Burning smell coming from computer

[Matt23mm]

I was cleaning my computer of all the dust. the only thing I changed was turning the heatsink the other way becuase initially I was told it was in the wrong way, Im thinking thats maybe the problem. Although I did manage to cram some wires to the side but I don't think thats the issue. the comp booted up perfectly but the smell was instant so I shut it down.

Specs:
c2d e6600
heatsink: zalman 95(the one with the big orange coils)
7900 gs
2 gig g-skill


the heatsinks fan was originally facing the side, I then changed it to face down. I added some thermal grease to.

 

[saltynay]

did you remove the original thermal paste right???

 

[CrazeD]

The air is supposed to blow towards the rear of the case.

I don't see how that would have anything to do with a burning smell, though, unless you put it in wrong.

 

[Ethereal_Dragon]

As salty asked, you should remove the thermal paste, clean the CPU heat spreader, and the bottom of the heat sink, and apply new thermal paste everytime you remove the Heat sink.

 

[Matt23mm]

will it make a difference if i just leave it. or should i go back and take the grease off.

 

[b1gapl]

Re-do the heatsink like the others said. And the CNPS9500, should be facing, where the air should blow towards the back of the case, like crazed said. Like this:

 

[trose]

I can't imagine the smell is because of old thermal paste. That wouldn't cause anything to instantly burn like he described. The best way to find the problem is startup your computer with case cover off and eyes ready to look for white smoke. And hope whatever the problem is doesn't ruin anything while you're troubleshooting.

 

[MrCoffee]

i think the sensible thing to do would be to first take a look and make sure that A) you have the heatsink on properly B) you can't see anything that has obviously burned.

Its probably just some of that dust cooking though.

 

[Nitestick]

echoing what has been said the fan should definitely blow towards the rear. blowing downwards is the least efficient positioning possible because heat rises.

 

[Matt23mm]

yea I think im going to try and replace the heatsink to iits original position.
how would I go about cleaning the old thermal paste off.