Overheating?!?

Ci2e

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Joined
28 Nov 2004
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I've had this system for close to 3 years with no major problems, I don't turn the system on and off constantly either. I run an FTP which is up 24/7 unless I decide to play a game online. While I was playing PlanetSide for about 30 minutes all the sudden everything powered down, I had to hold the power button in to actually turn the green power light off on the tower, and press it again to power it up again. I go to play again and it powers down after another 25-30 minutes of gaming. I've never ever had this problem before, but I've gotten some opinions on the matter and most believe its my CPU overheating, no I do not overclock anything. So what can I do about this, besides replacing the CPU or anything thats going to be expensive? If my only option is to spend bundles of cash I'm literally going to cry! :suprised:
 
check the cpu fan and make sure there is no build of gunk that might be restricting its rotation, when it does power down check the heat of the memory modules. Does your CPU have temperature monitoring?
 
Just a couple hours ago I opened it up and blew it all out with my lungs, since I don't have any canned air at the moment. I'm not sure about temperature monitoring, my motherboard did come with some software but I've never really had use for it, I've made sure the intake fan and the exhaust fan were clean and I blew out all the dust of the CPU heatsink and I felt the memory sticks and didn't feel anything near the temperature of my hard drives, I can't think of anything else. I currently have a floor fan sucking air from the tower inside my desk towards the center of my room. I also have a window fan set on high intake and I'm freezing my balls of at the moment! So uhm yeah =p
 
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I am at work mate.
Is there any kind of system monitoring in the bios?
Not really had much contact with Pentium4's that I was worried about
 
I think it tells me the temperature's and fan speeds but It's been awhile since I've looked.
 
Most systems have hardware monitoring in the BIOS. I use HMonitor for temp while in WIndows, it not free. Theres a free app, I think its called Motherboard monitor.
 
MBM.exe (mother board monitor) allows backgound monitoring and an alarm feature (but i feel it's too complex for the beginner). http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=311

Sifost Sandra is free and will also let you do a burn in test on components to watch temperature build up.
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download92.html

Check your MB manufacturers web site. Many have a temp monitor utility.

You need to get some canned air and blow out the CPU HSF, video card fan AND the power supply too. it's even dirtier than your cpu fan was. Also air intake vents in the front and back of the unit. Lungs will not clean out the system after 3 years of neglect. Dust out the unit every 3 months. Running 24/7 is guaranteed to choke a unit with dust in no time.

Before doing this check your cpu and mb temperatures under load:
CPU should be under 55 deg C, MB under 45 deg C.
After 3 years you may need to remove the cpu hsf, clean the fins (remove fan first) with isopropyl alcohol and replace the thermal paste on the cpu. If you have a thermal pad instead of thermal paste the pad has to be very carefully, and completely, removed, the surfaces cleaned with alcohol and then a good silver filled paste applied. (artci silver is recommended).
 
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You may want to check yer Video Card's fan. If it has begun to stick (spin but slowly or off and on... and/or stopping entirely), that could also cause yer system to act the way it is doing. Since it seems to happen when you start playing yer game, you are pushing the vid card's GPU to it's max possibly. But you could also be pushing yer CPU to it's max and overheating it. Run yer system with the side panel off so you can visually monitor yer fans.

Also you could install the Speed Fan proggy and monitor yer temps and fans through it.

You can find SpeedFan at:

http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php

What it does:
SpeedFan is a freeware program that monitors fan speeds and temperatures in computers with
a known monitoring chip. Its main feature is that it can control the speed of the fans
according to the temperatures inside your pc, thus reducing noise and power consumption.
SpeedFan can also access S.M.A.R.T. HD data and temperatures (if available).

Now you don't have to set up the proggy to adjust fan speeds. You can leave that off. But it does give you a thorough listing of yer temps and any fans that are plugged into monitored MoBo Fan connections.

Good luck.
 
i think first of all, open up the side of your pc and turn it on, make sure all the fans are actually on. Thats the first step, second instead of have a fan taking air away from the pc have it blowing on the pc, the side you just opened up, thats great for cooling a pc down. third vacuum your room a few times try and get rid of ground dust, oh and you have to pick up the pizza boxes and beer cans first :).

whats the make of your mobo, most have as lee suggestion temp utilities, to monitor temp.

If you have done all this and it is still powering down, i would take the PC apart, but leave the mobo in, now make sure the thermal paste between the cpu and the heatsink is still viable, after 3 yrs it does usually degrade and you may find this is the issue. if so i believe a alcohol rub will get both clean, then reapply more paste.

Another issue you may need to correct is the PSU itself, perhaps it is malfunctioning, i would suggest unplugging it, take it out of the pc and leave it alone for 5mins, just so any errant electricity can dissapate, then open it up and clean it out, you need an air can for this and do it outside, you will be amazed at just how filthy it is inside i mean disgusting.
 
I have opened the case and unplugged all power in order to remove and open the PSU and have dusted it out with canned air and my system is still powering down without warning. Also after plugging in all the power to everything my secondary 400gb hard drive is not showing up in windows but it does show that it is plugged into the PCI expansion slot. I'm so tired I can hardly stand all this trouble I'm having at the moment.

All the fans are running and my CPU is running at 115 degrees F and the fan is running at a little under 3000 RPM. Damn computers!
 
my AMD Athlon 3200 runs round 48-65C which is 118.4-149F. I think you ok for cooling.

Has anyone thought of a bad power supply, it may not be able to handle the current the comp is using when you start using the CPU and GPU more intensively.
 
That would work great only if I had an Intel motherboard...

I have now noticed that my PSU fan is not spinning hence the quick power downs I am witnessing, so until I can afford a new PSU I have no choice but to live without a computer unless there is a way to get the fan spinning again.
 
Try it anyway as if the boards chipset is Intel then it will work.

Board does not have to be made by Intel.
 
gonaads said:
You may want to check yer Video Card's fan. If it has begun to stick (spin but slowly or off and on... and/or stopping entirely), that could also cause yer system to act the way it is doing. Since it seems to happen when you start playing yer game, you are pushing the vid card's GPU to it's max possibly. But you could also be pushing yer CPU to it's max and overheating it. Run yer system with the side panel off so you can visually monitor yer fans.

Also you could install the Speed Fan proggy and monitor yer temps and fans through it.

You can find SpeedFan at:

http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php

What it does:
SpeedFan is a freeware program that monitors fan speeds and temperatures in computers with
a known monitoring chip. Its main feature is that it can control the speed of the fans
according to the temperatures inside your pc, thus reducing noise and power consumption.
SpeedFan can also access S.M.A.R.T. HD data and temperatures (if available).

Now you don't have to set up the proggy to adjust fan speeds. You can leave that off. But it does give you a thorough listing of yer temps and any fans that are plugged into monitored MoBo Fan connections.

Good luck.

That is exactly what my PSU fan is doing its sticking - I saw it spinning before and most recently it looked like it was trying to spin but it just won't at all now, is there a way to get it to spin again? Or is this the sign to buy a new PSU?
 
it is either a new PSU or a new fan fro the existing. There is a thermistor in the actual PSU which is tripping and shutting down the juice because, without that fan, the PSU will overheat. Although it is a lot cheaper replacing the fan PSU's do have llimited life and unless you are both very comfortable withe changing the fan and very hard up I would recommend replacement. Tagan make some nice models if you are not strapped for cash - btu the choice is really yours at the end of the day.
 
yeah, it could be time for a new PSU, they are not that expensive either, a generic 350w-400w could cost like $30-$40.

but before you do decide to get a new PSU, i suggest you take a look at ur existing one, open up the PSU casing and see wether the fan is gummed up, coz overtime a lot of dust can get accumulated around the fan. Also check that the fan wires are properly connected to the circuit board.
 
elektro, i suggested that to him and he cleaned it all out, but the fan probably got gummed up as you say with all the dust and eventually broke, maybe something happened to the ball bearings.

I would just suggest getting a new PSU, forget about replacing the fan. If you can only spend $30-40 as elektro said just get a generic psu, 400w at least and then maybe later on if you have spare cash get a better one.
 
Get another PSU. And then you can play with the old one, open it and see if the fan is easy to remove and replace. If something goes wrong, it doesn't matter since you have a new one. If nothing breaks, you got a backup. :)
 
If the PSU fan is stiking, get the thing replaced... It'd be difficult to mention online how to open up the PSU and replace just the fan, and one does have to be careful (as there are capacitors in there that hold a lot of power)... One hint, when in there, it's the one area in the computer you do not ground yourself for as it carries considerably more voltage. That voltage going through your heart is more a consideration... A new PSU might be a safer bet unless you feel comfortable changing the fan...

BTW, in the three years, have you run any other intensive games on this thing/things that could put your computer under just as much load? I've seen some computers out there that seem marginal on temps just running a email client and web browser, put them under load and...
 

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