Hi All, I've just installed a new cpu fan & heatsink on my AMD Athlon XP 2500+ as the old one was whining horribly. Seemed to be fairly simple procedure.... However, 5 seconds after I power on, its automatically shuts down? Hard disks whir, new cpu fan spins nicely (and quietly), but every time it powers off after 5 secs. Whats even more annoying is that when I put the old cpu fan back in, IT DOES THE SAME THING!!! Ahhh, broken computer, not happy, please help if you have any ideas? Baldy
Take a dry peace of cloth and carefully remove the old thermal paste on the CPU. Then apply some new thermal paste on the CPU (that paste is bundled with most cpu coolers). Then put the new cooler on the cpu. For full instructions how to apply the paste, look here:Hardware Knowledgebase - How do I apply thermal paste properly? - HardwareFAQs: powered by neofaq and The Heatsink Guide - All about PC cooling EDIT: I had this problem too in the past.
it sounds as if the PSU is underpowered, they do lose the maximum power they can provide, check out B's PSU Sticky, get the best PSU you can afford, the PSU is NOT the place to save money, as a decent PSU will allow you to upgrade your system a few times[ot]Wattage doesn't mean much, the amount of power provided on each rail is a lot more important
Thanks for the reply gents, however, I've solved it. The heatsink wasn't seated properly on the CPU - doh. Thats what you get for doing an install after playing football.
