Apologies ahead of time if I have the wrong forum--this isn't exactly a cooling issue, but I dont' know where else to put questions about throttling.

I've got a socket 478 P4 2.4Ghz that is throttling like mad and locking up, both in and outside of Windows. But according to the temperature gauges, it isn't even close to overheating (it reaches about 40C, at most, before throttling kicks in).

I'm not entirely sure under what _other_ conditions a CPU may throttle, but am I right in my understanding that throttling can occur due to internal errors as well as thermal issues?

Should I be worried that the P4 CPU is failing? I've temporarily replaced it with a Celeron CPU (which I keep handy for testing), which seems to run just fine; but obviously as it's a significantly weaker processor, it isn't stressing the system as much or creating as much heat.

I've run tests on the hard drive, RAM and mobo running under the Celeron, and everything checks out.

Suggestions appreciated, and apologies again if I should have posted this elsewhere (if so, please tell me where I should have posted it) Thanks!

I had a similar problem with my newer rig. I'm actually rma'ing my board in a few days. My ram was fine, one of my dimm slots is defective, might be your issue, not sure, try using a different slor or different combinations of slots, might help, hope it does

I had the same problem with my friends computer.
here is a screen shot http://foto.inbox.lv/davizzz/viskas/wtf.png
I spent half a day testing-->checking-->etc finally I found out that cpu's thermal paste between IHS and core was moldered and I replaced it with zalman super thermal grease and used some glue to attach the IHS back, because it was impossible to align Stosk heatsink to the core. Now I noticed 2 degree Celsius drop (WOW) . So you should try that, but I am not responsible for damage you can make to your CPU. And before you remove IHS google first.

With the case open, boot the machine - discharge yourself statically and gently touch the edge of the processor/heatsink area.


Is it HOT?

If not, enter bios and shut off the cpu internal thermal control.

you better have a proper contact between cpu and heatsink if not ... CPU will overheat and shut down.