This cant be normal...

[MooseMuffin]

Over the last week, my computer has turned itself off, or just plain frozen about 5 times. Whenever it does this, it also wont boot up sucessfully until Ive given it about 30 seconds or so. I thought this was due to processor overheating so when I got it to boot, I immediately went into the bios to check temps and it shows my cpu in the high 70s or even 80c. This week is the first time anything like this has happened and I've made no hardware changes to my PC in a while.

At the moment, with the case's side panel off, MBM reports the cpu temp at 46C but if I run prime95 for about 5 minutes, I can easily get that back to 80C.

cpu: amd 2600+ at 333fsb
hs/fan: zalman CNPS7000A-AlCu
this thing is spec'd for processors much faster than mine at its lowest fan speed, and I have it turned all the way up.

mb: asus a7n8x

 

[Sonic587]

It sounds like your heatsink may be loose or not properly anchored. Try reinstalling it.

Also, did you use thermal compound?

 

[MooseMuffin]

Ive reinstalled the heatsink twice trying to fix this, so its on there good. I didnt reapply any thermal compound, cause, well, I cant find it =) The thing thats killing me is that Ive had this running for over a year without a problem until now. The heatsink was dusty but I cleaned that already. Is it possible that a bad thermal pasting job could have such drastic effects as resulting in load temps of 80+ degrees?

 

[Hoboslayer]

Sounds odd, I believe a good thermal compound can significantly reduce temps, however, if it is running THAT hot, I really couldn't tell you. I remember when i built my computer and booted for the first time, it was registering super hot temperatures, and eventually I actually had to return the motherboard to the store and that fixed it... strange.

 

[Sonic587]

It can add problems, yes. You should try and get some new compound as soon as you can.

Does the heatsink feel hot to the touch?

 

[MooseMuffin]

Just throwing out crazy talk: can a dying powersupply lead to underpowered cpu fans? How could I possibly test this?

 

[Sonic587]

I doubt it. It would take a significant drop in voltage to cause the fan to run slow enough for 80C temps. And if that happened, your PC would be very unstable.

What about my above question?

 

[xbassman]

I don't think that your fans are the main problem here... (You can see if they are turning)
Make sure you don't have any broken blades and such though....
Also make sure that the retention clips are securing your heatsink properly.

Every time you reinstall you heatsink you are probably getting worse thermal transfer.
Pull it off and look at the base. You can probably see the imprint from your processor. When you reinstall this won't line up in exactly the same place, causing air gaps between the processor and heatsink.

First off, go and get some thermal compound. Then I would suggest lapping your heatsink to bring back a smooth surface. (If you had a cheap HS I would just say get a new one.)

You have probably been running hot for a little while and maybe ambient temps recently got high enough for the problem to rear it's ugly head.

BTW- I wouldn't run that processor except to fix the temp issue. I lost a Palomino 2000+ last year and my Asus board was reporting 72-73C -> unstable -> crash.

 

[MooseMuffin]

Sonic, no the heatsink is not really hot to the touch, so I'm thinking it has to be set badly.

Tomorrow, Im meeting up with a friend who has some artic silver, so we can re-set this thing right. Xbassman, with normal use, it doesnt even run that hot, 48-55, which is why I'm shocked that it can jump so high and crash. Whats a normal temperature jump when running prime95? I'm guessing 25-30 degrees is way way too much.

 

[xbassman]

Well, normal depends on bios, processor type, and sensor location. I would say 25-30C increase is out of line though.

My barton I am using right now idles @ 37-39C and running UD (more intensive than prime95) it will go up 8-10C. My case temps stay below 30C though. (usually 25-27C)

If you are going to lap your heatsink I usually progress from 400 grit (until scratches and imprints are gone) -> 600 grit -> 1000 grit 1500 grit (unless I am in a hurry) -> Brasso (or other metal polish) -> alchohol rinse (denatured or high purity)

The wet sand paper is available at most auto parts stores in the auto body section.

 

[0roo0roo]

try the stock hs. if its still screwy then something else is wrong. its not possible.... keep the side of the case off.. blow a fan at it. if it still crashes theres no way its just heat

 

[spencers]

Yeah, same thing has been happening to me on my Socket 939 system. I tried overclocking and something went horribly wrong and the cpu temp got over 60c. Now whenever I play games, it goes up to 65c (with the AC on)!! I suppose the massive heat killed the AS3.

I'll probably reseat the cpu and reapply the thermal compound.