by Kiwi
I've had an old T-Bird 1.33 in a Gigabyte ZXE for over three years, always on the warm side, apparently -- never OC'd; when I upgraded the video, it started getting unstable from running 60-62 when the video card was working hard. With an improved cpu hsf situation, it has stayed in the low 50's at its max effort. Suddenly, over the past weekend, without making any changes, it was back to the high 50's and showing instabilities again. That system is my primary eMail and Inet surfing box, and it's been pretty much trouble-free (running 24-7 months at a time) most of its life. :brokenheart:
I blew a lot of compressed air into the hsf's fins, in case there was dust I couldn't see in it. And gave the thing a gentle "wiggle" to be sure the clamp was secure (it is). Fan speeds were normal, the room temps are normal, the usual uses of the system are the same, but it was getting hot. Last night, it was at 58 C when I was ready to retire to my BR to read a book. I decided to shut it all the way down for a change.
One of the changes a year ago when I upgraded the cpu fan, was from ribbon cables to the round ones, for better ventilation in the case. I've seen some problems with those cables, when you are changing drives, and they stop working. I haven't made any drive changes in that system in months. I haven't swapped *BACK* to a new ribbon cable yet, since I think more was wrong at last night's shut down than I knew.
The POST can't find either of the Hdd's (both on the IDE-O controller), and generally speaking, all of the "Optimum" settings in the BIOS were reset to baseline settings. Even the RAM speed had been reset from 133 to 100. So I think part of the Via KT-133 "Southbridge" has been damaged/blown/worn out (isn't that where the IDE Controller resides?) Where would the extra heating have been coming from? Ideas, folks?
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