is my cpu defective?? help appreciated!!

[chinkgai]

all of a sudden my cpu started to overheat after a year without any problems. the temp on the cpu is 63c and at 67c its crashes. i bought a new fan and heatsink and applied a thin layer of thermal grease but its still didn't make any difference in the cpu temp. i also used a household fan to blow on the cpu but it only dropped the temp to about 59c so what is the problem? could the cpu be defective?

here's my setup: amd xp 1900+, zalman cnps6000-cu fan&hs, abit kr7a-133

oh btw, i've never overclocked before....the only thing that has been out of the norm is a virus that i got last week, but i've formatted my harddrive since then....

any help or suggestions appreciated! thanks!

 

[pspada]

I had odd problems similar to these, turned out to be the powersupply going bad.

 

[onza]

give us your voltage readings off the bios or mbm.

 

[chinkgai]

here are my voltage readings:

vcore 1.77v

vio 3.45v

5vsb 4.86v

+12v 12.40v

agp 1.50v

ddr 2.56v

+ 5v 5.37v

vbat 3.10v

I/O voltage 3.50v

so u think i should try another power supply? thanks for the help guys!

 

[ChampionAtTufshop]

was that an idle reading?

go open like prime95 and get it going on torture test and then see what happens to voltages (before it crashes)

 

[chinkgai]

yeah that was an idle reading

what do you mean go open like prime95? and by torture test, what program should i use? thanks again!

 

[NYHoustonman]

Palomino or Thoroughbred? And what were your temperatures before?

 

[Quackmaster]

I think pspada is on the right track with the PSU, but just in case, here's a couple more questions-

what were your temps before things started gettin' wacky?

Are you getting a positive/negative change in your computers performance? Any unusual lock ups?

Did your ambient temps shoot up (since summer is here, my CPU runs 12F hotter..! SoCal heat sucks :l)?

Are you getting this info with motherboard monitor? If so don't trust it.

Sorry for asking you "n00b" questions, but we gotta check all the basics.

 

[BG4533]

Originally posted by: chinkgai
yeah that was an idle reading

what do you mean go open like prime95? and by torture test, what program should i use? thanks again!

Prime95 is a program that you can use to stress your CPU. It will also stress your PSU since your processor will be using a lot more power. You can get it here. When you start it there will be an option for torture test. Run it and watch your temps and voltages. I think it may be your PSU as well.

Brian

 

[pspada]

It's so easy to check for a bad power supply too. Just put another one in. If the problems continue, you can always return it - though I personally keep several around for this purpose in my computer room.

 

[chinkgai]

i haven't checked the temps recently until it started over heating but they where in the high 40's before.

The chip is a thoroughbred

yah its started over heating 2 weeks ago but even on cool nights it over heats.

all the readings are from the cpu health from the bios.

yes i do get unusual lockups, usually it doesn't lock up during the day but it does it more at night.

i've jes recently checked my power supply with a good one and it doesnt seem to be the problem.

and i havent been able to get a chance to d/l prime95 yet cuz im on 56gay right now till i move to my new house =\

any info on this program? is it free? thanks!

any more suggestions on what bad part it might be?

 

[Optimist]

What I find interesting is that you say the system is locking up more at night that during the day. That makes it much more of a paradox than bad a P.S., CPU, or other temperature or load suspects. Usually a CPU works or doesn't work; it's not a car engine in that it "wears out" over time. (Of course there are always exceptions.)

The first thing I would do to troubleshoot the problem is figure out if the crashes are tempeature related or not. This could be a classic case of paying attention to one problem because you've noticed another. (After replacing a dead battery died in our car, my wife noticed the exhaust was loud. ) If the two are not related, perhaps just a tempature sensor is bad.

Next, let's correlate the time of day with computer use. When you say at night, do you mean that you are not on the computer? By day, you mean that you are working on the computer? Also, when you say the computer crashes more at night, how many times? Every night during the last two weeks and only one time during the day or what? If the computer is crashing more often during the time of least load, and you've thought about other details (for example, you close the door to the room at night and it has no separate air vent), then I would wonder if there is some background program that is doing its own torture test at night.


Another question is, "where the computer sits, what is the temperature range between day and night?" Do you shut the door to the room? Does the room share ventilation with another room? Is the thermostat set back at night?


If the computer crashes substantially more often at night, when it's cooler, and noone is actively using it, then it's a real brain teaser. You can get big-brother type software to record all activities on the computer (you know--to spy on your wife, your kids, your workers...). Some of it is free for download. I would wonder if some background software is firing up night and doing its own torture test to the system. (It happened to me once with a poorly designed defragger that pulled down a hard drive and was working on another before I figured it out.) It's a long shot, but I've no other guesses. Good luck.

 

[pelikan]

Why is your vcore at 1.77V when you aren't overclocking? That'll make you overheat right there.

 

[Quackmaster]

Originally posted by: Optimist
What I find interesting is that you say the system is locking up more at night that during the day. That makes it much more of a paradox than bad a P.S., CPU, or other temperature or load suspects...

The first thing I would do to troubleshoot the problem is figure out if the crashes are tempeature related or not. This could be a classic case of paying attention to one problem because you've noticed another. (After replacing a dead battery died in our car, my wife noticed the exhaust was loud. ) If the two are not related, perhaps just a tempature sensor is bad...


If the computer crashes substantially more often at night, when it's cooler, and noone is actively using it, then it's a real brain teaser..

Yeah, I agree. Those temp fluctuations seem skewed as heck. As I said before, don't trust mobo monitor to be accurate. It's just a nice reference point. My Asus mobo says temps are usually around 105-115f. But when I boot into WinXP mobo monitor tells me it's only 87-95f. They are relatively close in range, but not accuracy.

perhaps you could try a test by running your computer with the side of your case removed (have a micro-vaccuum or canned air for the dust accumulation). Run it like that for a few days and see if your temps go down (unless you've got great case airflow they should go down). If that solves your problem you know it was temp related. If not it's back to the "formulate a hypothesis" stage. Also, note that a poor power supply CAN contribute to bad temps as well as system instability.