Processor or Mobo?

[StyleSupreme]

hey. I have narrowed down a problem here but i am still 5 % uncertain. Ok here is whats happening. I have an HP Pavillion Elite m9150f. Recently for some reason it starting malfunctioning. it worked fine and then was shut down. it never rebooted. it keeps restarting even before it sends a signal to the monitor. i thought the PSU was bad but that was wrong. becuase i used a PSU fromanother working PC and the smae thing happened. I then noticed when i left the 4 pin plug for the CPU off the PC stayed on. When i replaced the plugged the problem reappeared.
i took out the processor and the PC stayed on. Put back the processor the problem once again arose. Is it safe to assume that the processor is bad?

 

[Tmagic650]

I would say yes to a bad CPU but this is very rare. Was the CPU fan/heatsink dirty? Did you apply new thermal compound after cleaning of the old compound?

 

[StyleSupreme]

didnt even clean the old one off. and yeah the heat sink n fan were both dirty. you think if i apply the gel this may rectify the problem? cuz if so i will buy a gel in the morning.

 

[Tmagic650]

Its not jell, jell is for your hair It is called thermal compound or thermal grease. You must clean of the old paste before you apply new thermal compound. If you don't do this soon you will fry the CPU, so don't use the computer until you get the thermal compound applied properly. You just need to apply a small amount of compound, about the size of a small pea

 

[StyleSupreme]

nice i will try to get the "thermal Compound / thermal grease ASAP. Thanks loads i will let you know what the result is.