Overheating problem

Burnsy2023 · 20 Apr 2008 at 14:19

Got an issue with my housemates machine. It all started when his heatsink mounting broke and the heatsink and fan weren't getting a decent contact with the processor. Cue overheating crahes.

However, I've put another mounting on, reseated the heasink with a dab of compound and all seemed fine. But it's still overheating. If you look in the BIOS temp monitor the temp just goes steadily up about 1C ever few seconds util it cuts out.

I've even tried another processor but it does exactly the same.

Any ideas?

Burnsy

Nick644622 · 20 Apr 2008 at 15:04

Is the heatsink pressed hard onto the CPU ? If it is a different mounting there could be a fraction difference leading to a poor contact.

Burnsy2023 · 20 Apr 2008 at 15:08

Fine contact as far as I can see, it's pretty much an exact replacement of the mount anyway

Burnsy

Nick644622 · 20 Apr 2008 at 15:17

From a cold start is the CPU temp reported near ambient or inaccurate ?

Burnsy2023 · 20 Apr 2008 at 15:24

Near ambient. The more I think about this the more confused I get.

Burnsy

Nick644622 · 20 Apr 2008 at 15:30

It has to be the board, maybe it got so hot for so long that it damaged the temp sensor before it finally shut down. Can the overheat shut down be disabled in the BIOS ? I'm presuming the CPU isn't actually overheating & it is a false reading by the board ?

Burnsy2023 · 20 Apr 2008 at 15:31

Nick644622 said:
It has to be the board, maybe it got so hot for so long that it damaged the temp sensor before it finally shut down. Can the overheat shut down be disabled in the BIOS ? I'm presuming the CPU isn't actually overheating & it is a false reading by the board ?

Ok, I'll give that a try

Burnsy

Nick644622 · 20 Apr 2008 at 15:42

If it is a false reading & stays on I'd get Coretemp or similar installed ASAP.

Burnsy2023 · 20 Apr 2008 at 15:45

No option to turn it off in the BIOS

Burnsy

semi-pro waster · 20 Apr 2008 at 16:34

It probably won't help but have you tried flashing the bios? Occasionally that can fix these odd problems.

fobose · 20 Apr 2008 at 17:01

Probably a bit risky doing that though, wouldnt want the PC to turn off half way through a bios flash!

semi-pro waster · 20 Apr 2008 at 17:15

True, I suppose it depends how long the system takes to overheat whether it would be possible.

Burnsy2023 · 20 Apr 2008 at 20:10

semi-pro waster said:
True, I suppose it depends how long the system takes to overheat whether it would be possible.

It's not long...about 2-3 mins max

Burnsy

fobose · 20 Apr 2008 at 20:21

Do you have another heatsink to try? Perhaps the new clip isn't quite holding it on properly?

Nick644622 · 20 Apr 2008 at 23:22

When you are convinced it is the board, remove the CPU, identify the sensor and snip it off in a nothing to lose fashion, re assemble and cross your fingers.

Burnsy2023 · 21 Apr 2008 at 00:18

Nick644622 said:
When you are convinced it is the board, remove the CPU, identify the sensor and snip it off in a nothing to lose fashion, re assemble and cross your fingers.

Any idea what the sensor would look like?

Burnsy

Nick644622 · 21 Apr 2008 at 07:56

If you are lucky it is a thin ribbon type, often orange coloured, flexible thingy that contacts the underside of the CPU. I have no idea what the effect of snipping it off will be but if you are convinced the board is faulty there is nothing to lose.

Edit. I am still thinking that the most likely cause is a poor contact between the CPU & heatsink, please only try the above as the very very last resort. Is the CPU hot to touch and hotter than than the heatsink ?

misterPK · 21 Apr 2008 at 09:02

Take another good look at the cpu and heatsink. One way to tell how good a contact you have is to remove the heatsink and look at the squidge pattern of the thermal grease you've put on it. You should be able to see how thick it is and how its spread over the cpu. Post a pic of it too, just because you can, lol.

PK!