Motherboard overheating issue

[Serelitz]

MY PC is pretty old, from around 2003 I think. This problem's been around for a while, but I always thought it was someho0w related to my graphics card ( since the fan on it didn't work) but now I've finally replaced it and the problem persists.

I've looked around some, and apparently it's a problem with the motherboard / chipset (or a combination). Specs are as follows:

MSI MS-7046 motherboard
Intel i915p chipset
ATI Radeon HD4350 graphics card
2x 512 DDR-SDRAM memory
Intel P4 540 @ 3.2 GHz

I've checked around in the BIOS, but the options appear to be hidden, so I can't check the PC health or anything. The temperature that CPUID reports is a staggering 66 degrees, which doesn't seem realistic.

The system reboots if I start doing anything graphically intense (mostly gaming). Is there any solution or is this just a crap mobo and the only solution is replacing it?

rebels havenforum.com/sis-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=21;t=000524 appears to describe my problem pretty accurately (found it by searching around some), but no solution. I put some spaces in the link because apparently I'm not supposed to post links.

 

[Ritwik7]

Which temperature does CPUID reveal as 66c? Random reboots are a sign of an overheating CPU. I suggest you check that the HSF is firmly attached. If it is, try re-applying the thermal interface material.

 

[Serelitz]

The processor temperature is 66 degrees, and that's only at ~5% usage. I do have to note that this specific CPU is infamous for the heating. The fan is properly and I'm not too sure what you mean by thermal interface. I also regularly dust my PC with a pressurized air pump as well as refreshing the thermal paste. I really think this is some kind of hardware specific problem, or something in the BIOS.