Hi im really new to the whole PC tech issues.. normally i just play computer games etc

but recently my pc has been turning its self off.. like its over heated.. when i restart it .. i noticed a message that said " CPU temperature problem "

so i googled around for abit.. nothing really helped..

i dnt even know what a CPU is or does

just wondering what would cause my CPU to over heat.. is this a bad thing.. how do i cool it etc..

if any one can make sense of this. and try and help me.. well it would save my bacon

Thanks

AJ

CPU's are essentially advanced calculators that "process" (hence the term Central Processing Unit) instructions.

CPU's overheat when a large number of instructions are introduced and heat dissipation is not sufficient. No, you do not want your CPU be overheating.

If you've had the system for a while, do yourself a favor and buy a can of compressed air, open the case and clear all the dust out (especially on the heatsink and it's fan). That might be enough to drop your temperatures to a safe level, and, if it's not you can install another case fan or two, aftermarket thermal compound and/or an aftermarket heatsink.

Thanks.

i just had a quick clean to get rid of the dust for now.. but ill get some compressed air asap then :)

when i run my dxdiag it says i have to cpu's is this normal . will they both be overheatin i take it

You probably have a CPU with two cores, which, is basically two processors on the same die. Considering the fact that they're both on the same die, and aren't separate chips all together, yes, they'd both be overheating.

O.K. I admit that I haven't read the other answers to your request. I am going to go with the fact that you are not yet aware of your CPU location or what it does.....and how to cool it down. I believe that you know where your CPU is located on your motherboard. Clean out the "Heatsink" with a toothbrush or something. Look up on the internet how to take the CPU out.....clean any thermal grease off of the CPU and the place it "sits". Replace that thermal grease with Arctic Silver 5. Good Luck. You may need it!

add the max amount of fans u can put in ur comptuer i hav 4 total 1 vpu fan 1 cpu fan and 2 case fans and my pc is cool all the time. wats ur cpu temp can u plz get it its in the bios and i can tell u if it sounds too hot.

Nice amount of help there, but the main thing you should do is:

clean the CPU heatsink (like Zenosincks suggested). To do that, of course, you need to be able to identify which is your CPU (physically) in the computer.

The short version is: locate the biggest single piece of metal in your computer. Since you said your computer has 2 CPUs (and among other factors), there is a 99% chance it'll have a fan on it. Shouldn't be hard to spot, nothing else should come close to its size. Do not be confused with the PSU (power supply unit), which is the thing with all the wires coming out of, or your drives (which would have wires connected to it). You'd have to take the fan out to clean it, and may require new thermal paste. There should be instructions that come with your thermal paste on application. Follow it. (and more is NOT better in this case).

Long version: you don't want to hear it.

There's that :D

p.s. Adding more fans won't help much unless you clean the heatsink first.

Looks like this. Not to say it exactly looks like that but it is a chunk of metal with metal fins sticking out, usualy with a fan mounted on the top.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/25/AMD_heatsink_and_fan.jpg

It dissipates heat from the CPU using thermal contact. So what it does is takes the heat that the CPU underneath is making and the heat sink absorbs that heat which gets carried through to the metal fins, air is then circulated through those fins to carry the heat away and thus cool the CPU down. Make sure to clean the dust from inside the fins because this will disturb the air flow and all the heat will just sit there. unfourtunatly because of the fan and all the air passing threw the fins all the dirt and hair that the air carry easily gets built up which is why it is important to clean the heat sink every once and awhile to keep everything running nice and cool.

thanks for all your help so far, i think its running alot better now.. i cleaned the heatsink (strange looking thing ) as best i could. also my PSU? fan had some dust so i removed that also. not had any problems yet.


just dead nosiey like squeeky sound now

flawless u dont hav to take the cpu fan off. just use the air cans from like walmart that you see come in a 3 pack sometimes n blow the fan really good and make sure everything looks clear. If you can add another case fan i would do it its very easy to install and there very cheap just make sure you get the right size fan.

Yeah..."Nice amount of help there (put down)" "Take the toothbrush and clean it out"

thanks for all your help so far, i think its running alot better now.. i cleaned the heatsink (strange looking thing ) as best i could. also my PSU? fan had some dust so i removed that also. not had any problems yet.


just dead nosiey like squeaky sound now

get a temperature monitoring software like Riva Tuner or PC Wizard so you can check your temps.... and check the temperature of the room that the computer is in this can be a huge factor... my room is in the 60's - 80's and my CPU is usually around 10 degree's hotter that my rooms ambient temperature. but i do got a very good heat sink and good air flow in my case...

Squeaky sound?

I'm gonna have to assume you didn't handle the fan now, and its causing this new squeaky sound..... :S

I'd have to suggest you replace your fan now, since you'd have to do it sooner or later, but since you're now messing around inside, might as well get it changed now.

Besides, you don't want to be running into anymore problems first, before addressing the issue (the fan can fail, causing overheating again).

Hi there!
I just bought core 2 duo 8400 and ASUS P5E-V HDMI mainboard.
The problem is similar:
While installing I broke one of the fan's screws :/
I thought it will be a problem,but not so big.
After I turn it on it says "CPU temperature error."
I went in the BIOS and it said that the temperature is 100 degrees C :confused:
The mashine didn't work more than 3 minutes,because after I booted it up for the second time after 30 min,I immediately entered the BIOS.
Is it normal temeratures to rise so fast while working with one of four fan screws disconnected?
I'm afraid to turn it on,because I can do some serious termal damage to the CPU.

P.S, The BIOS recognizes all the components including the CPU

you may have to update the bios for the motherboard. Make sure you have bios 0307, it may have shipped with 0204.

if one of the fan screws are broken your Heat sink might be sitting on the CPU wrong... i almost burned up my e6750 beacuse my fan was mabey a millimeter off the chip and my thermal adhesive did not fill the space...

after a quick mod to my mother board it was all fine but make sure that its not uneven... try loosening its opposite screw and tightining the other two to even it out...
we dont know what heat sink but i think that might help


also flashing would do wonders!

i also bought a E8400 even though i have heard of some of it's "overheating" problems..anyways my problem was tat the pc keeps restartin itself when the speedfan program reads 33degree celsius. i suppose tat's not hot at all considering the 100celsius tat vboykov had..but no matter wad it just keeps restartin when it got to 33 and it always show me this message sayin "previous attempt of overclocking is failed" (yea,it came wif the wrong grammar lol). so i had to reformat my com and den now it can go all the way to 38degree celsius without any problem...so maybe it was a virus tat caused the problem?

Sorry, correction here. the 33degC is actually the hard disk temp not the cpu. my cpu is currently 51degC

you should not be at 51°c that is a 45nm chip my E6750 runs at 33 - 38 . did you overclock and are you using the stock fan and heat sink?

i surely didnt overclock it coz i dunno how to! oh erm for the fans, i have 4 in total (one on the graphics card,one from the PSU,one in front of the case and one at the back of the case). As for the heatsink i'm not sure if there's one on the mobo but i tot all mobos come with it??

It's ok now.I bought a new cooler.It's cheap but it gets the job done.
BUT still
sometimes temperature rises to 48 degrees after half an hour working at 50% usage.
Motherboard was 38 degrees.
I have no other fans except the CPU's and the PSU's . Is this normal?

Yes, 48C is absolutely fine.

Despite the temperatures being okay, you might want to mount at least an exhaust fan at the rear of your chassis. Your call...

well then is 51-55degC ok for an E8400? i read the sticky saying tat it is safe to run it at 60degC but surely lowering the temp of the cpu would prolong it's life span?

Yep, 51-55C is fine as well. Getting toward the toastier side of things, though. Technically it has the potential to increase the lifespan of your CPU by keeping it cooler, however, you will upgrade before it dies regardless.

Lol tat is soooooo very true, zenosincks. so i guess there's no call for an upgrade in the cooling department eh?

Nope, maybe a dusting and a little cable management if you're that concerned but I wouldn't buy a new heatsink or fan...

I'd get an exhaust fan. Pronto.

I've seen a computer for about 8 months before without an exhaust fan, and at the end of 8 months, it completely failed. PSU burnt out, as well as some parts of the motherboard.

Not a pretty sight, and fans are cheap anyway. Get 120mm fans if your case can fit those, if not, an 80mm fan will still help. Make sure you put it behind the case (just below the PSU, assuming its a standard design case), and let it blow out.

Or you can just run it as it is, and hope the computer doesn't repeat what this other computer did :D