Hot CPU and other assorted problems

[microsoftninja]

Before I explain my problems here's the stats on my new computer:

Athlon XP 2200+
Epox 8k3a+
Abit Geforce4 Ti4600
Turtle Beach Santa Cruz
Lite-on 48x CDRW
Lite-on DVD ROM
Sony FDD
80GB Maxtor 7200RPM Quiet Drive
Thermalright AX7 Heatsink
Arctic Silver 3

Firstly, my CPU seems to be running hot. When I first installed the heatsink the BIOS said the processor was running at temperatures of 70C+. So I figured it wasn't making direct contact and took off the heatsink. Inspecting where the core touched the heatsink on the bottom showed that it seemed to be making direct contact. So I put it back on. It's still running at 70C+. So I'm wondering, could the thermometer in my motherboard be screwed up or what else is the problem?

Second, the busy light on my floppy drive seems to be always on and won't read any disks. How can I fix this problem?

Third, I'm using a Lite-On DVD ROM. I was installing some drivers using that drive when I removed a CD it was very warm. Is this normal? Or could my drive be defected?

I'll end with a stupid question. Is there anyway to make the computer advance past the POST when it boots without having me hit F1?

 

[Souka]

Floppy problem is that you hooked the drive up to the wrong connector on the ribbon cable. Look at the cable, there should be two connectors....try the other one.

Regarding the CPU temp......

Does the heatsink seem overly hot to the touch? Do you have a fan on the heatsink, and is it spinning?
Are you using any thermal compound? If not, check the formum for Artic Siliver...great stuff. If your are using compound, are you using TOO much?

DVD's and CD's can get pretty warm in some drives. In general, is your case well ventaliated?



Hope this helps a bit....

 

[Buz2b]

the busy light on my floppy drive seems to be always on and won't read any disks. How can I fix this problem?

Flip the cable over where it connects to the Floppy drive. You just have it turned around.

removed a CD it was very warm. Is this normal?

Depending upon how much the CD was accessed, this might not be unusual. If the drive only accessed and used the CD a few times though, it should not be hot. However, if your entire system is running hot, that might elevate the temps a bit. Just put a CD in the drive, cancel any autostart or dialogue boxes that pop up and let it sit. If it doesn't get hot then you might be ok. There can be so many things (including a bad drive) that can cause this though. Just see if it becomes a consistant problem, if the disks are getting scratched or if it just happens on a few CD's that require heavy access.

Is there anyway to make the computer advance past the POST when it boots without having me hit F1?

Not being familiar with your MB, I can only say, "HUH?" Sounds like you have something set in the BIOS for a memory check or something. I'm afraid I would need more info to properly answer that. What exactly happens and when does it happen? Maybe someone more familiar can answer that.
Best for last: the CPU heat. From what I have read, the XP 2200+ runs a bit hot normally. I think that 70C is a bit much though; especially with that HS. When you checked the installation, did you reapply the thermal paste? If not, you really should. You can find some instructions on this page. What is your system temp running? (Ambient temps in the case and MB temps) How many fans do you have installed in the case? Have you tried running with the sides of the case off and checked the temps? Etc, etc,

 

[microsoftninja]

Originally posted by: Buz2b
Best for last: the CPU heat. From what I have read, the XP 2200+ runs a bit hot normally. I think that 70C is a bit much though; especially with that HS. When you checked the installation, did you reapply the thermal paste? If not, you really should. You can find some instructions on this page. What is your system temp running? (Ambient temps in the case and MB temps) How many fans do you have installed in the case? Have you tried running with the sides of the case off and checked the temps? Etc, etc,

I did reapply the thermal paste. The system temperature is around 35C. I have 3 case fans and a fan on the heatsink. Running it with the sides off doesn't make much of a difference.

Originally posted by: Souka
Regarding the CPU temp......

Does the heatsink seem overly hot to the touch? Do you have a fan on the heatsink, and is it spinning?
Are you using any thermal compound? If not, check the formum for Artic Siliver...great stuff. If your are using compound, are you using TOO much?

DVD's and CD's can get pretty warm in some drives. In general, is your case well ventaliated?



Hope this helps a bit....

The heatsink was hot to the touch and I do have a fan on the heatsink that is spinning. I have Arctic Silver 3 and I'm pretty sure I didn't use too much, I followed the instructions exactly.


Also, regarding my floppy, I tried using the second plug on the cable and it's still doing the same thing. I can't have them in backwards because there is a notch at the top of the plug on the floppy and on the cable that only allows it to go in one way. I did notice, however, that the floppy is missing a pin in it's plug. Is that what could be causing this problem?

 

[Buz2b]

the floppy is missing a pin in it's plug. Is that what could be causing this problem?

In a word; YES. Also, you should be using the end connector only; nothing else. In addition, if you can't flip one end, flip the other.

Second item: What speed fan are you using on that HS? You said leaving the sides off didn't make much difference. How much difference did it make? Have you checked the voltages yet to see if there is a problem there?

 

[microsoftninja]

Originally posted by: Buz2b

the floppy is missing a pin in it's plug. Is that what could be causing this problem?

In a word; YES. Also, you should be using the end connector only; nothing else. In addition, if you can't flip one end, flip the other.

I guess I better try to RMA this floppy drive then.

Second item: What speed fan are you using on that HS?

The fan is 2900 RPM on my heatsink.

You said leaving the sides off didn't make much difference. How much difference did it make?

Leaving the sides off actually made no difference.

Have you checked the voltages yet to see if there is a problem there?

Can you tell me what the normal voltages should be? I'll check them but I'm not sure what the norm is for voltages.

 

[tk149]

Originally posted by: microsoftninja

The fan is 2900 RPM on my heatsink.

I'm not familiar with your heatsink, but that seems VERY low for a CPU heatsink fan. Especially with an Athlon 2200+.

Hmm...I just looked up the specs on your heatsink (link), and it looks like it should come with a Delta Screamer:

Stock Fan
Maker: DELTA
Model: FFB0812EHE
Size: 80 x 80 x 38 (mm)
Bearing: Dual Ball Bearing System
Voltage: 12V
Speed: 5700 rpm
Air Flow: 80 CFM
Noise Level: 52.5 dBA

Even if you don't want to use a screamer, maybe you should find a fan that does around 3900 rpms. Also, did you check to make sure the CPU fan is installed properly? Some heatsinks work better if air is blown into the heatsink, and some work better if air is blown out of the heatsink.

And, oh yeah, 70+ degrees C is way too hot. My 1800+ runs at 41C at load (running SETI). Of course, my heatsink fan sounds like a vacuum cleaner...

And I second that fix for your floppy drive. Try reversing the cable if you can't just flip it.

 

[microsoftninja]

So does anyone think that the thermometer on my motherboard could be out of whack? I know the heatsink is installed well, I used Arctic Silver 3 exactly as was instructed and although my fan is a little slow I still have 3 other case fans. It doesn't make sense to me that after all of this the temperature of my processor could be 70+.

 

[WarCon]

Is the 70C full load temps or idle (doing nothing) temps? Those new Athlons (t-bred) have a smaller core and that makes it harder for heat to be transferred. But if you heatsink is getting hot, then you need to make sure the fan is blowing down on it and you might just need to get a faster/higher cfm fan. It must be pretty warm in your house for your system temp to be hitting 35C with 3 case fans. How many intake and how many exhaust? Also try running your system laying down and see if your heatsink's weight is pulling it slight off the core. This can lead to large jumps in temps.

Also in regards to your floppy drive, are you absolutely sure it is plugged into the motherboard right? It can't be flip-flopped because of the drive selection part of the ribbon. Once its in the mobo right, then you can try swapping it at the floppy end. (It is possible it is just a bad floppy, but those are pretty rare).

And with 35C case temps, a CD coming out of your DVD being warm is not a big surprise.

 

[Buz2b]

So does anyone think that the thermometer on my motherboard could be out of whack?

Uhh, is that the answer you were looking for? Maybe you should have told us. Actually, it is a possibility but right now you seem to have another issue; the fan. It sounds like (pardon the pun) you opted to use a lower RPM fan to reduce the noise on your HSF setup. I, and others, can relate to that for sure. However, you must remember that you are running the bleeding edge of AMD's processors. That in itself means you are going to generate some heat. You really need to install a higher rpm/output fan. No, you probably don't need to go up to a 6000 rpm screamer; but you need to get significantly higher than the one you have now. You have an excellent Heat Sink; give it a chance to work. All the case fans in the world will not do squat unless you push enough air across the fins of the HS. Those two are the key; you need airflow (cool) and you need to push it across the fins at a rate that will keep them cool. At this point it sounds like you are not pushing the air across the fins fast enough.
As to the voltages, that is not an easy question to answer. You have several different voltages that your system deals with. The only one you need to worry about (so far) seems to be the vcore voltage. As far as I know, that should be set somewhere around 1.65 volts. If it is significantly higher, that could be your problem. Do you have a montioring program to check this?

70+ degrees C is way too hot. My 1800+ runs at 41C at load

Going out on a limb here but from what I have been able to gather, the newer 2200+ runs a bit hotter than other XP CPU's. Still, 70C seems a bit much; on that we agree. Check the voltage on the CPU (vcore). Try to obtain (or perhaps reinstall) a higher rpm fan on the HS. If that doesn't drop the temps a bit, then experiment by placing a small fan next to the (open) case; blowing directly on the CPU area.

 

[microsoftninja]

My vcore is at 1.64v. I need to wait until later to experiment with my fans, however. I'm going to be gone most of the day today for the Tool concert

And thanks for all of your help so far, everyone.

 

[microsoftninja]

Originally posted by: WarCon
Is the 70C full load temps or idle (doing nothing) temps? Those new Athlons (t-bred) have a smaller core and that makes it harder for heat to be transferred. But if you heatsink is getting hot, then you need to make sure the fan is blowing down on it and you might just need to get a faster/higher cfm fan. It must be pretty warm in your house for your system temp to be hitting 35C with 3 case fans. How many intake and how many exhaust? Also try running your system laying down and see if your heatsink's weight is pulling it slight off the core. This can lead to large jumps in temps.

70C is idle temperatures.
I have two fans (one on the front and one on the side) for intake and one on the back for exhaust.

 

[microsoftninja]

I found out one of the problems just now. Apparently my power supply, the 330W Antec TruePower psu, has a fan control feature where it controls the speed of the fans depending on the temperatures in the case. To disable this I had to switch from the "Fan only" labeled power cords to just regular 4 pin periphereal cords. Now the fans are spinning at full power but this shaved only about 4-5C off my idle temperature.

 

[Buz2b]

but this shaved only about 4-5C off my idle temperature.

But hey, it's a start. Interesting "fix" though. What is the "System" temp now? Have you tried experimenting by removing the side of the case and placing a small fan next to it blowing directly into the case? It would be interesting to see what happens when that is done.
Just an observation here but upon reading back over the thread I see that you were running 70c temps on the cpu while your "system" temps were ~35c. Is that correct?? I'm afraid I must go back to your previous remark, "The fan is 2900 RPM on my heatsink" and suggest again that you use a higher output/rpm fan. The 2200+ is going to run higher temps to begin with as far as I have seen reported. Trying to get away with using a slower, low output fan is not going to "get it done". Ideally, you should be able to have the cpu run ~4-7c above the "system" temps. But, you will need "more speed" and output on the HS fan.
BTW, yes, the thermistor on your MB could be "out of whack" but you need to do a bit more to seriously come to that conclusion.