PC problem & I'm stumped

My PC I built 2 years ago was running slow. It was time for a cleaning. It had been about 6 months since it had been dusted. I opened it up & there was quite a bit of dust in it.(will need to clean more often than 6 months) Using canned air & a PC vac, I cleaned it. Apparently the dust was making it work..lol When I powered it back up it would beep twice then shutdown. It never powers up long enough to show any messege on the screen. I'm stumped on what the problem is. I've tried removing components; such as the added video card to narrow down what it could be. I'm wondering if the processor was damaged due to overheating or the mobo was damaged during the cleaning.
I've tried a new PSU thinking maybe it is the PSU. That didn't fix it.

Before I go spending money on a mobo & processor, I was wondering if anyone has any ideas as to the problem?

This is the mobo & processor I'm thinking of if it comes to that.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5024446&CatId=14

My PC is my multimedia center for my TV & Music. I watch most of my tv on Hulu through my LCD tv & home theater surround. The mobo has an hdmi port which I'm glad to see. Otherwise I ran it from the DVI to the HDMI. And this board has the digital optical sound port.


Thanks for your help.

 

My first guess would be a loose wire that got bumped or something during cleaning. I would just pull some wires individually and clean the contacs and put them back in.

 

I would look at the wires to the hard drive first.

 

I have a sata drive. I have unplugged & re plugged the cable. Maybe I should swap the cable. I have others laying around.

 

Can't hurt to try if you already have the cables.

 

No no no no no! Figure out the problem, don't just start pulling shit (and breaking it worse!)

The 2 beeps are a beep code, all motherboards have them, and they indicate a problem that prevents the computer from even starting.

This can be simple things such as RAM being only halfway seated. What model of motherboard or computer do you have? You can look up (or i can) what the 2-beep beep code is for that motherboard and see what it's complaining about.

It is in fact likely that something came halfway unplugged, but it is unlikely to be harddrive. It's more likely something that would prevent the computer from starting - processor, RAM, or a video / pci card not being fulled seated and pushed in are common reasons.

 

Great advice.

To clarify I wasn't telling him to pull everything apart at once but one cable at a time and clean it then reinstall it to elimate more problems.

 

Everything is seated. I have reseated the memory,processor, video card, hd cable, power cables.


Info is from the invoice on tigerdirect.
Intel Pentium D 940 3.20GHz / 4MB Cache / 800MHz FSB / Dual-Core / Presler / Socket 775 / Processor with Fan (Retail)

MPN: BX80553940



Intel D945GCCRL Motherboard - Intel Socket 775, MicroATX, Audio, Video, PCI Express, 10/100 Ethernet LAN, USB 2.0, Serial ATAMPN: BOXD945GCCRL

 

Thanks for the idea. The mobo site says it may be memory issues.

 

You get nothing on screen, right? If not, should be a memory problem.

How many sticks do you have in, and how big are they? I would start by taking them all out, using your compressed air to blow out the ram sockets, and putting one stick into the first slot and trying to boot. (Even though it supports dual channel, it should still boot with 1 stick.) If that works, pull it and put any others you have in and see if they work to try to narrow it down to a problem memory stick, if one has gone bad. More likely I bet there's some dust in a socket or something, and pulling, spraying, and reseating your ram will fix it.

 

Thanks. Fair enough, that's generally a good idea. I don't mean to be an ass, just had a long day.

 

No worries, I didn't take it that way. I got by the smiley face you ment no harm.

 

I have two 1gb chips.Ultra 1024MB PC4200 DDR2 533MHz Memory
I will try that. Thanks for everyones help.

The memory ran across my mind, but of course I dismissed it thinking that couldn't be the problem. DOH!

 

Q: What do the beeps emitted during the POST mean?
A: The following Award BIOS beep code descriptions may help you identify possible computer problems.
(For reference only.)
1 short: System boots successfully
2 short: CMOS setting error
1 long, 1 short: Memory or motherboard error
1 long, 2 short: Monitor or graphics card error
1 long, 3 short: Keyboard error
1 long, 9 short: BIOS ROM error
Continuous long beeps: Graphics card not inserted properly
Continuous short beeps: Power error
http://www.gigabyte.us/Support/Motherboard/Manual_Model.aspx?ProductID=3143

Pulled this from the manual. Might be of some help.

 

I was able to get a messege to come up on my screen after multiple starts, before it shutdown. The beeping I am getting is more like a siren than 2 beeps.

CPU previously Shut Down due to thermal event(overheating)

I may need to apply some new thermal paste on the heat sink. Or worse case scenario the processor is fried & needs replacing.

 

Smartasses need not apply. LOL

 

Ouch... Hopefully ya just need some more paste. Maybe a better heatsink too.

 

Thermal paste is a good plan. Make sure you clean it off thoroughly beforehand (I use Q-tips) and put on some good quality paste that you spread evenly (I use artic silver and Q-tips and the end of the tube to sorta spread it around).

Right after you clean off the old paste from the processor, it's a good time to check if you fried anything. Typically you can literally see a tiny black mark, often on one of the corners, where the processor has melted a bit. If you see that, it's bad. But new paste is definitely worth a shot, and make sure it's seated correctly - it should only go in one way, and be Zero Insertion Force so if you're trying hard to put the processor in the socket, you're doing something wrong, it should just drop in. (The little lever or whatever might need a bit of pressure though).

You can try booting it without a processor at all to see what it does in that scenario, if you're right i'd bet it does the exact same thing. Most new machines are very good about automatically shutting off if there's a thermal problem, so hopefully you just forgot to plug in a fan or had inadequate thermal paste.

 

What do you use to clean off the old paste? I assume Qtips.

I will swing by Fry's or Micro-center tommorrow & get some paste & a new heatsink. The heatsink I have; the clips are bent(cheap plastic clips).

Thanks for your help.

 

Qtips rule. You have a heatsink and fan combo right, not just a heatsink?

If you want to get your processor nice and shiny, you can dab the Q-tip in some isopropyl while you're cleaning it, sometimes it's hard to really get everything off otherwise. I usually do that and then dry with the other end or a second q-tip. Probably go through a few q-tips but they're cheap, so w/e.