Slight crackle when installing CPU cooling fan

[johnnyelvis]

:eek: I'm building my very first computer and actually started last night. I've been beating myself up over this: I was installing the CPU cooler and might have put to much pressure. I don't see any physical damage but I'm still concerned. Just to be clear, the cracking sound wasn't like a branch snapping or anything; it was more like a small crackle.

Should I be concerned about this?

[chunkylover53]

The flex in the motherboard could sound like a small crackle, but I can't say for sure. Not that it matters, but I'm curious which cooler your using. The Zalman 9700 requires more pressure than a first timer (like me) thinks a motherboard can take, but I didn't do any damage.

Edit: Sorry, didn't realize it was in the SMTR section.

[johnnyelvis]

I'm using the Zalman CNPS9500 AM2.

I hope it was the flex in the motherboard. I checked the CPU and the CPU base and it looked good and felt sturdy. I guess I'll find out when I power it up.

It will be obvious if I damaged anything when I power it up right?

Thanks,

Johnny Elvis

[Rob]

I'm using the Zalman CNPS9500 AM2.
It will be obvious if I damaged anything when I power it up right?


It may not be obvious. I think you've handled it pretty much the same way I would. Even though it crackled a bit, it could very well still be ok. If it were me, I would carry on.

[johnnyelvis]

I'm trying to boot up my system with the XP OS.. I changed the setting in the BIOS to boot off of the CDROM. I get the single beep like everythings okay, but my cd keeps ejecting even after I press enter.

More of the details on this are in the partitioning thread I submitted last week.

I secured all of the cable connections as well.

Could this be related to the problem I had in this thread?

[Rob]

I guess it's possible, but just in the sense that something is acting up and the cause is unknown. I'd carry-on as if this were not the cause for the time being.

[johnnyelvis]

What do you suggest my next step should be?

Thank you

[Rob]

About the CD ejecting? (We're talking about a CD ROM device, not a DVD optical device, right?) Does this only happen with the BIOS is configured to boot from the CD?

[johnnyelvis]

It's the Sony DRU840A Dual Formal Double Layer DVD RW/CDRW that you recommended.

[Rob]

That's a good one. I'm using two of them and they've been great so far. They are quieter than the NEC drive and I'd rather pay a little more to keep the noise down.

But, anyway, does the problem only happen when the BIOS is configured to boot from the optical drive?

[johnnyelvis]

Yes, I have the optical drive/CDROM set as the boot priority in BIOS and it still doesn't work. It doesn't work when anything else is set as the priority as well.

[shyster]

You did say it was an Original XP install disk and not a boot disk right?

Just bringing it up because someone was having the exact same problem of the drive ejecting the disk, and it was because they were using a boot disk instead of an install disk.

Does it eject other disks as well or just the XP disk? Have you tried putting in a cd with WD's disk testing system, that boots from bios and seeing if that works? If one disk works and another does not, it is probably a bad cd not the drive itself.

Of course these are the late night ramblings of a madman, sometimes new ideas come out from the crazy people.

[johnnyelvis]

I have the original Xp disc not the boot.

I bought the hard drive OEM & I have no testing disc.

I tried the disc that came with the motherboard and it ejected as well.


J.Elvis

[Rob]

You could try this just to see what it does. Disconnect the ribbon cable from the back of the optical drive and try rebooting. Does it still eject the tray?

You could try clearing the CMOS and loading fail-safe defaults. Set the optical drive to be the boot device and see if it still ejects the tray.

Beyond that, it would be nice if you could swap out the ribbon cable to see if the problem persists. Then swap out the optical drive to see if the problem persists. But you may not have extras of these handy.

How serious is this problem to your situation? For example, are you able to boot from the optical drive after closing the tray, or does it just eject again?

[johnnyelvis]

I'll try your suggestions when I get home.

If the drive is closed when I boot it still opens.

[johnnyelvis]

I appreciate all the time you're taking to help me out.

I replaced the optical drive and the ribbon cable to see if it ejected. It did not eject but I got to the same screen where it says DISK BOOT FAILURE - INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER.

I put the original optical disk back and left the ribbon cable off like you suggested. The cd still ejected.

When I opened up my old comuter I noticed there was an additional wire going from the the optical drive to the MB. It was the CDROM's audio cable. I connected that wire to the new system. Would that wire make a difference in how the CDROM reads a CD?

I cleared the CMOS but I'm not sure how to Load Fail-Safe Defaults. Is that the same as the Load Setup Default in the EXIT tab in BIOS?
If not how do I do FailSafe?

Thanks again,

Johnny

[chunkylover53]

Yes, setup default is the same as fail safe.

[johnnyelvis]

Rob,

Can you take a look at the results I had on the '08:04 AM' thread before Chunky's?

I'm still doing the best I can with the little time I have to dedicate to this project.

Thanks a Ton,

Johnny E

[Rob]

If I read your message correctly, it sounds like you swapped out the optical drive and ribbon cable and everything seemed to work normally. The DISK BOOT FAILURE message is normal in this case. If the drive had held the Windows installation CD then it looks like it would have booted from it and began installing the OS.

[armyslowrdr]

I just did my first build this weekend; I too heard a sick crackling noise when I installed the cooler. All is well; I attribute the crackling to the pins pushing through the 4 holes on the motherboard. It's a very snug fit--naturally there is going to have to be some noise and I'd imagine the material around the inner circumference of the holes are made a little "thicker" but made to "give way" when the pins are pressed through.