Question

Gina is upgrading your computer with a new processor. She installs the processor into your motherboard and adds the cooling system. She powers up the computer, and it begins to boot but then shuts down. What could be the cause of this problem? A. Computer is overclocked.

B. Thermal paste was not used.
C. Processor is not compatible.
D. Processor is not seated properly.

Answer 1

B. Thermal paste was not used

Step-by-step explanation:

Thermal pastes are very important when installing a heat sink or cooling system on your CPU. Without it, the computer will not work optimally. It is a high heat conductive paste that is used between objects, most especially the heatsink and the CPU/GPU.

Air is a very poor conductor of heat, therefore, the application of thermal paste ensures that the heatsink extracts all the heat from the CPU/GPU. This is done by filling up all the very tiny imperfections on the heatsink.

When a cooling system is installed without a thermal paste applied to it, the computer will shut down some moments into the booting process because the CPU is overheating and the cooling system is not functioning properly.