POST = power on self test. if your pc turns on correctly and everything is fine it has "posted". if it turns on but something is wrong, it will return error messages and has not "posted".
If the static wipes work than they will be fine. Im just not sure if they will clean off all the thermal paste, which is why alcohol was mentioned.
So since all it does wrong is that it doesn't display does that mean it posted?
I went to the store but they only had 70% rubbing alcohol. That should be fine though right?
Also, should I detach everything from the motherboard? Or can I leave things connected to it while I clean and reseat the cpu?
Since there is no display, it didn't POST. You don't have to detach everything, just use a little bit of alcohol and only clean the metal part of the CPU. Let it dry a bit, then turn it on.
No bent pins that I could see. Now, I'm looking at how much thermal paste is on the cpu, should it cover the whole thing? The amount I had on there doesn't go to the edges.
You don't need it to go to the edges. Use a pea-sized amount in the centre,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hNgFNH7zhQ
OK a couple questions that I just thought of. The mother board thingy that presses down on the cpu to install it has a black cover and on that cover it says to install processor before removing cover. Does that mean I leave that on while I press the lever down?
Another question. When I turn it on with only the processor but not the heatsink connected, do I hook the monitor up to the computer?
Also, that video you posted is the one I watched that showed me how to apply the thermal paste, I do think I could put a tad bit more though.
There will be black cover over the sockets when you first open the motherboard out of the box. You have to take it out and put the cpu in its place. Other than that, there doesn't seem to be any black thing on the motherboard. Can you post a picture?
Turning it on without the heatsink is only for checking that it works, once you get a signal on your monitor and you see it's working you should turn it off to prevent overheating.
I don't have any way to get pictures of the computer but here's a link to a picture of exactly what I'm talking about.
http://www.hardwareheaven.com/reviewimages/gigabyte-g1-sniper-z87-motherboard/gigabyte-g1-sniper-z87-motherboard_socket.jpg
What should I do if I turn it on and there's no signal on the monitor?
Yes hook the monitor up. We're looking for a boot menu screen to see if it has posted.
less is more when it comes to thermal paste. it doesn't have to go out to the very edge. all the hardware is in the middle of the heat shield. you just need good coverage which a pea-sized drop and pressure will get you.
I only said don't re-attatch the heat sink for time saving. your cpu will get hot, but the pc running for a few seconds, trying to see if it posts, isnt going to hurt your cpu. whether the heat sink is on or off wont affect whether your pc posts.
I dont know what black cover thing your talking about, but I've never installed a LGA 1150 cpu, so here's a video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bf5La099urI
ignore how they apply thermal paste in the video. while their method isn't wrong, the pea method is better.
That cover is to protect the pins when the cpu is not in the socket, put it away and install the cpu in its place. If there's still no signal then wait for 10 seconds and turn it off. You have may some deep underlying problem.
OK, doing this process now, I will report back after I check.
What could a deep underlying problem be?
Something just came up and I have to leave but I'll be back to try this and give results in about an hour and a half.
Nope, same thing as before. The fans turn on but no display and no beeps. The mouse comes on, but it did that before too. The lights on the keyboard don't turn on when I press caps lock, dunno if that means anything.
Alright we've narrowed this down to either the cpu, memory, or the 4 pin connector on the psu. correct?
To check the psu: grab a multimeter, a paperclip, the 4 pin cpu connector, and the 20/24 pin connector. plug psu into the outlet and turn the switch to on. take a paperclip and the 20/24 pin connector. short the green wire (there is only one on the 20/24 pin adapter) and any black wire on the 20/24 pin connector. After you shorted them the psu fan should come on. You have turned on your psu. Now take the 4 pin connector and your multimeter. The two pins CLOSEST to the clip should have 12v current, each. the two FURTHEST from the clip are ground. take your multimeter, attatch one node to the 12v pin and another to the ground pin. check to make sure youre getting about 12v. check both pins. If you have 12v in each pin then your psu is fine.
To check your memory: make sure it is in all the way. I'm not patronizing you, we all make mistakes, I know I've made some silly errors putting together a pc. it will probably take some force to get RAM in, not like your cpu. make sure the brackets clip themselves in. thats how you know its in all the way. if in all the way, you already tried different slots, time to try a new stick. grab another ddr3 1333 mhz or higher memory (this is essentially any ddr3 memory) from another computer. ddr2 and ddr1 wont fit so dont worry about finding the wrong kind. also maybe try your memory stick in another pc. see if anything works/ doesn't work.
your cpu: if everything else checks out, its probably your cpu. the only way to check is to find another lga 1150 board and swap cpus. this may be hard to do unless a friend has a intel desktop that they purchased recently. try their cpu in your pc and your cpu in theirs.
I'm sorry you're having so much touble. don't let this deter you from building/learning about pc's. I promise you wont run into this many problems most of the time. I'm determined to get your pc up and running so keep posting in this thread if you have questions.
I don't have a multimeter and I don't know when or if I will be able to get one. Is there any other way to check if those objects are working? Also on that subject, how much does a multimeter cost?
The memory is in correctly but I don't have access to different sticks of RAM and I have no friends to be able to get parts from them. I would use the RAM from this old computer but it's DDR RAM and I don't think that would work.
Don't worry about me getting deterred, I may be frustrated at it right now but I do think I can put a PC together, I'm just having problems with this one. Thanks for your determination!
I am pretty tempted to just replace all of the items though and start completely over.
multimeters have a huge range of cost. you could probably get one for less than $10 though at radioshack, bestbuy, walmart, any hardware store. just make sure it has a voltmeter (9/10 will).
It's 4:30 am here, and I just finished my programming lab and submitted it to my prof, so I'm heading to bed. but I'm on this website all the time. Feel free to post more on this thread, I'll read it tomorrow. I highly suggest finding a friend or neighbor with a DDR3 memory stick you could borrow. Out of everything that's what I'm suspecting to be wrong, but of course we can't know for sure until we test it.
I'll check the local hardware store tomorrow. If they don't have one then I have to drive about 20 minutes from where I live to get to a store like Lowes.
The memory is inserted correctly so besides using a different stick, is there anything else I can do with that?