The fan won't have any on it, the heatsink/cooler might. If it is a used part, clean it off and put new paste on the CPU, not on the heatsink.

'

Yeah I meant the heatsink, not the fan. Both are brand new. The heatsink has thermal paste on it, covered by a removable thing slip of plastic.

No...too much can cause issues.

If it's already coated...do NOT add more.

More paste does not improve conductivity - it'll actually be a negative...

Personally, I'd clean that off and apply Arctic Silver. If you have none then using what is there should be ok as long as there is some and it is enough to cover the CPU. Up to you on that one.

And, what they said,^^^^^ don't apply more on top of that.

Just make sure you smooth it out evenly also.Dont lick your finger after!

I think he knows that DT. Say........did you menton that out of personal experience?

EEWWW!!!

Hmmm, Artic Silver in Cool Mint flavor. Might be something to that idea.

It's been a while since I built a new rig for myself but the last time I did it I used STG1.   A non-curing compound by Zalman.  I found it to be much simpler to apply the right amount (applies like nail polish using the built in brush) and while not sooooo much better than the rest (the web claims are well.......web claims) it definitely did keep things a degree or two cooler than the rest.

Yeah, figured he knew about smoothing the goop, was not sure about the finger. I thought it was frosting,what did I know.  I stay a lot cooler now though.!

So all of the parts came today. I took my my time and assembled the computer just like I have many times before. Plugged everything in the rear and guess what? Blank screen. Sure the fan and hard drive start up but that's it. I think the CPU may not be compatible with this motherboard.

The LCD works great.

So I have no idea what to do. For now I am going to transfer the HP motherboard with the Pentium 4 into the new case. The old HP case is missing a side and has seen better days. Besides I think the PSU is on it's last leg.

So I looked it up. This mobo I have is a AM2 mobo. I need a AM2+ mobo to run this processor. So at this point I don't know what to do.

Check the RAM, is is all seated properly? Try one stick at a time. What post beeps are you getting? Recheck all your connections also.

I already checked the RAM. Twice. I even removed two of the four to see if that helps. It did not. There are NO beeps when powered on at all.

Damn, that's a real bummer, I was sure it was AM2 backwards compatible.  Is there any way you could box it up again and see if you can do an exchange for an AM2+ socket board.  Like tell them it hasn't been used or anything and there was a mix up with the purchase due to the CPU coming from another source overseas, and only when it arrived did you know that you needed the AM2+ board.  It's worth a try... and apart from the shipping cost factor, I only have AM3 and AM3+ boards here anyway, so I'm not much use there, unfortunately.