Hey guys

Ok here is the story as follows.
I had a Socket 478 Northwood 3.0Ghz CPU with H/T, and the standard Intel P4 heatsink broke because the bottom left clip came off from vibration and the CPU Fried with out my knowledge.
Ok after grieving and moving on the a cheap $30 Intel Celeron P4 Skt 478 2.5Ghz (SL6ZY) and having a heatsink clip made for me by a very close computing mate who showed me it worked fine with his own 2.8GHz Northwood in my motherboard. I rush home and insert the 2nd hand CPU, which was known to be working fine, and clip on the heatsink. No beep . I fiddled with it over and over again till one day in fustration i accidentally tuned it on without the heatsink. Big fright at 11 at night with a very loud BIOS beep! I carefully put the heatsink back on, THROW the two switches and reboot it. No beep. I undo one of the clips and the BIOS beeps again. Do the clip back up and the machine stops working this is very annoying and after a little fiddling have been able to get it going with the clips on somehow for a few minutes to type this up...Congrats if the auto-saving part of this entry is part of firefox or part of the forum

Really hope someone can shed some light on this
KurtisNo Beeps Short, No power, Bad CPU/MB, Loose Peripherals
One Beep Everything is normal and Computer POSTED fine
Two Beeps POST/CMOS Error
One Long Beep, One Short Beep Motherboard Problem
One Long Beep, Two Short Beeps Video Problem
One Long Beep, Three Short Beeps Video Problem
Three Long Beeps Keyboard Error
Repeated Long Beeps Memory Error
Continuous Hi-Lo Beeps CPU Overheating

could be the PROCESSOR overheated?
and see this,
http://www.devhardware.com/c/a/Hardware-Guides/Applying-Thermal-Paste/All manuf. beep codes are not the same...

http://pcsupport.about.com/library/weekly/aa051103a.htmmy computer does beep at BIOS and it boots normal. Lol sorry should have been more specific...Sometimes the computer will boot fine and run for a while if i shift the heatsink in the tiniest of fashions. I have a ODD idea this CPU was overheated at some stage in its life and has expanded inside, and the contacts have been broken, and are only just touching, and when the pressure of the heatsink is applied it breaks that connection? Because I just tested it again with no clips on but just enough pressure to make it touch and it goes great but runs rather hot..45 degrees in idle. and when I increase the pressure on the CPU it goes so far until it just freezes completely.

Anybody else think this could be the issue? It would be alot easier if I had another CPU to test it with but the only other 478 i have is a 1.8Ghz and doesn't run in my board

Any confirmations would be great

Oh and when it doesn't boot up, the HDD light stays on, same as if I boot without a CPU in it at all

kurtisI don't believe it's the CPU at fault...i think it needs to be seated properly and i don't think the homemade clip is doing the job...OK Thanks guys I am hopefully receiving in the mail shortly a brand new 3Ghz P4 plus the heatsink + fan so we shall see then

KurtisCPU has disappeared from mail ...but I had another idea, Why not put the case on the side and take the clip off of the heatsink cover and just place the H/S on the cpu? And It's working like a charm Temperatures are actually lower than before on idle. 26* VS 39* and at full load 49* vs 60* So does anybody think maybe it is loose connections inside the CPU?

kurtis
Putting it on its side seems a little risky, the vibrations could over time encourage the heatsink to slide from off the top of the processor, plus not clipping it down doesn't give you the full potential. Placing the case on its side may also be messing with the temperature monitor, giving you false low readings.

And about that other CPU you ordered, I hope you're chasing up the company responsible. I've been ripped off by an internet delivery company once (due in part to my own laziness, but only in part).There are millions of machines that run fine on their side...Dell's come to mind for one.
Depending on where that clip broke the only option may be a new MBoard which may not be worth it on an older machine.

I had a tower machine that only behaved lying on it's side for some strange reason...i ran it like that for years before giving it away...That could be true oxy, But I have not had any crashes or similar yet, and the machine it working perfectly I just got a refund from PC-World(shop in Auckland) because they "had none in stock" apparently. But oh well. It wasnt the bracket that broke it was simply the piece with the two grey "switches" where it pushes the heatsink down onto the CPU. And I think it is definately reading the right temperature, as when it is removed for just one second it goes up to 60-65 and I quickly placed it back on and it dropped to 30 Degrees again.

This is a very weird situation for me partly because like you said, it should not be working to it's full potential, right? The thing is, its woking better than when it is clipped down...Oh and don't worry I check it every time i boot up and have Hmonitor Pro running with a warning temp of 50

Thanks HEAPS guys ur awesome Sorry to pull up an old subject, But I just placed the clip back on the H/S and placed the computer up the right way...and it seems to be working fine, but, the temperature has risen again to about 34-36 at idle. From what I gather, more pressure = more heat absorption due to more contact? very weird, and have had at no stage in its life any thermal paste applied to it. As said before, when placed on its side and the heatsink simply placed on it it stays stone cold, like I can shutdown, quickly life the H/S off and i cannot feel heat whatsoever!

Still very confused about this all...
Kurtis
Quote

and have had at no stage in its life any thermal paste applied to it.