TechSpot - PC Technology News and Analysis

Im having trouble with my computer freezing up, and I don't think its due to overheating. The weird thing is, every single time the computer freezes up, my LCD temp readout shows the CPU at 44C. Im not sure what else could be causing it. I used to run 3rd party drivers for my vid card, but i switched back to ATI's to see if that would help with the freeezing, but nope.

Also, Im getting the CPU temp from a probe. Comparing the temps from the probe and from Speedfan, there is only a 2C difference, so I think the probe is reading right.

Specs:
Processor: P4 530J 3.0GHz
Motherboard: Gigabyte Something or Another
Memory: 1GB GeiL PC3200
Cooling: lots o' fans and big CPU heatsink/fan
Videocard: Radeon X800PRO 256MB
Soundcard/Speakers: Soundblaster Live!, Logitech 5.1 surround
Hard Disk(s): 160GB, 2x160GB in a striped array
Other Drives: Sony DVD-RW
Case: Aspire X-Navigator
Other Peripherals: X-Connect 550W Modular PSU

If your temps are at 44c, then you're right. Probably not an overheating issue here, but what we really would need to know is your temps at full load to be sure.

Did you stumble across this thread? Use it to help troubleshoot the problem, and rule out as many possibilities as you can.

http://www.techspot.com/vb/topic44306.html

Good luck!

I ran a stress test using Prime95, didn't let it run too long, but it got the results i was looking for.


Just how important are the negative rails, because they are very unstable. I assume this is what is causing my lockups when im playing games, but want a second opinion.

-5v is not needed

but -12v is used as reference voltage and also used for the serial port and some other misc stuff like in some soundcard implementations etc etc...

I would check the powersupply for anything bad, like bad capacitors or an overheating transformer. However your mobo might also just be reporting the volages incorrectly, get a multimeter and measure from pin 12 (blue) to ground...

http://xtronics.com/reference/atx_pinout.htm