HELP! Why is my CPU overheating?!

[RoyalTenenbaum]

Hey there,

I have a Intel P4 2.6C GHZ that I got with the retail box (with heatsink and fan). I have a D865PERL Intel board. I have plenty of fans and they all work (including the CPU fan). But my CPU is running hot all the time and always gets at least 20 degrees Celcius above the maximum operating temperature.

Is it a bad CPU?

Thanks for your help!

 

[Peter D]

well, what is the actual temperature? what cpu fan? any thermal interface (arctic silver 3, etc)? and any overclocking done?

oh, and welcome to anandtech!

 

[RoyalTenenbaum]

Thanks for welcoming me!

I used the heatsink and fan that came with my P4. Now, I feel like an idiot, but is there a strip you have to pull off the heatsink? I followed the instructions and it didn't say to pull off a strip. I don't have any thermal paste on there. I noticed it running at 90 C (yes, hot!) but the mobo never shut itself down. I have a nice Intel board (865PERL) which is probably capable of shutting off if damage is going to be done. The first night I had it I checked BIOS and stuff. The second night I installed WIN XP, and the third night I was installing the software that came with my mobo, and thats when the warning came up. So, it was probably running hot the whole time. I just want to know if there is any damage?! ARGH!!!

Thanks so much for your help!

 

[lchyi]

Hrmm, you're probably not making the right contact to the CPU, your heatsink might be a little crooked or twisted. Try reinstalling it and monitoring it on start. Hopefully no damage was done to your CPU but you can't do anything about it now hehe. Also, if you can get your hands on some thermal paste/grease, then put some on, that'll help a little more.

 

[leeperpsu]

dude first thing....PULL THE STRIP OFF THE HEATSINK IF THERE IS ONE...

second....PUT THERMAL PASTE ON THE CORE AND A LITTLE ON THE HEATSINK

thats why your cpu is on fire.

 

[wetcat007]

Discontinue running it until u figure out what's wrong, that'll burn the core real well..

 

[RoyalTenenbaum]

Thanks for your help.

I called Intel and talked to some techs. They said that the heatsink doesn't come with a strip on it, but I'll check anyway. They told me to update the BIOS, too.

I've been reading a lot about the Thermal Throttling the P4s do. They say that if the CPU gets too hot where it could get damaged, it will throttle down or just shut off.

Anyone know about that stuff?

 

[seismik]

The stock black strip on the heatsink is at worst 'decent' cooling. You're not going to lose much more than 7-8 degrees with the built in thermal interface material, but ideally you should remove it at some point and run with a compound like Arctic Silver.

However, the fact that you left it on and you're running at 90c suggests something else is way, way off. For one thing the chip should be shutting itself down at that temperature. I would agree with lchyi, sounds like your heatsink isn't flush against the CPU ceramic. With stock cooling you should have the CPU running in the mid to high 30's on average, so you're way above normal. Don't worry about getting Arctic Silver or anything like that just yet, it sounds as though your CPU is running pretty much with no heatsink contact at all.

 

[RoyalTenenbaum]

Hey everyone,

Thanks for your advice. I figured out what was wrong. As some of you said, the heatsink was NOT touching the CPU all the way. I didn't have the clips on the fan/heatsink clamped down all the way. However, the CPU defintely should have turned itself off when it got that hot. So, I'm going to try and get an RMA from NewEgg and get it replaced (its within 30 days). So, I have a couple of questions for you...

Is NewEgg good to deal with when it comes to returning a retail box CPU within 30 days?

And is it possible any damage was done to the mobo during all this? Like I said, I only had the computer on for like 5-6 hours within 3 days. So, hopefully getting a new CPU, heatsink and fan will do the trick.

Thanks so much for the help everyone!

-Mike-

 

[Peter D]

im sure newegg is very good for returns, just talk to them, im sure they're very reasonable ppl

i doubt you did any damage to your mobo having the cpu so hot, i cant think of anything that could have been damaged personally

 

[Actaeon]

Is the CPU still functional?

 

[RoyalTenenbaum]

Thanks for the help.

Yeah, the CPU is still functional. However, the Intel techs also said that the CPU should have turned off when it was that hot. So, there seems to be something slightly wrong with it.