PC-Question.....

[Laurens]

Hi Ya'll,

I just have one small question.

Yesterday when I turned my rig on the cooler wasn't working. I noticed this after three minutes. I smelled something burning but since it cam from a different direction I had no idea that it was my proccesor. Windows XP rebooted itself and I was thrown into the bios, only saw alot of red numbers (red's never good....). The proccesor was around 80 degrees and the CPU-cooler was below 200 RPM. When I noticed this I took of the side and checked the cooler....it was barely spinning.

I turned everything off immidiatlly and called up the store and asked them for advise. I could come over and get a new cooler for free (Justcooler 8 CM block, big & red), they looked at the proccesor but couldn't find any clear burnmarks, only some exhaust (don't know the excact english word). Back home I installed the proc & the new cooler (with some fresh coolingstuff). I couldn't boot into Windows XP normally so I went into safemode and backed up all my important stuff (mostly my collection of porn......Viva la Internet ) like favorites, savegames, e-mails & contacts. Did a fresh install of Windows XP and complete Windows Update. Installed my games again, Vid-card & Media Player stuff. Everything seems to work fine again.

Now my question: Am I lucky or can I expect serious trouble in the upcoming weeks? Is it wise to buy a new proccesor (Athlon XP's aren't so expensive anymore)?

My spec's

AMD Athlon 1.4 Ghz 266 Mhz
512 MB's DDR 266 Mhz
Asus A7M266 266 Mhz Bios update 1007
Geforce 2 GTS Detonator 23.11
Creative Audigy Platinum
JBL Stereospeaker & Woofer
3Com 3C980 Server-Link
Maxtor 30 Giga 7200 RPM UDMA-100
Aopen DVD Slot-In 16X40
Aopen CD-RW 12X10X40
Aopen HX-08 Housing with 300 PSU
Dell 17 Inch monitor
Microsoft Intellimouse Optical
Microsoft Natural Keyboard Pro
Windows XP Home Edition with all the latest updates
Wanadoo ADSL 512 Kbit down

I hope this is enough info, can someone please advise since I have no knowledge on this subject. I always build everything myself EXCEPT the proccesor, the stores always put that one in (yesterday I learned that it isn't very difficult so I will do it myself in the future ). The cooler is now running on 3000 RPM, the proc is around 55 degrees stressed and the mobo is around 35 degrees.

Any info would be greatly appreciated.


P.S: Does anyone have English drivers for the Audigy card? I only have the Dutch driver CD and would really like the English ones. I don't know how big they are.

 

[[CpK]Bastid]

id get a new cpu

without a doubt

 

[Electronic Punk]

When I helped my mate setup his AthlonXP when I first turned it on I noticed that teh fan wasn't spinning... it had only just booted up into WindowsXP setup and things were a little unstable...copy errors etc. so I turned it off - checked the connections, ,burnt my hand on the heatsync checking the connections... when I turned it on the fan was working again, so I decided to watch it cool down in teh bios again before proceeding... it is very important to make sure that your fan is working and is not obstructed as they will melt at high temperatures, even more so when overclocking.

 

[Laurens]

Thanks for the replys.

I stayed in the bios for about 20 minutes after I re-installed all the hardware. I saw the CPU-temp rise to 55 degrees and than it became stable. I'm not into overclocking since it destrys your warranty, just use hardware out of the box. Is there a way to check if the CPU is damaged or not? Maybe a benchmark.....

Everything seems to work fine. I took out my older HDD and re-partioned C:\, I copied all my MP3's and other stuff from the old HDD (about 6 Giga of files), it took about 12 minutes since it was a slow drive but no problems at all. I even listened to some MP3's.

The fan is working properly wihtout any obstructions.

 

[[CpK]Bastid]

ur cpu may work fine for awhile but it might get buggy on you

-before i learned how to build comp
i had an amd1.4 and didnt know better and dug chunks outta the core(thought it was part of the cooler stuck to the chip)......it worked fine for bout 2 mos then would start crashin on me regularly

tho your situation not as harsh as mine

ya ya go ahead u can laugh...i sure as hell do....not then tho

 

[razor_ro]

My experience might help you......

When i toasted my first (and last, hopefully) CPU chip, it was an Athlon 1.333 GHz, it was mainly because i didnt put any thermal paste back in when i took the chip out (the sticky stuff on the heatsink had worn out .... DOH!!), anyways, it heated up till about 75 degrees (celsius).... i immmediatley turned off the power and took the heatsink and pc out, burnt my hand in the process, hehe, but i put thermal paste in this time and everything seemed to be working fine but the temps were slightly higher than usual, at around 55-64 degrees (from idle to workload), rather than then 40-45 degrees, then the system started crashing once in awhile until it finally died, , I had been told that you know an AMD chip is done when you look around the middle part of the chip and theres some kind of blue-ish stain around it, (exaclty what mine had) so, if your cpu has the same kinda symptoms mine had, i'd recommend getting a new chip before it finally dies on you, just my 2 cents.....

RaZoR

ps... we all gotta learn the hard way once in awhile

 

[2z]

Similar experience with AMD + it melted the socket as well :-(
Now I pay the extra for Intel
it works out cheaper in the long run
;-)

 

[jawshoouh]

Originally posted by Laurens


<snipped>

P.S: Does anyone have English drivers for the Audigy card? I only have the Dutch driver CD and would really like the English ones. I don't know how big they are.

not sure what audigy card you've got (gamer, plat, plat, plat ex), but you can download english drivers at http://www.americas.creative.com/support/welcome.asp?RD=download

 

[Laurens]

Re: Re: PC-Question.....

Originally posted by jawshoouh


not sure what audigy card you've got (gamer, plat, plat, plat ex), but you can download english drivers at http://www.americas.creative.com/support/welcome.asp?RD=download

Thnx for the lookup, this the update. I found a working driver set using Google this weekend. It looks like the CPU is O.K. I don't have any problems yet. Played Soldier Of Fortune 2, Star Trek Elite Force and RTCW almost the whole weekend (it rained here ). I'm still planning on getting a new CPU. The Athlon XP's are pretty cheap, I posted this message on several forums so I could get different opinions. Alot of them advised to get a new CPU.

Thnx for everything.