help with freinds comp

[Dilatedpeoples28]

my friend said he was taking his cpu/heatsink out to clean the dust off it. He disconnected the power cord before. When he put it back in, the computer wont start up. Well it starts up, fans running lights on but nothing comes up on the moniter. i tried connecting his moniter to the onboard graphics card but same result. I also tried clearing the cmos then trying but same result. What do u guys think it could be? somthing with his graphics card or his cpu? or what?

[dlewis23]

make sure everything is seated propally, memory, processor, all pci cards, sata ide cables. all power connectors are in firmly.

then give it another try. if it still does not work, remove 1 part at a time, and turn the computer back on a and see if it comes up. do that till you get down to just the mobo processor and memory.

[richcornucopia]

I'm guessing he wasn't grounded when he was working on it, right?

[Dilatedpeoples28]

I'm guessing he wasn't grounded when he was working on it, right?

he said he was which was my initial thought, and to dlewis i unplugged everything and plugged everything back in and nothing, then i unplgged 1 thing at a time and tried after each and go all the way to mobo cpu, and memory and still nothing. One thing i noticed was the thermal paste on the cpu was not done well at all, way too much was used it was squished out the sides and he said he tried to wipe some off. He also said before he cleaned it it was freezing every 5 minutes and he read somwhere it could have been due to dust so thats y he cleaned it. Could it be that the cpu fried? or any oother suggestions would be welcomed but i think its pretty much dead.