Computer still on, but dispaly turned off, CPU heatsink now ice cold.....

[cczerp]

Hi fellas,
Computer still on, but dispaly turned off, CPU heatsink now ice cold..... but the fan is still spinning and it's been this way for like 10-15minutes now.

I turned it off, but it seems mid-burning a DVD the CPU just lost any power itw as receiving..???

I recall this happening at a friends place setting up a Pentium-D, but that was just a case of reputting the CPU on properly.. this one has been on / working fine for about half a yea rnow, and just out of nowhere the CPU's power is cut off while everything else is still running.

I pulled off the heatsink and had alok at the CPU it seems to be as expected.

Before I go around trying another CPU off a mate, anybody had anything similar happen to them? and what did they do to get around it... or do I just need to change the CPU.?

 

[dmill89]

Have you tried cleaning off and replaceing the thermal paste between the cpu and heatsink?

What is the brand, wattage, and 12v rail amperage of your powersupply?

What are your system specs(CPU,drives,ram,video,etc.)?

 

[cczerp]

Have you tried cleaning off and replaceing the thermal paste between the cpu and heatsink?

What is the brand, wattage, and 12v rail amperage of your powersupply?

What are your system specs(CPU,drives,ram,video,etc.)?

Hi Dmill89, haven't tried yet cleaning the thermal paste, it seems to look just like it should.

The PSU is a Thermaltake 430W and I use these in all my systems without any issues yet. 12v rail is 18 amps.

System is XP Pro SP2, with a 3500+A64 and all that's in it is a 7600GS along with a 250gb hdd, DFI LANPARTY nF4 motherboard, and 1GB of DDR400 Mem.

What would I have to use specifically to clean off the existing thermal paste?

Thanks heaps, appreciate your reply.

 

[dmill89]

Whenever you remove the heatsink you should always replace the thermal paste.Acetone or 99% isoproponol will remove it.

Your power supply has low amperage on the 12v rail especialy for that video card. The Thermaltake 430w is also known as a problem PSU. Most of thermaltakes cheeper modles are junk(low amperage and inflated wattage rateings). the 550w+ ones seem to be ok but none are recomended.(Thermaltake has made nearly every bad PSU list. They make great cases and fans but their PSUs are best avoided)

Powersupplies also decrease in output over time so if the amps were just enough to start with it may no longer be putting out enough power.(The fact that it fails when burrning a CD leads me to believe it is a PSU problem since an extra drive is drawing power) I would recomend you replace your powersupply with one from one of the following brands: Antec,FSP,PC Power & Cooling, Enermax, Seasonic.

This one is exelent and well priced 450w and a combined 36A across 2 12v rails
(double the amperage of your current PSU.)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817104954

 

[DonNagual]

I'd agree that the PSU is suspect at this point. Do you have (or have access to) a volt meter to test the PSUs output?

If not, you can use a software probe to test your PSU. Not as accurate, but better than nothing. Download and run THIS and see what it is reporting for your +3.3v, +5v and +12v rails.

 

[cczerp]

Thanks a lot dmill89, really appreciate all your info and help. Going to go and get a mates PSU he has an Antec and see if something changes, and then i'd instantly go out and buy a new PSU.

Thanks guys.

 

[cczerp]

Thanks heaps dmill, I tried another PSU a Antec TP 2.0 550w and everything works fine now, I am heading out to buy another PSU with quality, thanks very much for your help, much appreciated.