Man vs. Machine: The Desktop

Check this out:

I put a black earpiece on my left headphone and a white earpiece on my right. So now I can put them in the correct ear lobe the correct time the first time! Aren't I innovative???

Speaking of innovative, let me tell you of a time when I was innovative while repairing a desktop computer. Three weeks ago I started work on an old Asus I picked up from a garage sale. The user couldn't figure out why the computer would turn on and then turn off immediately. But I knew the answer!

                                                                     Thermal Paste!


Here's a little Myth vs. Fact for you!

Myth:

Thermal paste is used to help cool down the processor so that it doesn't overheat.The more thermal paste, the better cooled the processor is.

Fact:

Thermal paste is ACTUALLY used to fill in the tiny microscopic imperfections that are created after machining the metals that exist on your processor and your heatsink. (If it were possible for the metal on the heatsink and the metal on the processor to be flushed 100% then there really wouldn't be a need for thermal paste.)

Too much thermal paste will actually create a barrier between the two metals, making conductivity much harder and dropping the efficiency of the heat sink exponentially. There's also the risk of spillage. Thermal paste on the motherboard is not good and can sometimes cause the motherboard to short out.

How much thermal paste do you need?

This much. The size of a pea. You basically want enough to fill in every microscopic  imperfection on the surfaces of the heat sink and processor so that the two can become flushed together into the most perfect delicious temperature controlled sandwich you have ever had.

Anyway. Once I fixed this, the computer turned on and stayed on!

Huzzah!

But like the plot-line of any good thriller movie, my solution was immediately followed by another problem. The monitor would not turn on.

I will spare you all the details I went through troubleshooting this device including testing four different video cards and power supplies, replacing the RAM, and even re-seating the CPU, Heat-sink, and fan multiple times. . After two weeks of working on the dang thing, I gave up and decided to go play the Witcher 3.

 You heard me. Go find a shirt. Or not.

 Three days went by before I decided to suit up and head into battle once more. As I was turning on the lights and booting up my nearby server I noticed the 4pin CPU power connector on the motherboard that had nothing plugged into it.

 I swear that it had something plugged into it while I had worked on it, but Schrodinger's cat was determined to prove me wrong. So of course I plugged the CPU power cord into it and waited, staring at the blank monitor...

 Words can not describe how excited I was to see the screen light up with the BIOS menu. I'm sure my neighbors thought I had won the lottery or something. After I got over my initial excitement I beat myself up for not checking the CPU power connectors on the motherboard in the FIRST place!




Man: 1
Machine: 0