Help! CPU Temp hit 170+F

[rky60]

System summary, device & driver version, some of it not needed i guess but added just to make sure. Long winded, please bare with me

Antec SX1040B w/3 Case Fans
ECS K7S5A - Official BIOS 10/29/2002
AthlonXP 2100 w/Retail HSF & Thermal Compound
2X256 PC2100 Crucial - Ultra 3 6 3
Visiontek GF4 Ti4600 - 41.09's
350W Power Supply, HEC 350LD
SC Turtle Beach - 5.12.1.4161
Leadtek Winfast 2000/XP Deluxe TV/Tuner card - 5.13.1.243
WD 120G 8MB HDD
Toshiba 16X DVD & a 48X CD-RW
WindozeXP SP1
Linksys Cable Modem usin the onboard LAN
Logitech Z560's

No problems with the Temp until i did this. I installed the TV Tuner card last night, while i was in the case i decided to clean the cobwebs out. Well, i took the Heatsinks fan off to clear the dust out in between there then put it back on carefuly (at least i thought).

A few hours go by (not sure of the specific time) and the puter starts blue screenin sayin it needs to shutdown to protect itself from damage. A few reboots and it seemed stable. Left it on overnight only to find it locked up on desktop, reached in the case to check a connection and felt the heat coming off the CPU. Went to the BIOS to check Temps, CPU was readin 170+ F, shut down down quickly.

I must have accidently moved the HS when screwin around in there huh? I pulled the HSF and CPU just a bit ago, cleaned it all up, applied new paste and reinstalled. But the Temps still aren't stable, i have to run it at 100/100 to keep the temp down which is currently hovering between 130-135F. I can hear a slight humming goin up and down which i think is the Heatsinks fan, the RPM's on it have been from 1500 up to 4600, don't seem to normal?

Anyhow, what should i do, buy a decent HSF combo with some quality thermal paste? Is it possible that something is goin bad, slowly dyin'? I did have to RMA a stick of PC2100 to Crucial 2 or 3 weeks ago.

What step would any of you take? Thanks for your time

 

[mechBgon]

The first thing I'd check is to make very sure the heatsink is on right, and not reversed. Note the step cut into the base of the heatsink: 1000 words That step must go at the end of the CPU socket which is solid plastic, for clearance.

Additionally, since you had the fan off, you might have had the clip fall off, and accidentally put the clip on 180° backwards? It's asymetrical, and the longer leg should go towards the stepped end of the heatsink so the pressure point of the clip corresponds to the position of the CPU core.

Good luck, I bet it's one of those two issues.

 

[rky60]

Thanks for the advice Everything seems to be attached correctly, but. In a pinch today since there are no decent puter stores in my area, none for miles upon miles. So i had to go to Radio Shack and buy the thermal paste they had, my bad i bet

Gonna order some good paste then redo it again, hoping that's all it is. Any other possible culprits, such as adding that Tuner card?

 

[mechBgon]

That RS thermal paste used to be pretty respectable stuff but the new watery-looking stuff is really, really lame, I'll use it on 166MHz Pentiums... :Q Glad to hear you're getting something better soon. The crummy thermal grease alone could conceivably be causing the overheating, except you said it started before that.

If your CPU overheats, the reasons I can think of are:

• bad transfer of heat from CPU to heatsink (already covered that subject as long as you're positive the heatsink and clip aren't reversed), or
• the CPU is putting out more heat than it used to due to a higher clockspeed and/or core voltage (doesn't seem likely the TV tuner would do this, but do check your CPU voltage in the BIOS), or
• a hotter operating environment (doesn't seem like the TV card would do this either)

 

[rky60]

Well i decided to do some testin while i'm waitin for the thermal paste to arrive. I pulled the TV Tuner card and all is back to normal

Just stressed the system more than i ever have and temps never got above 49C/120F, after shuttin all the programs/benchmarks down (also played Nascar 2002, very CPU dependant) the temps dropped to 44C/116F which has been normal since i put this system together.

So the conclusion is, the Tuner card is having a bad effect on my CPU temps, why would that be? Power Supply struggling?

I have noticed the CPU fan runs at a constant speed, steady around 4500 RPM's. But with the Tuner card installed the fan will fluctuate as mentioned from 1500-4500 RPM's

Thx for all your advice

 

[mechBgon]

That is making me ! Maybe it does something really wierd to the voltages or the grounding...? Learn somethin' new every day (or night )...

 

[Su1c1da1]

adding a PCI card could make the cpu run hotter.. I guess depending on the card's quality, my friend added a card and his temp went up around 5degrees.. but from your setup it went up a whopping 60degrees?????? thats almost unbelievable.

 

[Ketchup]

TV Tuner cards get REALLY hot. Put it back in and touch it after a few minutes, and tell me if you burn your finger.

Also, remember that your computer is reporting the CPU temp directly under the CPU, as the ECS cannot read the internal thermal diode on Athlon XP's. Most of the time, this results in lower than actual temps, but since there is so much heat rising from your tuner card, the temp sensor is probably reporting temps quite higher than actual. What are your system temps reading with the card in place?

To combat, this, buy an aftermarket cooler for your cpu, preferable one made of copper. They really aren't all that expensive, and well worth prolonging the life of your CPU.

 

[rky60]

My bad! I jumped to a conclusion to early

After i pulled the Tuner card everything did go back to normal for 2+ hours, i was monitoring the temps the entire time, figured all was well. Then bingo, the heatsinks fan starts losin RPM's and the temp is goin off the map. Seems as tho it's only that fan goin bad since i don't notice any other slow downs, others case fans and such. I put the Tuner card back in and it's stable usin 133/133 at 42C/107F with the fans RPM's around 4500. But it won't stay like that for to long

At any rate, i'll be ordering a new HSF setup

 

[Ketchup]

Good idea. Glad you got the problem solved.

 

[Su1c1da1]

like i said, 60degrees up is just unbelievable

 

[usas]

Sounds like a bad voltage line, or your fan is just screwed up. Don't worry though, when I had my Volcano 2 on my TBird 1GHz, it almost reached 90 C.

 

[ChampionAtTufshop]

Originally posted by: usas
Sounds like a bad voltage line, or your fan is just screwed up. Don't worry though, when I had my Volcano 2 on my TBird 1GHz, it almost reached 90 C.

on my tbird 1ghz i DID reach 90C....and 5C beyond lol :Q

 

[maninthebox]

Just a thought, but it could be the fan header on the mobo if that is were you have it connected. Try using a 3/4 pin adapter and plugging the heatsink fan directly into the power supply. You will not be able to monitor the RPM, but you will still be able to monitor the temps. If you still have the same problem then you need a new fan.