New CPU Sets Smoke Detectors Off

[lando4commando]

1 minute ago, Ryujin2003 said:

Do you have another heatsink to try? Perhaps from another AMD CPU in the past?

I do have another AMD heatsink but it is very small compared to the one I am currently using. I am afraid that the CPU would overheat if I use my old small one

[Ryujin2003]

5 minutes ago, lando4commando said:

I do have another AMD heatsink but it is very small compared to the one I am currently using. I am afraid that the CPU would overheat if I use my old small one

We're checking it for smell. Is it a stock heatsink? I'm not going to ask you to have it anything crazy. Just not and see if the smell is there.

 

In my experience, the smell on the heatsink is coming from something else, the heatsink smells because it's blowing the smoke through the fins.

 

You can always stick your face near the board with the heatsink out and shit around.

 

Even better, you can unplug the 4 pin CPU power connector, take the heatsink out and per it on and see if that creates the smoke smell. Cool won't work, won't post, but everything else will get power.

[ProximaOfZeal]

Is there perhaps a possibility that the CPU Fan itself is faulty, and while it's still running, it's actually burning its motor's wirings out? Or maybe, although less likely, the motherboard is supplying too high voltage for the fan, causing the above to happen.

 

As for testing with the smaller heatsink you have, maybe you could, if the motherboard allows, underclock and undervolt the CPU for this test?

[lando4commando]

Should I buy a new CPU heatsink or should I just wait to see if the smell will burn off naturally?

[JakeNTech]

19 hours ago, lando4commando said:

Should I buy a new CPU heatsink or should I just wait to see if the smell will burn off naturally?

The chances of the smell going away are small, its more likely to get worse until something gives way. I would first take the cooler off and make sure that there are no burnt/snapped off capacitors around the CPU. If not then try re-applying the thermal paste using the method that's on this thread from me. Then I would consider trying another cooler.  

[trevrez]

Well it can't be the actual heatsink itself, so either something is on it that is heating up and causing the burning smell or perhaps something in the fan is starting to burn. 

 

What are you using for thermal paste in the initial install and did you cleanup/replace the thermal paste after removing the heatsink and fan?  

 

I would remove heatsink and fan again, remove the fan and inspect everything very closely.  Are wires looking good on the fan?  Nothing wedged in one of the heatsink fins or anything?  

 

If it were my system I would not be powering it on again until the source of the smell is identified and fixed as you might be looking and killing some actual hardware in the near future.  

[Emberstone]

On 1/14/2018 at 11:06 AM, ProximaOfZeal said:

Is there perhaps a possibility that the CPU Fan itself is faulty, and while it's still running, it's actually burning its motor's wirings out? Or maybe, although less likely, the motherboard is supplying too high voltage for the fan, causing the above to happen.

This guy might be on to something. Is the smell coming from the actual fan itself?