CPU temperatures not detected

[Elliah]

my pc is a dell e520 with a pentium d cpu 2.80ghz running on windows xp sp3. somehow those cpu temperature utilities cannot seem to detect my cpu temperature at all and the fan runs at max speed all the time. what could be causing this problem?

 

[cliffordcooley]

I'm not familiar with your machine and have never had this issue before.

I once had a machine where I replaced the thermal compound and installed the heat-sink incorrectly. I knew better but for some reason wasn't paying attention to what I was doing. The heat-sink was resting on top of the capacitors next to the CPU socket. For awhile my CPU fan would spin full speed every time I started an application. I called myself an id-iot after I found the issue. I'm not sure if the capacitors were shorted or if the heat-sink was not bonded to the CPU that caused the issue. I never checked CPU sensor speeds, they could have be out of whack too. I do know my on-board sound to the rear jacks quit working after I installed the heat-sink incorrectly.

My first thought is you have a faulty motherboard or CPU but I wouldn't panic yet.

I think I would start with:

1. Check for proper installation of CPU heat-sink. (Read above for explanation)
2. Check for a System BIOS update.
3. Look in the system BIOS for settings that might have sensors disabled. (I'm not sure there ever was such a setting)

 

[Elliah]

as a matter of fact i did replace the thermal compound on that pc. i'll give it another look. thanks. would applying too much thermal grease result in such an issue? because i think the placement of the heat sink was correct...except i may have applied more than the recommended small dot of thermal grease. i was using a generic silver compound-type of grease out of a syringe tube.