Re: Bizarre Overheating Issue

nometa wrote: 
Hello All,

I have a serious - and very wierd - overheating issue with my PC. It's
randomly (and I literally mean randomly: anywhere from 30 seconds after
boot to 3 hours in) reporting that the CPU is overheating and shutting
down. After the machine does a hard shut down, on reboot it reports at
startup that the machine was shut down due to a thermal event
(overheating), and I have to press F4 to continue.

That means it's the BIOS that's doing the shutdown. Check your BIOS temp settings.


The problem is that the machine ISN'T overheating: my fan app logs show
the machine never goes over 40 degrees C, the case never goes over 35
degrees, and every time it's happened, I've been able to touch the
heatsink for the CPU and hold my hand there with no issues - it's
barely warm.

Well, the first thing, after checking the BIOS settings, is to determine what the "fan log" is monitoring. Core temp, heatsink temp, or a bogus value?

And the finger feel heatsink test doesn't necessarily tell you anything because it's the processor you care about and if heat is not getting *to* the heatsink it won't get hot. The outside of your kitchen oven is probably not as hot as the insides either, because it's insulated, if you see what I mean.


I've removed all external hardware, checked all of my internal
connections, broken the machine down completely and rebuilt it,
removed, and reseated the memory, cards, and processor, cleaned the
processor and heatsink/fan according to Arctic Silver's website
instructions (including using new Arctic Silver thermal paste). I've
updated the BIOS to the most recent release, done all of the Windoze
updates, done spyware scans etc. The only thing I haven't done is a
full virus scan because the machine keeps shutting down before it can
be completed - though it has gotten aprox. 3/4 of the way through
(including scanning my entire system drive) and hasn't found anything.


Checked fan rpm?


I'm at my wits' end here - I really can't afford to / don't want to buy
a new board and/or processor: does anyone have any idea what this might
be? Is there any way to disable the thermal limit on the processor (I'm
comfortable keeping an eye on it manually).

Any input would be hugely appreciated. Specs on my box are below:

P4 1.8 Processor
Intel 865PERLL Board
Antec Sonata Case (350 W Supply)
Zalman CPU Fan
3 HDDs (80 Gig system / 120 Gig and 250 Gig D: and E: drives)
Basic CD Rom drive
Matrox G400 DualHead AGP Video card
Windows XP Pro SP2

If you need any more info, please let me know. Any help would be
appreciated. Thanks!


.

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