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Hi, my problem is as follows, any help would be much appreciated:

My computer has been overheating periodically for the past few months, usually when playing high-requirement games or the like, (I figured it was related to summer till I found out what I thought to be the problem) and yesterday I took it all apart and cleaned the dust out of EVERYTHING (yes, everything, doing so very delicately.) Upon putting it all back together (the dust wasn't that bad, I'd cleaned it a month or so earlier) it would start up then get to what I assume is the BIOS screen (new to PCs, was an apple guy for about 15 years) and then just shut off like it normally does when it overheats.

After reading a few posts I figured the problem was the thermal compound between the heatsink and processor since I bought the computer second-hand about a year ago. That was last night. Today I picked up some new compound (arctic silver, which I have read is the best,) took the old crap off and applied it after consulting 4-5 youtube instructional videos, and all I got was that it lasted about 90 seconds longer before it shut off.

In case it helps, here are the specifications (to the best of my recollection):
MSI 945GZM2-F motherboard (7210)
Intel P4 @ 2.66ghz (prescott, socket 775)
1.5gb ddr2 dual-channel ram (2x256/2x512)
nVidia Geforce 6600GT (128mb)
80GB SATA HD (dont remember the brand)
Enpower case, Cooler Master 550W power supply

I fear I may have fried the motherboard or the processor in turning it on/off a number of times before I figured out what the problem was. Clearly something is fried or overheating and I've got nothing. Can anyone help me out?

Thanks in advance,
Rich

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Member Avatar for chardos

Update:

I removed the thermal compound that I had applied earlier and applied the same compound using a different technique and it now runs flawlessly. I feel like a complete retard but I don't care because my machine works again. :)

Member Avatar for fren

Sometimes the problem needs only a simple solution but difficult to pinpoint the culprit. Thanks for letting us know the solution.

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