One More Time

I have an AMD 2800 powered PC that was put together about a year and a half ago. The PC routinely shuts off on its own when I'm doing something resource intensive (burning CD's, playing games, etc). After checking the bios, I did notice that it was running hot, at about 60-75 Celsius. I have 5 case fans and 1 CPU fan running all the time (damn thing sounds like a hovercraft). I bought some cooling goop that was supposed to help with this. I spread this goop between the CPU and the heat sink, but that didn't help much.

Now, I can't seem to log on to the net. I reinstalled my network adaptor drivers and still nothing. I bought another network card and still nothing.

I'm contemplating buying a whole new chip set now.

Can anyone provide some guidance here? I'm fed up with this thing already!
!

Mickdady

First start with the thermal paste (cooling goop as you called it). Make sure that you clean both the cpu surface and the heatsink surface very well. Then apply the thermal paste sparingly with your hand in a latex glove or sandwhich bag. (the oils in your skin can breakdown the paste). Also make sure that the heatsink is seating all the way down on the CPU.

Finally check the bios and make sure the stepping or multiplier has not been changed from default.

What brand heatsink are you using?

One More Time

When I put the thermal paste on, I used some canned air to blow the dust off the cpu surface and the heatsink, so it seemed pretty clean to me. The heatsink is in place as well.

I'm not sure what you mean by checking the stepping or multiplier? I do know that I turned the performace way down to keep it from shutting off as much as possible.

I can't remember the brand of heat sink. I'll have to check that out and get back to you on that.

Thanks for the help.

Mickdady

Depending on your motherboard and BIOS you may have the option to change the motherboard clock speed by adjusting the multiplier/Front side bus speed (FSB) - called overclocking. This generates a lot of heat. If this somehow got changed it could cause your overheating problem, that is why I brought it up.

One More Time

Yea, I actually down clocked it.

Anyone have any suggestions as far as my accessing the net issue?

green91runner

the fsb for your processor should be 166, no higher, no lower.. thats where it runs at optimal performance. if the fan has an AMD holographic sticker on it, then its a stock cooler, from manufacturer and should have no issues cooling the cpu when set to stock specs. considering you have 5 fans in your case, air flow should not be a problem (as long as the airflow is done right). as for your network issues, thats most likely spyware.. if you check the pc tips section, you should be able to sort those issues out. or you could just format your hdd and re-install windows.. up to you.

the fact that it's hitting above 70C is causing the problems.. idle should be between 45C and 55C.. (not under load). which thermal paste did you use? (artic silver is the best) and when you applied it did you take a lint-free cloth and wipe the cpu and heatsinks surface clean of all previous thermal products (where they contact eachother) and then apply your 'goop'?

One More Time

I should have stated this originally. I re-formated the original HD and re-installed XP to no avail.

I also swaped out HD's with a 40gig spare I had lying around. I reformatted, installed XP and still have the same issues.

I did scrape the heatsink surface of the privious thermal goop and ensured it was clean of any particles and residue with canned air and paper towels--although not with a lint-free cloth. I used "Dynex Silver Thermal Compound" from Best Buy http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1075583463530.

Thanks for your help!

green91runner

what's the ambient temperature (in your room) and whats the case temperature (recorded as motherboard temperature)...

as for the thermal compound you used, it should be alright.. find out what heatsink/fan you are using yet?

the simple fact that you purchased a 2nd nic (network interface card) and it did not work makes me extremely suspect of the windows environment.. IF you reload windows with an older copy, that doesn't have the blaster patch, about 45 seconds after installing your nic drivers you could have contracted blaster, which would make your network not work.. i would suggest checking for viruses (blaster specifically)

going back to your shutting down issues... has it always done this? or just recently? oh, and what RPMs is the cpu's fan spinning at?

One More Time

The PC is in my living room, and the avg temp. is about 68F I guess. I'll have to check the case temp. when I get home.

I'm at work right now, so I'll check as soon as I get home.

Thats another problem...my anti-virus disk is from 2003...I have run this without success. I'd have to go on the net for updates(which I can't).

The shutting down started to happen about 7 months ago.

One More Time

MB Temp = 19C
CPU Temp = 57C
CPU fan speed = 3096 RPM
Chassis fan speed = 0 RPM ???
POWER fan speed = 0 RPM ???

the CPU is down clocked to 133 MHz

I'm not sure what brand of heatsink I have. I don't see any brand markings anywhere. The fan on top of it reads, "Thermal Take" if that helps.

green91runner

k, thermaltake is your brand name of the fan, they are a decent company... no real reason for it running that hot... reset the fsb to 166 and see what happens. and your sure its a 2800?

this is baffling that its running that warm.. give the heatsink a lil push down and a twist back and forth, let it move the thermal compound around, possibly filling in any gaps.

Churnd

Doesn't sound like any heat/exhaust problems. Could possibly your processor is just bad.

If your virus checker is 2 years out of date, that's the first thing I'd check. You might very well have a virus that's causing your cpu run full out for extended periods of time and overheat. There's lots of free virus checkers listed in the PC Tips thread on top of this forum, or you can check out http://housecall.trendmicro.com/. Get Adaware and Spybot while you're at it, and run those religiously.

If you can't get online, here's what I'd do: Disconnect your computer from the 'net, reformat and reinstall, get a copy of a firewall program setup to install right after windows installation, get copies of setup files for the virus and spyware programs on a cd or some other removable media to install right after that. Then connect to the 'net with your firewall running and update everything.

green91runner

only thing about this churnd.. is his temps are 55-65C in BIOS... at idle the temp should be hovering around 45C.

Churnd

That's true. Would a bad memory stick make the FSB go screwy? Other than that, I'd say either a bad processor or motherboard.

I just thought it would be better to do that other stuff first b/c it's free before shelling out the dough for a new proc/board.

One More Time

It is baffling. It bothers me because I have decent components in it. It's a AMD 2800 with an ASUS A7N8X motherboard. I have been trouble shooting this for months. I put that thermal compound on about a month ago and didn't even notice a difference. I have literally taken everything apart, cleaned everything, and put it back together and nothing. That is why I'm considering buying a new chip set, if not a new computer. The piece of crap shuts off while doing anything worth while. On top of that, I can't even get online.

photoleif

your cpu fan speed is dangerously low. i recommend you replace it. an AMD 2800 should have a fan speed in the 5000RPM range, unless yours is a very large one that moves some serious CFMs. athlons are supposed to be run at no higher than 80°C, so you're "ok" there, but really it should be cooler. my temps are as follows:

CPU (athlon 2600): 34°C
VIA bios (north): 25°C
VIA bios (south): 19°C
HD0: 32°C
HD1: 28°C
Room ambient: 22°C (72°F)
Inside the case: 27°C
CPU fan speed: 5120 RPM

Do your case fans aim correctly? You should ensure that they balance, meaning a couple in, a couple out, and whenever possible, optimize the airflow so that it exhausts rapidly and *across* your system, rather than swirling around and heating up the other components by all aiming inward with nowhere to exhaust. If you have a back of the case that's removable, take it off entirely until you get this temp problem under control. Do you have a half-dozen 7200 RPM drives? hehe... The thermal compound you choose has the ability to really reduce the temp of your CPU. As green91runner said, you need a little, but not much. The layer should be very thin, perhaps what you would spread with a razor blade. The surfaces should be very clean. I strongly recommend you remove the fan, clean the surfaces with rubbing alcohol (and at least a Qtip for the CPU, but always be cautious about static). A latex gloved finger does keep the thermal compound clean of hand oils, no doubt, but I'd be afraid of getting the coat uneven, and some of the latex gloves have talc on all surfaces so they don't stick to you. I went with the razor. Also, in terms of fans, if you have a room fan, like a box fan for instance, take off the side of the case and put that fan directly near the case blowing in. Check your temp again. If it's not drastically cooler just sitting at your bios temp screen for two minutes, there's something really amiss with your board, and I'd recommend you just punt it before it fries everything. I can give you more hints if you need, and send you some pix of my setup if you're really curious. Just as with YT, there are computer performance and modding forums. You can read up on this stuff at places like www.xoxideforums.com and others.

green91runner

yea, i was thinking the same thing about the TT fan.. running only at 3100rpm.. avg is 3500 so its not too low... yours being in the 5000 range sounds like a vantec tornado (great fans, but LOUD)

i would probably just take off your heatsink and take it down to a local computer shop to compare it.. see how many fins their are, and how thick the base of it is.. had one customer bring in their computer that they were SURE they did everything right on, he caked the WHOLE cpu in compound, not just the chips heatsink, on top of that, it was an aftermarket heatsink that had too thin of a base, couldn't transfer the heat to the fins fast enough. it was running in the 75C range.. and in bios it would freeze up and crash regularily... upon further inspection of the chip itself, there was discolouration on the top and bottom.. fried.. he got a new chip and a new heatsink as well as us to install it for them. all retail box AMD's come with stock coolers (incase you were curious)

as for being SUPER cautious about applying the thermal paste, we've done lots of spreading with just our fingers (in a hurry) and had no issues.. however if you get into overclocking, definetely take that extra step of precaution.

good luck

photoleif

haha, cool stuff! glad to hear it's ok in a pinch. i got the silver 5, and followed the directions to the letter. my cpu temp (with nothing else changed) with an athlon 1600 was higher by 5°C than with the new 2600 with the better paste. i did a little reading and the CPUs on the same die and use the same technology, so all i can credit it to is the high-quality thermal paste.

the CPU fan is a nice ball-bearing fan on an all-copper heatsink, and yeah it's a bit of a noisemaker. i want to get a passive heatsink for the big fan (see next) to blow on. also, i bought a $12.99 stationary fan at target, took the legs and front cage off, and bolted the rest to the case blowing through a 9" hole i cut in it. i still wasn't satisfied with the exhaust temp with the case sealed, so i put in five large vents on the top, back and rear, and now it's properly vented. here's a shot of my case with just the big fan, prior to the venting. i get 230 CFM out of the big fan, so i think with a good passive heatsink, i can really cut down on the noise.

green91runner

haha.. nice mod.. very 50's futuristic.. i love it.

photoleif

oh...forgot to mention that the 230 CFM is on "lo". we didn't even test med/hi, but if i want to OC at all, i flip it on med for the duration. thanks...glad you think it's kinda fun. i'm waiting to see what happens this summer with ambient temps in the 25-30°C range (due to its being so dry here, we don't run the A/C much unless it's really uncomfortable).