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Help with AOPEN MiniPC, running super hot!

C

capeconsultant

Senior member
Greetings to all fellow silent SFF'ers,

I just built a AOPEN minipc with a Celeron M 1.5ghz, 512 RAM, and a WD Scorpio 60 GB drive. So far, so good, with the exception of ZERO documentation. After struggling through, I managed to get it booting and installed Win XP. Yay!

I intended to use this as a very light weight server, and leave it on 24/7. I also thought I would offer it to clients as something different and a real space saver, as well as super QUIET. Again, so far, so good. Tha darn thing is VERY VERY QUIET. WOW, I am really happy about that.

So, the reason for this post is two fold. Does anyone know of any documentation regarding Main Board and BIOS? The model number is MP915-X. The AOPEN web site had a "manual" that tells how to surf the net and play music on a finished system, which is more than useless and reaaly should not even exist in todays world.

The BIGGER of my two issues is HEAT, and I mean HEAT. Speedfan is reading 64C, 65C, 52C and 22C. Hard drive is the 52C and I have no idea what the others are except that the CPU temp is obviously one of the higher readings. And this is at IDLE. Scares me crazy. I could never recommend this to clients.

I have considered a laptop cooler, which may help, but negates the space saving aspect a bit.

This is such a cool little computer and darn near totally SILENT, I hate to give it up without a fight, not to mention the cost of $450 or so.

There is precious little documentation or info on Google, except as mentioned above. I will probably try to get in touch with AOPEN, but they are so big I cannot see how they will care much about my plight.

So, I reach out to my fellow AnandTecher's for some much needed help. If you saw this little baby and heard how silent it is, you would understand my frustration and concern over the heat immediately.

Thanks for listening to my rant, I look forward to any and all responses. Ambient temp here is about 72F. Summer on Cape Cod is oh so sweet 🙂

Thanks,

Dave
 
I've gotta go the simple but intelligence-insulting route - did you make sure to only use a thin layer of thermal paste between the CPU and heatsink, and did you make sure it was making contact?

Also ... are the fans running? 😛

- M4H
 
I like simple! The fan is running. Usually between 2900 and 4000 RPM, according to SpeedFan. The other question is quite interesting. Due to the lack of documentation, I originally neglected to peel a foil strip away from the thermal grease. There was therefore a layer making sure that there was no contact with he chip. I am going to explore the BIOS and check for a setting that leaves the fan on FULL all the time.

So, I peeled it off and there was whatever amount of grease that came with it, and I just lowered the heatsink back on. I am usually good about a thin layer, but one needs to be a Swiss Watch maker to work on this wicked small thing. And the fan heatsink housing is so non standard, I am clueless as to what is and is not touching. For all I know, the CPU is SWIMMING in grease, which is, of course, not good 🙂

So, I will check this as much as it is possible to without proper documentation. I will call AOPEN about this specific idea and see what I can learn. Their entire manual writing department should be NUKED. What truly abomiminal (sp) drivel they spew forth. There is no excuse for that in this day and age of modern communication.

Thanks for your input, Dave
 
At least you were able to get Windows installed on them. My family has 2 of them (the previous versions), a Celeron M and Pentium M, and with the Pentium we couldn't get Windows to install without it overheating and hanging (ended up ghetto rigging some fans until we finished the install):Q They seem to be working fine, if on the hot side, not sure of the exact temps.
 
Update:

By placing a house fan blowing right on the computer and raising it up off the desk on a stand, I have lowered temps by 12C all around.

That will do for now unitl I find out what is the story with these very small computers.

Dave
 
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