Summer and PCs don't mix

[Hellfire_WZ]

Once again my PC has gone tits-up thanks to the temperatures we've been having lately. Crashes all over the place now, can't even play a simple game without it overheating and shutting down. Not that I'm surprised as it does this every year, despite the measures I've taken to cool the bugger down. Anyone else experiencing this little pleasure, or am I the only one with a hot computer?

[q_dmc12]

That happens with my PS2 - if it's 80 or higher the damn thing [pardon the pun] freezes. But I don't play much ps2 now since psp has come into my life.;)

EDIT: sorry, 80 F - I belive somewhere around 25 C

[Lance]

My computers should be dead. I use no air conditioning, it is frequently 90 + F in my house [yes, I like heat; thank you very much. :D ] and high humidity to go along with it, yet I rarely ever have a crash [using WinME on this computer and 98 original on the other one. {I hate XP}].

Charlie, maybe your case is not big enough relative to the speed and heat of the CPU. Can you add an extra fan or open up the air paths in your comp in any way? My own computers are antiques with big tower cases and lots of room inside.

[Sausehuhn]

Open the case of your computer and place a ventilator next to it.

[Hellfire_WZ]

That's the thing, I've got the side open with a desktop fan blowing right into it and I'm still getting heat problems. The case is a Thermaltake Tsunami Dream, which has been regarded as very good for heat dissipation through being all aluminium and good airflow. Temps hit 90 today and it's been crashing like hell.

[eLhabib]

don't you have aircondition in your home?

[Hellfire_WZ]

I wish... :)

[q_dmc12]

HEh, I'm with lance I love the heat - not so much the humidity as it gets VERY humid in the northeast. My parents have the central AC on set for 65, it feels like a meat locker - brrrh!:cold

[Mano]

ok i will try to help here:

1st how do you know the pc is overheating?, ways to know for sure:

-set your bios to activate an alarm as it reaches a certain temperature (make sure that temperature is way below maximum operating temperature), also for safety set your bios to have a lower emergency shutdown teperature.

there might be something wrong with the cooling system in your PC, having assembled many of the athlons (which are known to run a bit hotter than intel´s offerings) there are some things i have checked that can help you.

open the case and check if the fan over the cpu is working if its not the you have had a lot of luck your processor hasnt fried yet (thankfully bios has shutdown measures.

If its working then check if your case fans are working, aleit i think they are secondary and would not make a system crash as often as you describe.

now for the more complicated matters, and sadly i think this is your case, your processor is not making proper contact with your heatsink, may not be correctly in place, or maybe incorrect thermal paste application, or too much thermal paste (that can make a processor overheat too).

you should have contacted your retailer as soon as you had this problems.

its very important that you diagnose the problem correctly otherwise you might damage other parts.

btw what system are you running?

[Lance]

HEh, I'm with lance I love the heat - not so much the humidity as it gets VERY humid in the northeast. My parents have the central AC on set for 65, it feels like a meat locker - brrrh!:cold

65?!?!?!?! aaaaggh

[q_dmc12]

ok, maybe 68 but still - yikes!

[Lance]

ok, maybe 68 but still - yikes!

anything below 74 is freezing, IMO.


er... the topic? ... uh.. sorry about that. We'll be good. Promise. :D

[Hellfire_WZ]

ok i will try to help here:

1st how do you know the pc is overheating?, ways to know for sure:

-set your bios to activate an alarm as it reaches a certain temperature (make sure that temperature is way below maximum operating temperature), also for safety set your bios to have a lower emergency shutdown teperature.

there might be something wrong with the cooling system in your PC, having assembled many of the athlons (which are known to run a bit hotter than intel´s offerings) there are some things i have checked that can help you.

open the case and check if the fan over the cpu is working if its not the you have had a lot of luck your processor hasnt fried yet (thankfully bios has shutdown measures.

If its working then check if your case fans are working, aleit i think they are secondary and would not make a system crash as often as you describe.

now for the more complicated matters, and sadly i think this is your case, your processor is not making proper contact with your heatsink, may not be correctly in place, or maybe incorrect thermal paste application, or too much thermal paste (that can make a processor overheat too).

you should have contacted your retailer as soon as you had this problems.

its very important that you diagnose the problem correctly otherwise you might damage other parts.

btw what system are you running?

1 - Stop error 7F when reinstalling Windows. Caused by overheating component.

2 - Tsunami Dream hasn't got a speaker

3 - All fans are working and airflow is good

4 - CPU is installed fine and thermal pad is in good contact. Not that I can get it off anyway as the tab on the heatsink is broken.

5 - No retailer, it's self-built :)

6 - Windows XP Pro

Thankfully the temperature had gone down today and it seems to have stopped. The desk fan is helping too. I've just reinstalled my system as well as I'm sure my virus scanner got a bit trigger happy yesterday and deleted something it shouldn't have.

All solved now though, and now I'm downloading the beta of Windows Vista.

[Mano]

One note:

in #4 you say thermal pad, as in those thermal stickers? those are really bad for conductivity, if you are using that, its definitely not helping you.

if overheating problems return, i would try to remove the pad, clean the contact areas in the procesor and heatsink and use proper thermal paste.

thermal pads are more difficult to remove and clean than thermal paste, but if you decide to do my recommendation make sure that you clean the surfaces thoroughly, pads tend to leave residues that difficult contact

[Hellfire_WZ]

As I said though, the heatsink is jammed on so I couldn't change it even if I needed to. It's a Socket A heatsink, the ones with those sprung steel bars that hold them on. The tab to remove it is broken.

Ah well, I'm waiting for the Intel Conroe to come out anyway, I'll get a tube of Arctic Silver for that. :)

[Mano]

try a flathead screwdriver to unlock the clip, its even part of the procedure shown in some motherboard manuals, might help you.

be careful tho.

more detailed procedures:

http://www.devhardware.com/forums/amd-processors-31/can-t-remove-heatsink-retaining-clip-86080.html

http://www.smartcomputing.com/Editorial/article.asp?article=articles/2004/w1510/39w02/39w02.asp&guid=

[Hellfire_WZ]

I know you're meant to use a screwdriver, but the tab where it goes has broken, it snapped off last time I tried to remove it.