My CPU’s Overheating – Please Help!

G

Glyn_Green

New Member
I tried transferring my computer into a new case (an Antec Sonata II) but managed to mess it up... I misconnected one of the power cables (the smaller square one with four connectors) which meant the CPU fan didn’t spin (and could possibly have caused other damage too).

It made a shrieking siren noise when it was turned on, which after some web research I discovered to be a warning that the CPU was overheating. Unfortunately it was left running for some time before I discovered this and realised I’d better turn it off. I actually thought I’d damaged the fan at first so went out and bought a new fan/heatsink, it only being when this didn’t work either that I double-checked the wiring and discovered my error.

The system still runs, but I’m still getting the alarm even now I’ve connected the wiring properly and the fan/heatsink is working. The CPU temp runs at around 80C but I checked and an Athlon 64 2800+ shouldn’t really be ran at over 70C. I’ve tried using both the new and old fan/heatsink combos, thermal pads, Artic Silver 5 thermal paste, all to no avail – it’s still telling me it’s too hot.

What could be the problem? Does it sound like I’ve damaged the CPU? The Motherboard? Both? Should I replace one, other or both of them? I will replace both if I have to, but it’d be costly and I’d rather try and find out for definite that I need to first.

What are the risks of running a system at much over the manufacturers recommended temperature? Can I get away with giving it a go and seeing if it copes ok? Could it possibly be the thermometer on the blink and it’s actually colder? (or is that just me being hopelessly optimistic?).

It’s been broken for a good while now and it’s getting to the stage where I’m thinking about calling in professional computer repair people to look at it... but that will be expensive and if all they’re probably going to do is tell me they’re both damaged and need replacing, then I’d be better off not bothering and just buying a new set and doing it myself (being more careful with the wiring this down round).

It’s really bugging me though and I’m not too sure what to do about it, so any replies / suggestions would be most welcome!

Glyn
 
80C is far too hot. Re-seat the HSF and make sure the fan is on. You may need to re-aply the thermal paste to make usre it's getting good contact between the CPU and HS.

You might have damagedd the motherboard temp sensor if it really got hot, but if either the CPU or motherboard were critically damaged, your PC would probably not even boot up. There may be long term effects of this problem, but you won't know until it happens. Don't go out andbuy new anything until you are sure something is fried.

If you question the temp sensor, there is a simple test you can do. Boot up the PC, and have your hand close to hte HSF assembly. DON'T touch it if you already fel warmth/heat from it, if it literally is overheatin ~80C can severly burn your fingers. If you feel no intense heat, or any at all, give it a touch or 2 and see how warm it is. If it's simply warm, it's normal, if it's hot to the touch but not too bad...it might be time for a cooling upgrade. If it's not severly hot let it run for a bit and test the temp in the same fashion periodically. It should not rise in temperature significantly over a short period of time. Don't run any games or anything CPU intensive.
 
Fans definitely running and I've reset the fan & heatsink and reapplied thermals 4-5 times already for the same result.

Tried touching the heatsink and it feels cold, so maybe it could simply be the sensor playing up...

Glyn
 
Cold is good, as long as you're sure it's making contact with the CPU. If your PC functions porperly and you don't get blue screens or errors i would assume the same thing; faulty sensor.
 
Its unlikely that hes messed up the heatsink attachment.

If it was on a small CPU core such as an athlon xp then i would suggest redoing the heatsink.
But because its on a flat top 64bit CPU its highly unlikely that's hes messed up the thermal paste.

Most likely a malfunctioning part
 
He's already stated he's re-seated 4-5 times and re-applied the thermal paste, obviously does nothing. The HSF is cold to the touch, so it must be a faulty temp sensor which is motherboard related. If you don't want to replace it you don't have to. Providing that was the only thing that was damaged, you won't need to replace any hardware.
 
Thanks for all the replies thusfar!
hypojam said:
Reset the bios.

See if that fixes it
Click to expand...
How would I go about doing that? And is there any risk to doing so?

fade2green514 said:
how big is the fan, and how fast is the rpm?... if thats not the problem, id say reapply the thermal gel, preferably silver 5 :)
Click to expand...
It's a CoolerMaster fan and it always kept the system nice and cool before. And it is Arctic Silver 5 that I've been using.

If it is looking like it could be just be a temperature sensor playing up, then I might risk putting the new hard drive in that I just bought and loading up windows (the drive that I had been using in the computer got transferred to the computer I'm currently using and subsequently failed, so I'm having to start again from scratch).

Glyn
 
Resetting the BIOS won't harm anything. However you will have to re-enter the settings to get it to run like normal again (set CPU speed back, voltages back to normal.) If you've never done this I suggest not doing it unless you start having actual problems with the PC. If you have to di it, write down all the settings in the BIOS before you clear them.

To do this all you have to do is cut the power to the motherboard (unplug it from the PSU) and reset the CMOS jumper. Your manual should tell you how if you've got one from your motherboard. There are only 3 pins and it sits on 1 and 2. Set it over to 2 and 3, wait about 10 secs, the back over to 1 and 2. Boot up, enter BIOS, and set all the settings back to normal. That's how it's done. You could also "load optimized defaults" but sometimes this isn't exactly how you want it configured for best performance.
 
Is there any way I can test the integrity and stability of the CPU/Motherboard/System, preferably without actually plugging in a new hard disk?

Are there any utilities or testing programs that can be run from bootable CD (or possibly even a floppy) that would check how it's running and report back?

My CPU's an 754 pin Athlon 64 2800+ and my motherboard's a KV8-MAX3 (if that's relevant)...

Glyn
 
what are the temps at?

go to bios and looks at it. tell me the cpu, sys, and pwm.

and you say its overheating? is there thermal paste on the cpu?
good heatsink?
good venatlation in case?
 
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