Computer so hot, it doesn't finish boot process without overheat.

I recently re-applied thermal compound on my Dell Inspiron laptop (link to teardown process : Goodbye overheating! | Aaruni's Blog ). It ran cool for a single day, idle temps at around 45 C. Now it won't boot. Fan spins at full RPM during boot time, and the computer shuts down before booting can be complete. Any help appreciated!

Are you sure you re attached the heatsink firmly?

It worked perfectly fine for a single day...

surely something went loose. open and check again if the heatpipe is touching the processor. usually the heatpipe is forced in place by a bracket which may have become loose.

@sam : been there, done that, multiple times. it still doesn't work. auto shuts-down from a cold boot in 18 seconds.

did you spill the thermal compound on the board?

@ OP - which Tim did you use ?

@gollum : it did touch on the chip, on parts outside the core, but not on the motherboard.

@sam : Cooler master IC Value V1

Can you atleast go to the BIOS?

yeah, boots into BIOS, but my BIOS doesn't show temps, and it auto-shuts down after about 18 seconds.

aaruni said:
yeah, boots into BIOS, but my BIOS doesn't show temps, and it auto-shuts down after about 18 seconds.

if you touch the heatsink while the unit is ON. Do you feel that it's hot?

try this

@gollum : that is way too much amount for my proccy (mobile intel i3)

I have tried running it at minimum config, and the heatsink does feel warm, but not so hot (critical temps are 90C for CPU, and 87C for GPU).

*edufor.fosspowered.com/img/image.php?di=IX14

If the heatsink is warm, that means its transferring heat. If it doesn't, then its a problem.

How are you saying that the system is shutting down only because of heat? Did you try remounting memory kit/swapping the rams, remounting HDDs and resetting CMOS battery?

I am assuming that you haven't done anything to the thermal pad for the chipset and that they're having proper contact over it.

Are the fan pins connected? Is the fan spinning?

@sorcerer : I am saying that system is shutting down because of overheat, because of the behavior (fan runs at full RPM, and then, suddenly, off).

Yeah, I tried removing and putting back memory several times (each time I have to disassemble the laptop, I have to remove RAM). I did swap the slots too. Did remove HDD (part of tear-down process), and tried resetting CMOS too (as suggested by someone on #krow), but nothing works.

The fan spins at full RPM, and then the laptop shuts down, so yeah, fans are connected..

looks like something wrong with either your cpu or mainboard.
PS your link for teardown does not open

Now i'm getting cold-feet about replacing tim in my laptop

I would recommend you to download a User Service Manual for your laptop and reassembling it again

Gollum said:
try this

For a notebook processor?

@OP:
Can you put the pictures of the new application of the thermal paste once again? Did you try booting one ram at a time? You also didn't say anything about the thermal pad contact as well. You can try and see if the system is staying on without the HDD connected.

fyi, swabs have lints. You need to use Lint free cloth- period.

If you've tried everything, send it to the service centre. You've exhausted every possible step, unless you've recollected a step that you may have missed before, I don't see how this can be solved.

@ OP - did you test the laptop without the battery installed ? .. once I had a weird issue of shutting down whenever I plug in a USB device or run some game though later adding a gfx card fixed it .. my point is this could be the ram or motherboard acting funny.

@gollum : works for me.

@swiftshashi : that's how I tore it down in the first place... service manual

@sorcerer : there was no thermal pad, only thermal paste. and since I can't find any alcohol locally, I decided to go for swabs, and was careful not to leave behind anything after cleaning. I did try with only a single stick of ram, without HDD, and it still won't stay on.

@topgear : how can I boot it up without battery while it is opened up like that ? I will have put it back together, and take out just the battery..

aaruni said:
@gollum : works for me.

@swiftshashi : that's how I tore it down in the first place... service manual

@sorcerer : there was no thermal pad, only thermal paste. and since I can't find any alcohol locally, I decided to go for swabs, and was careful not to leave behind anything after cleaning. I did try with only a single stick of ram, without HDD, and it still won't stay on.

@topgear : how can I boot it up without battery while it is opened up like that ? I will have put it back together, and take out just the battery..

connect only the ac adapter[without battery]. your battery is not the best power source for your computer.

But if I do that, then components will be inside lappy shell/body (the plastic body). still try only battery ?

aaruni said:
But if I do that, then components will be inside lappy shell/body (the plastic body). still try only battery ?

dude..lol I thought you were always connected to the ac adapter. Now I know why your computer shuts down. Its got no power.
Connect only the ac adapter without the battery and start the unit. I should work.

@Gollum : tried that yesterday. still doesn't stay on for more than a couple of seconds...

aaruni said:
@Gollum : tried that yesterday. still doesn't stay on for more than a couple of seconds...

well I would suggest you to either take it to sp road or take to dell service center. they would probably replace system board

@gollum : you know any particular good shop on SP Road, or any shop ?

aaruni said:
@gollum : you know any particular good shop on SP Road, or any shop ?

not really dude, but you might need to look at the 1st floors of the main lane, you might find something there.