will need to just take it back apart...scrape off the thermal pad with a razor blade (carefully)..clean it all off smooth with alcohol or lghter fluid or "goof off"

then take the thermal paste and just put one small "dot" on the cpu or heatsink....not a big glob.....and I personally have never tried to "spread" the thermal paste....I just have always let the pressure of the heatsink do the spreading

see these video http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/...5E6678,00.html

(they recommend the "pad" over the paste..but most overclockers etc use paste not pad)

[Peter M]

When the heatsink isn't even getting warm, given the HUGE power dissipation of the P4 processors, then this smells to me like the heatsink isn't making good contact to the CPU.

[Datku]

Yep the problem was with the Heat sink. When the heatsink was installed it wasnt completely set. When I pulled off the heat sink/fan only about 1/2 of the CPU had the thermal paste on it which told me that the kit wasnt sitting completely. I reset it making sure it was all the way on and fired up the comp and its been running for about an hour now no problems. Thanks for the leads!

[sweeper2]

good deal....! ...


P.S. WELCOME TO TECH IMO...!!!!

[pinipig523]

nice to know it works now! nothing better than overcoming a problem!

good job!!