PC gets unstable. What to do?

[nmontec]

Dear All,

this is my setup:
P4 3.2 GHz , 1GB Ram DDR 400
Mobo Intel D9115PGN socket 775
HD SATA and EIDE

I bought the PC two years ago and only recently I found that the CPU temperature gets high after a while (around 2 hours) if normal operations are accomplished, or less, if i use any cpu intensive program. When that happens, the PC reboots or act weirdly.
The cpu fan is working normally and the radiator is clean. I also changed the thermal cream between CPU and the radiator just in case.I also reset the BIOS to defaults.
None of the solutions above mentioned solved the issue, after a while the CPU warms up and PC acts funny.
Is there anything else I could try before to trash Mobo and CPU alltogether? (Thanks Intel!)

Thanks a lot for your help
Nicola

 

[nickslick74]

How good is the airflow inside the case? The heatsink can't keep the cpu cool if the temp in the case is high. Something simple (but not always pretty) is to remove the side panel and point a house fan at the open side. This would help improve airflow in the case! If that doesn't help you may want to look in to a new hsf/fan combo.

 

[Tmagic650]

Just by removing the side of the case should be good enough without using a house fan. It may be time to invest in a new HSF or some new case fans. My Antec full-tower has 4 hard drives, a CD/DVD burner and a DVD ROM. It has a Zalman socket 775 copper cooler, 1 80mm front intake fan and an 80mm exhaust fan, that's all. This system sits in a cabinet. CPU 43C, case 29C.

nmontec's system will not need anything more than this... Sometimes just a good HSF (Heatsink Fan) for the CPU is all that's really needed

 

[nmontec]

I would agree with you if that happened since day 1 I bought the system, but it started to occur only recently, so this is something that puzzles me that might be some component (a capacitor?) gone mad.
The CPU goes to 65°C....

 

[Tmagic650]

I would agree with you if that happened since day 1 I bought the system, but it started to occur only recently, so this is something that puzzles me that might be some component (a capacitor?) gone mad.
The CPU goes to 65°C....

At this point it wouldn't hurt at all just to remove the CPU's heatsink and fan. Make sure any dust between the fan and the heatsink is removed and that the CPU is cleaned and a fresh dab of thermal compound is applied, then reassemble...

 

[tifc8lraz]

What is the make of your computer, I am familiar with a similar problem in the Sony VAIO models.

 

[Tmagic650]

Look guys, this is not rocket science. After even a few months of use, any computer can accumulate dust and hair inside the case. I live in a dusty and dry area, and I have 8 cats. Three big, and 5 kittens. There is a filter in the front of the full tower that catches all the cat hair, and I just changed out my old Biostar M7VIG 400 motherboard, with a AMD Duron 1.8GHz CPU. It had a Vantec 5400 RPM HSF that was noisey but efficient in cooling. This HSF was a real dust magnet. You would not believe all the crap that was trapped between the fan and the heatsink fins. I can assure you that nmontec's HSF is nowhere as complex or as efficient as my Vantec HSF was... I use a MSI Intel socket 775 motherboard now with a huge Zalman copper 775 HSF. It is quiet and has a wide open design that will not be a problem to keep clean. I seriously doubt if any bad cap or any other thing is causing this CPU temp problem

 

[F1N3ST]

5 Kitties, sweet! Are any of them fuzzy? I love fuzzy kitties

 

[Tmagic650]

Yes F1N3ST,
out of the 5, 4 are short-haired males. The 5th is a fuzzy long-haired female Himalayan we call Flat Face. They are 6 weeks old. Cute little rascals

 

[tifc8lraz]

I have two cats, I love them, although one is literally retarded.

 

[Tmagic650]

I have two cats, I love them, although one is literally retarded.

So do you notice a lot of cat hair in your computer or in it's front filter?
One of my older cats is a bit retarded too

 

[tifc8lraz]

So do you notice a lot of cat hair in your computer or in it's front filter?
One of my older cats is a bit retarded too

No, they usually stay out of my room.

 

[Divinity]

Make sure the case is well ventilated, Remove the heatsink & clean the dust if required

 

[nmontec]

For those who asked, my PC is a homemade built desktop, it's not a brand one.
Yesterday I purchased a new mobo but this didn't solve the issue, so I guess now I have to purchase a new CPU too.
I'm getting the same problem, after finishing installing XP (badly, with some errors like can't find "system"), at the final reboot, the PC keeps on rebooting.
Don't think it is a problem of heatsink and thermal compound as I uninstalled the heatsink ,cleaned it and replaced the therma compound. Didn't solve the issue....

 

[nmontec]

Dear All,

at last I succeeded to put my pc back to work, I had to replace the RAM and the CPU.
Moreover, in order to avoid temperature problems, I also mounted two fans one that fblows inside the case and one that blows outside. I also bought a new power supply and a UPS device just to make the things safer.
I hope it is worth the money...
Thanks to all who replied to this for their hints.