Hi,
This post is pretty long so I've put a TL;DR version at the bottom.
I built a computer about 3 years ago which has been running fine up until the last few months. I have a couple of different problems now so it's a bit difficult trying to isolate everything.
Basically, a while back, my computer would crash randomly when playing games. Initially I put it down to the games themselves as they were renowned for being really buggy (GTA4). After a while though, it became obvious that something was actually wrong as the problem was repeating itself in lots of other games too.
Things progressively got worse as every now and then, when I'd try to boot up, all of the lights and fans would come on but the monitor wouldn't turn on. I'd have to reboot in order to boot normally. It still got worse from there though and eventually, the HDD light would flicker really quickly, the fans would sometimes come on but that was it. Now, it's only able to boot successfully if I unplug it from the wall, give it 5 seconds, plug it back in and hit the power button fairly quickly.
I've been monitoring my temperatures since then and noticed that my Q6600 @ 2.4ghz was idling at around 70 degrees - when I bought it, it was idling at around 37 degrees. After reading a fair bit and talking to a friend, it seems as though I potentially have a problem with the motherboard and the CPU. My friend suggested that the motherboard might be shorting out which is preventing it from booting up, so I gave the case a general clean.
However, that didn't solve the problem and I actually noticed something else: rebooting/unplugging my router, restarts the pc.
So yesterday, I did a full clean. I literally took everything to pieces and did it all. It hasn't really changed anything though. I still can't boot the PC without unplugging it and my CPU temperature is still idling higher than it should be. Sometimes it'll idle at around 62 degrees and other times it'll idle at around 50. I couldn't tell you why it idles at vastly different temperatures.
After looking at the CPU last night, I suspect it doesn't have a great contact with the heatsink, so I've ordered some thermal paste but I wouldn't expect that to drop the temperature down so dramatically.
TL;DR:
CPU is idling at 50-62 degrees (varies each time the computer is booted up).
PC won't start unless I unplug it from the wall, give it 5 seconds and plug it back in (fans come on, HDD light flickers like crazy but nothing else happens).
Rebooting/unplugging my router reboots the PC.
Cleaning the case and all components resulted in a slightly lower temperature for the CPU, but the same problems persist.
Ordered thermal paste to reseat the CPU.
I spoke to my friend again today and he's wondering if the onboard network adapter is possibly causing a short. It does seem a bit weird that the router reboots the PC if it's unplugged/restarted and I was wondering if anyone here could give me some ideas as to what I can do to isolate the problem.
Thanks in advance!
This post is pretty long so I've put a TL;DR version at the bottom.
I built a computer about 3 years ago which has been running fine up until the last few months. I have a couple of different problems now so it's a bit difficult trying to isolate everything.
Basically, a while back, my computer would crash randomly when playing games. Initially I put it down to the games themselves as they were renowned for being really buggy (GTA4). After a while though, it became obvious that something was actually wrong as the problem was repeating itself in lots of other games too.
Things progressively got worse as every now and then, when I'd try to boot up, all of the lights and fans would come on but the monitor wouldn't turn on. I'd have to reboot in order to boot normally. It still got worse from there though and eventually, the HDD light would flicker really quickly, the fans would sometimes come on but that was it. Now, it's only able to boot successfully if I unplug it from the wall, give it 5 seconds, plug it back in and hit the power button fairly quickly.
I've been monitoring my temperatures since then and noticed that my Q6600 @ 2.4ghz was idling at around 70 degrees - when I bought it, it was idling at around 37 degrees. After reading a fair bit and talking to a friend, it seems as though I potentially have a problem with the motherboard and the CPU. My friend suggested that the motherboard might be shorting out which is preventing it from booting up, so I gave the case a general clean.
However, that didn't solve the problem and I actually noticed something else: rebooting/unplugging my router, restarts the pc.
So yesterday, I did a full clean. I literally took everything to pieces and did it all. It hasn't really changed anything though. I still can't boot the PC without unplugging it and my CPU temperature is still idling higher than it should be. Sometimes it'll idle at around 62 degrees and other times it'll idle at around 50. I couldn't tell you why it idles at vastly different temperatures.After looking at the CPU last night, I suspect it doesn't have a great contact with the heatsink, so I've ordered some thermal paste but I wouldn't expect that to drop the temperature down so dramatically.
TL;DR:
CPU is idling at 50-62 degrees (varies each time the computer is booted up).
PC won't start unless I unplug it from the wall, give it 5 seconds and plug it back in (fans come on, HDD light flickers like crazy but nothing else happens).
Rebooting/unplugging my router reboots the PC.
Cleaning the case and all components resulted in a slightly lower temperature for the CPU, but the same problems persist.
Ordered thermal paste to reseat the CPU.
I spoke to my friend again today and he's wondering if the onboard network adapter is possibly causing a short. It does seem a bit weird that the router reboots the PC if it's unplugged/restarted and I was wondering if anyone here could give me some ideas as to what I can do to isolate the problem.
Thanks in advance!