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CPU overheating

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SimonW

New Member
CPU = Athlon XP 1.8GHz

Dear All,

The answer to my previous post was that my CPU was overheating.

After cleaning the fan and heatsink from dust and inspecting the heat compound it was all in order and the fan was spinning normally.

to be on the safe side I inserted a moderate speed case fan... yet still the CPU is overheating
I am running out of ideas.

On my case I have 2 possible mounting places of a case fan, one near the back near the CPU, the other is behined where the power switch is on a normal tower case.

My question.. I have got a very fast case fan, if I mount it near the back I fear it will steal air flow which should be directed at the heatsink (via moderate speed heatsink fan)

Any suggestions ideas?

Cheers!
 
If you CPU is overheating, in the UK (where it's not particularly hot) then I would suggest you have a problem somewhere? - assuming the fan/heatsink on the CPU is the correct size, and running correctly, you shouldn't need to add any extra case fans - the PSU fan should be enough.

Are you over-clocking your processor?.
 
I am not giving the answer to your question.Rather i would like to share my experience of overheating that was solved.
I had 3.0 GHz 2 MB cache intel Processor(630+) consuming 165W.
I began to have overheating problem, the computer kept turning off and the message appeared was "Your computer has been shut down to prevent damage due to overheating"

After a much research the thing i did (and that solved the problem) was to clean and then add the more paste on the processor so that there was minimum space left between the heat sink and the processor.
Make sure the processor is pressed firmly.

This may solve your problem
 
I've seen a bunch of Gateway 4100s that are overheating. The fin pitch in the heat sink is pretty fine. But they stay hot even afte blowing out dust. Air passages are unobstructed, and the fan pulls a good airstream. PSU fan is also good.

The sink is almost glued to the processor. We ruined one (already failed and not working) trying to pull the sink off. Unless the transfer past has become less thermally efficient, it's anybody's guess as to why the procesors stay hot after airflow has been reestablished.

We're going to see what Gateway warranty service does for this.
 
A few things you could check:

Check the inlet air vents usually at the front and underside of the case, they can get clogged.

Check the cpu heatsink is on the right way round and completely in contact with the cpu. https://www.amd.com/us-en/assets/content_type/white_papers_and_tech_docs/23986.pdf

If everything looks ok, check if cpu overheats when the pc is just idle, like when it is just booted into the bios screen, then there is still a big problem.

If it only overheats when in windows, then it could be some bad software that is always using 100% cpu, check by doing ctrl-alt-delete and click on the performance tab to see what software is using most cpu resources.
 
Just a note:

Be careful with heatsink compound. . . If you have too much on, it can cause overheating. You only want enough to fill the surface 'imperfections' between the two surfaces. Too much means that the two surfaces will not touch at all, this can cause problems with efficient heat transfer.
 
What kind of heatsink compound are you using? If it's the original 'stamp' that comes on the heatsink you need to get rid of it and put some fresh thermal grease on it, like fingaz says in a very very thin layer (ideally on both sides)
The little stamp that comes on a heatsink dries out and once it's dry it doesn't reapply well at all. Also make sure the arm that clamps the heatsink to the processor is nice and firm. Even the smallest of air bubbles in the heatsink compound can cause over heating problems or damage the chip as it causes localized heating that may not be picked up by the processors temperature sensor.
 
Last edited:
the fault

Dear All,

After many hours of investigation and trial and error, I found the cause of the CPU overheating..... A netgear WG311T wireless G PCI device.

I have not got a clue why or how this made it overheat.


Sceadwian- You where spot on, When I assembled the PC I assumed the paste that came with the heatsink would be OK, on closer inspection it is just soft rubber.. applying new paste and the computer is running faster than ever!.

Cheers!
 
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