CPU or motherboard fialure?

[C James]

I am in desperate need of advice... My desktop computer has started having trouble. It freezes (usually within a miniute of waking it up out of hybernate, requiring a power off reboot. (this is operating system independent; it happens no matter which OS I boot into). When rebooting, it gives me "System Fail CPU Test" warnings instead of booting, but if I let it sit for a minute, I can sometimes get it to boot. Once it's been on a few minutes, it works fine until I shut it town or hypernate it again.

 

I built it about 6 years ago. It's a tower case, Asus AV8 motherboard, 4 gigs of RAM, AMD 3600 CPU, 5 physical hard drives, 2 CD ROm and 1 CD burner, one floppy drive. The memory passes a memtest.

 

The first freeze was a couple of weeks ago, but I thought it was just a software problem. It's not, sometimes this happens before the operating system starts booting. Today, it took me 20 trys to get past the first couple of miniutes, but now I'm past that, no problem at all.

 

My best guess so far is it's a loose connection, because it seems thermally related. (it occurs during the CPU's warm up). CPU temp profiles seem okay though. So, I'm guessing a loose connection aggravated by the thermal expansion during power up.

 

Getting the CPU and heat sink out and putting conductive grease on the pins is my next idea... though I'm holding off because the CPU cooler mount takes a LOT of force and messing with it runs the risk of breaking stuff.

 

Edit to add: I'm now also suspicious of my power supply... the Vcore voltage seems a touch erratic, and power supplies are a common fail point. I might take it apart and check the capacitors (BEWARE if you ever try this; they can hold enough charge to kill you even after unplugging the thing!)

 

Anyone have any other ideas what it might be?

 

If I need a new motherboard and CPU, I'm probably going to build a new system instead. Maybe dual or quad core, though I'm undecided as I don't have software that makes much use of that.

 

Currently, I run Windows 2000 (with three different boot partitions to give me 3 operating systems) on this system (the one that's having problems). I have XP Pro, which I could upgrade to but I've never been that fond of XP. I have Vista on a laptop and hate it. I could go windows 7 pro (I need to be able to run old software) but I've heard that you have to do a clean install and reinstall ALL the software, which would take me forever (I have tons of software, much of it old (some of it even DOS based). so I'd prefer to avoid it.

 

Either that... or I'll go to Costco or somewhere and buy a system.

 

Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

[Breeze]

After reading your post...two questions; Do you have enough fans to keep it cool( I'm guessing yes)? And next one Theres usually a battery somewhere near the front of the tower(at least thats where my husband always located them when they needed to be swapped out. Sometimes those batteries(they're little and round) wear out and cause problems.Could that be an issue.?

My husband built alot of towers over the year, and it seems to me that the battery issue was one of those problems. Anyway, my guess .

 

 

[Goedric]

A battery issue usually manifests when the computer forgets its startup info, - like which drive is the boot drive, time, date etc. Doesnt sound like your problem

 

On a laptop a shorted battery can cause what your talking about, - in which case one can take out the battery and just plug the thing in to see if the problem goes away.

 

First please back everything up. Cause the demons in your computer are not happy.

 

It sounds like the cpu is having problems with the information that its reading. Usually its not the cpu. Usually its a corrupt sector on the hard drive (often caused by a bad power supply), or a bad memory address in your RAM. A bad RAM chip may be your only problem.

 

Computers as so cheap these days that i would not spend any real money on repairs. I would just go get a new one. Unless you are really into gaming or graphic arts the cheapest one you can find will do the trick. There is alot of wasted money being spent on fancy computers that people dont make proper use of.

 

Good Luck

 

Jeff

[C James]

After reading your post...two questions; Do you have enough fans to keep it cool( I'm guessing yes)? And next one Theres usually a battery somewhere near the front of the tower(at least thats where my husband always located them when they needed to be swapped out. Sometimes those batteries(they're little and round) wear out and cause problems.Could that be an issue.?

My husband built alot of towers over the year, and it seems to me that the battery issue was one of those problems. Anyway, my guess .

 

Plenty of fans. :-) I have one intake fan for each physical hard drive (the airflow goes over the HD's), three exhaust case fans besides, a high capacity CPU cooler fan, and even a fan on the graphics card, plus an internal flow fan for the motherboard-RAM slots area. Several of my fans are variable speed and go to high power when the motherboard detects a temp rise. I beefed up the airflow over what a normal system would have because it helps stuff last longer, plus I have much thinner air (less cooling capacity) due to being at 7000 feet. I have temperature monitoring on my motherboard, and that looks fine. (I often overclock the system, which is another reason for the load of fans).

 

I can see the battery, and I'll test that. I don't think that can cause this problem, but anything is possible and it can't hurt to check. Thanks! :-)

 

A battery issue usually manifests when the computer forgets its startup info, - like which drive is the boot drive, time, date etc. Doesnt sound like your problem

 

On a laptop a shorted battery can cause what your talking about, - in which case one can take out the battery and just plug the thing in to see if the problem goes away.

 

First please back everything up. Cause the demons in your computer are not happy.

 

It sounds like the cpu is having problems with the information that its reading. Usually its not the cpu. Usually its a corrupt sector on the hard drive (often caused by a bad power supply), or a bad memory address in your RAM. A bad RAM chip may be your only problem.

 

Computers as so cheap these days that i would not spend any real money on repairs. I would just go get a new one. Unless you are really into gaming or graphic arts the cheapest one you can find will do the trick. There is alot of wasted money being spent on fancy computers that people dont make proper use of.

 

Good Luck

 

Jeff

 

I do RAID for backup, BUT, just in case I go with a new system that won't take EIDE drives, I also updated my external drive backup yesterday, and backed up every HD to it. I can hook that external to my laptop (it's firewire), so theoretically I should have access to all my data even if this system goes down.

 

I agree on buying one, IF I can find one that does what I need. The problem would be having available bays and slots (for a fax modem, for additional HD's so I can do RAID arrays, etc) and also the operating system; I can't wipre the drive and install Windows 2000 in a new system; it won't have the drivers for the hardware. I'd have to go with Windows 7, and that'd mean reinstalling tons of stuff, some of which is old and might not run on it. I don't do much of any gaming (I think the newest game I have is the original microsoft Age of Empires, which is at least ten years old. I'm not a gamer). I do however do a lot of high-end graphics work (which is why I built a fast system). But.. most any system I buy would be as fast as this, assuming it had (or could take) at least 4 gigs of RAM. If I go with a newer OS, I think I'd want 8 gigs (windows 2k is limited to 4).

 

What I'd really like is the ability to run two monitors, but lots of systems can do that these days.

 

I'll be running a program called Memtest from a bootable CD overnight, assuming I can get the system to run at all after shutdown. If I can't, I'll just remove two of the four RAM chips, try to boot, and if it won't, try the other two (that should elimiate a bad RAM chip, becuase two failing at once is unlikley).

 

I'm positive it's not the hard drives; the failure often occurs before the bios even gets to them. After the initial freeze, I can't boot (or even start to) without getting the CPU error code. This happens within half a second of power up, before HD access. I could, though, just disconnect all drives (CD and floppy as well) to eliminate them as suspects. I'll keep that in mind (it might also be a HD controllers, and I have one on a card plus the ones on the motherboard).

 

Computer are indeed home to demons and gremlins. :-)

 

Thanks!

[One Cheap Suit]

(4th freakin edit - sheesh)

 

FIRST: Your system is old. It's time to replace it. It's now a Honda CRV with 300,000 miles on it, it's going to nickel and dime you to death.

BUT if you must fix it:

1st: As you suspect, it's heat related. I'd reapply the thermal transfer paste (don't use much!). If you brace the mainboard so that it can't flex when you're pulling on the cooler clamp, all will be well. Or, most small PC repair places will pull the CPU for you for nothing if you're nervous.

 

2nd: If new thermal paste doesn't solve it, look for weak points on the solder points or a bent pin in the CPU slot.

 

3rd: RAM: Running memtest is a really good idea.

 

4th: Power supply. If the PSU is going it won't fail the CPU, it just won't power up or it will spin the fan and then die again.

 

I realize you don't want to hear about reinstalling software, but Windows 7 running XP mode - (you need Windows Professional or Ultimate, not the Home editions) can run any XP-compatible app by running XP "in a window" - i.e. as a virtual machine - and if you want to go earlier than XP, I'd beef up the RAM in the system, install full-boat Microsoft Virtual PC, and install any other OS as a virtual machine rather than dual booting. So much faster (and easier to manage).

 

If you're looking for a new system, you must go 64 bit on the operating system if you want to run 8 GB, Windows 32 bit will simply ignore anything over 3.5 GB.

 

And lets get you up to date: A modern fax modem should be external, using USB. They're 30 bucks and eliminate the need for a slot.

I run dual 22" HP monitors, it's quite a thing.

 

For some ideas, go look here:

http://www.reddit.com/r/battlestations

Edited May 22, 2011 by bigdave976

[C James]

(4th freakin edit - sheesh)

 

FIRST: Your system is old. It's time to replace it. It's now a Honda CRV with 300,000 miles on it, it's going to nickel and dime you to death.

 

good point, but if I can fix it in the $50 range and get another year out of it, I'd be better off than spending a grand or more on a new system with a lifespan of maybe 5 years. On the other hand, some of the hardware is older than the system (a couple of the smaller hard drives are pushing 15 years, the floppy drive is close to 20.) When i build a "new" system I tend to use some older parts if they still work. So, some of the system is very old, and thus a big risk for failure.

 

So, if it's a power supply issue or a bad capacitor or similar, I'll probably just fix it. If it's major, like motherboard/CPU, it's not worth it (even if I can find an identical motherboard and CPU to fix it).

 

Another factor is time; a Windows 7 system is going to take me a ton of time to get everything reinstalled and working again, ugh. I'm also concerned that I'll hate windows 7 the same way I do Vista on my laptop. I'll go have a look at Windows 7 on a friend's PC and seen what I think.

 

BUT if you must fix it:

1st: As you suspect, it's heat related. I'd reapply the thermal transfer paste (don't use much!). If you brace the mainboard so that it can't flex when you're pulling on the cooler clamp, all will be well. Or, most small PC repair places will pull the CPU for you for nothing if you're nervous.

I used Arctic Silver for the paste... I think I still have some from about 2 years ago. I've pulled CPU's before, I just don't like it (I fear the CRACK! of death... LoL) A local PC repair place isn't an easy option for me; it's about an hour's drive to the closest one. (I don't live in a town or city).

 

I still have the power supply on my suspect list (along with the rest) though... an out of voltage range CPU (vcore) on POST can fail the CPU. All of the trouble is happening at startup with a cold system; the freezes in Windows, then the CPU fail when i try to reboot, or freezes or the system powering itself off during boot attempts. However, once the system has been running a few miniutes, it's fine until I either hypernate it or do a cold shutdown. A possibly related thing I just noticed; it no longer does a full shutdown itself; it hangs, still running, at the point it would normally totally power off.

 

I'm also going to do a visual check of every capacitor in the system... capacitor fail fits the profile, and replacing one of those on the motherboard is easy and cheap, assuming I can find a suitable replacement. (I can solder electronics).

 

2

nd: If new thermal paste doesn't solve it, look for weak points on the solder points or a bent pin in the CPU slot.

Will do... I

 

3rd: RAM: Running memtest is a really good idea.

 

4th: Power supply. If the PSU is going it won't fail the CPU, it just won't power up or it will spin the fan and then die again.

Hrmmm... I've had power supply failures that just drive one line (like the 12 volt) out of spec range, though that's rare (and usually due to a bad capacitor). I wish modern power supplies were like the early ones that would run without a motherboard attached; those I could just throw a multimeter on and see what they were putting out at the various plugs.

 

I realize you don't want to hear about reinstalling software, but Windows 7 running XP mode - (you need Windows Professional or Ultimate, not the Home editions) can run any XP-compatible app by running XP "in a window" - i.e. as a virtual machine - and if you want to go earlier than XP, I'd beef up the RAM in the system, install full-boat Microsoft Virtual PC, and install any other OS as a virtual machine rather than dual booting. So much faster (and easier to manage).

A lot of my stuff is pre XP (Heck, a few run in DOS boxes only) and the microsoft virtual machine that comes with Win7 ultimate or pro only says it runs XP software... so, I'm thinking I'd still need dual boot, BUT, I can't do that as Win2k won't run new hardware. Basically, I don't want to spend a ton of money and time buying tons of new apps and then learning them, and so I would want to stick to old stuff. For example, a lot of FTP programs and apps I use are Win 98 stuff, and I'm very fond of Norton Utils 6, a DOS based utility set that has capabilities modern stuff doesn't (though I do use newer stuff too for other tasks). I'd have to spend thousands to replace it all with new stuff, which would vastly exceed the cost of fixing or rebuilding my old system (assuming I can find parts). Another thing I can't do without is batch files... I need them for sorting and processing files. For example, if I need to process a whole set of directories with an archiver to produce an archive set (split into sequentially numbered files for ease of transmission, then create a new dir to move them to) of only specific kinds of file extensions (say, PDF and mpg) I have a batch file to do it (or I can write a new one or alter an old one). I can't do it manually (too much work, of the kind that computers are supposed to be for) and I have no idea what the Win7 approach would be (how would I do this on a Win7 system?)

 

If you're looking for a new system, you must go 64 bit on the operating system if you want to run 8 GB, Windows 32 bit will simply ignore anything over 3.5 GB.

 

I have 64 bit on my dual-core VISTA laptop... I like the idea of it, though I find Vista a PITA to use. I also can't help but notice that system-intensive apps (archiver programs, google earth, etc) run faster and smoother on my old Windows 2k system (same amount of RAM) than on the new dual core Pentium 64 bit laptop.

 

And lets get you up to date: A modern fax modem should be external, using USB. They're 30 bucks and eliminate the need for a slot.

I run dual 22" HP monitors, it's quite a thing.

Why should it be external? A lot less clutter with cards in slots rather than cables and separate units (especially if they need power supplies too).

 

I LOVE those "battlestation" layouts you linked to!!! 3 screens... WOW, that would be handy.

 

Thanks!!

 

CJ

 

Edit: Just found this:

Most programs written for Windows Vista also work in this version of Windows, but some older programs might run poorly or not at all. If a program written for an earlier version of Windows doesn't run correctly, you can try changing the compatibility settings for the program, either manually or by using the Program Compatibility troubleshooter.

Hrmm! That should work... I'll see if a freind of mine will let me test some older apps on his Win 7 laptop. And, if I can run a DOS emulator of some kind so I can run batch files, I think Win7 is feasible for me.

[hh5]

The replacement system should have a cpu that has hyper-v built in ... that way you can run the win-7 xp mode in almost the same manner as your older system

There is vmware that also needs this same requirement ... if not the system won't run like it now does .... since it would be otherwise software emulated

 

Be aware ... emulation does not always mean it has the same hw specs that your system is ... you created a special machine ... but it depends if most of it has been emulated

VMWare may be a bit better in emulated hardware ... but you do need to run tests and find the comparable system

 

i-5 to i-7 are nice ... especially if you find the quad core models ... with 4 to 8 gig of ram .... and lap tops come like that ... desktops are like power hungry 1000 watt light bulbs without the monitors included

 

your mb is pretty old and can show signs of system failures ... eventually you would be bios bypassing each dying sub system before giving it th goat kick

it varies from mb mfr to mfr ... static elect is bad in the mountains right?

[JamesSavik]

9 times out of 10, it's the motherboard, NOT the CPU.

 

Intel and AMD do a very good job with quality control.

 

I've repaired of thousands of desktop systems and can only blame the CPU in a couple of instances in heavily modified PCs where the cooling system failed.

 

Hard ware problems always seem to relate to heat somehow.

 

The number one hardware failure is the power supply. Many times they do not fail gracefully and fry something else.

 

Number two- motherboards. As everything is built into the motherboard these days, any failure in the most complex part of the system is fatal.

 

Number 3- hard drives. They are so much better now than they were just a few years ago.

 

Number 4- RAM very rarely goes bad unless its mishandled.

 

Way down at the bottom of the list are CPU chips. They just don't fail unless you cook them.

[hh5]

Way down at the bottom of the list are CPU chips. They just don't fail unless you cook them.

 

He overclocks ... that is more than bakes them

[One Cheap Suit]

good point, but if I can fix it in the $50 range and get another year out of it, I'd be better off than spending a grand or more on a new system with a lifespan of maybe 5 years. On the other hand, some of the hardware is older than the system (a couple of the smaller hard drives are pushing 15 years, the floppy drive is close to 20.) When i build a "new" system I tend to use some older parts if they still work. So, some of the system is very old, and thus a big risk for failure.

 

So, if it's a power supply issue or a bad capacitor or similar, I'll probably just fix it. If it's major, like motherboard/CPU, it's not worth it (even if I can find an identical motherboard and CPU to fix it).

 

Another factor is time; a Windows 7 system is going to take me a ton of time to get everything reinstalled and working again, ugh. I'm also concerned that I'll hate windows 7 the same way I do Vista on my laptop. I'll go have a look at Windows 7 on a friend's PC and seen what I think.

 

 

 

I used Arctic Silver for the paste... I think I still have some from about 2 years ago. I've pulled CPU's before, I just don't like it (I fear the CRACK! of death... LoL) A local PC repair place isn't an easy option for me; it's about an hour's drive to the closest one. (I don't live in a town or city).

 

I still have the power supply on my suspect list (along with the rest) though... an out of voltage range CPU (vcore) on POST can fail the CPU. All of the trouble is happening at startup with a cold system; the freezes in Windows, then the CPU fail when i try to reboot, or freezes or the system powering itself off during boot attempts. However, once the system has been running a few miniutes, it's fine until I either hypernate it or do a cold shutdown. A possibly related thing I just noticed; it no longer does a full shutdown itself; it hangs, still running, at the point it would normally totally power off.

 

I'm also going to do a visual check of every capacitor in the system... capacitor fail fits the profile, and replacing one of those on the motherboard is easy and cheap, assuming I can find a suitable replacement. (I can solder electronics).

 

2

 

Will do... I

 

3rd: RAM: Running memtest is a really good idea.

 

 

 

Hrmmm... I've had power supply failures that just drive one line (like the 12 volt) out of spec range, though that's rare (and usually due to a bad capacitor). I wish modern power supplies were like the early ones that would run without a motherboard attached; those I could just throw a multimeter on and see what they were putting out at the various plugs.

 

 

 

A lot of my stuff is pre XP (Heck, a few run in DOS boxes only) and the microsoft virtual machine that comes with Win7 ultimate or pro only says it runs XP software... so, I'm thinking I'd still need dual boot, BUT, I can't do that as Win2k won't run new hardware. Basically, I don't want to spend a ton of money and time buying tons of new apps and then learning them, and so I would want to stick to old stuff. For example, a lot of FTP programs and apps I use are Win 98 stuff, and I'm very fond of Norton Utils 6, a DOS based utility set that has capabilities modern stuff doesn't (though I do use newer stuff too for other tasks). I'd have to spend thousands to replace it all with new stuff, which would vastly exceed the cost of fixing or rebuilding my old system (assuming I can find parts). Another thing I can't do without is batch files... I need them for sorting and processing files. For example, if I need to process a whole set of directories with an archiver to produce an archive set (split into sequentially numbered files for ease of transmission, then create a new dir to move them to) of only specific kinds of file extensions (say, PDF and mpg) I have a batch file to do it (or I can write a new one or alter an old one). I can't do it manually (too much work, of the kind that computers are supposed to be for) and I have no idea what the Win7 approach would be (how would I do this on a Win7 system?)

 

 

 

I have 64 bit on my dual-core VISTA laptop... I like the idea of it, though I find Vista a PITA to use. I also can't help but notice that system-intensive apps (archiver programs, google earth, etc) run faster and smoother on my old Windows 2k system (same amount of RAM) than on the new dual core Pentium 64 bit laptop.

 

 

 

Why should it be external? A lot less clutter with cards in slots rather than cables and separate units (especially if they need power supplies too).

 

I LOVE those "battlestation" layouts you linked to!!! 3 screens... WOW, that would be handy.

 

Thanks!!

 

CJ

 

Edit: Just found this:

 

 

Hrmm! That should work... I'll see if a freind of mine will let me test some older apps on his Win 7 laptop. And, if I can run a DOS emulator of some kind so I can run batch files, I think Win7 is feasible for me.

 

 

I am a big fan of "if it ain't broke", so yeah, I reuse everything I can

 

Regarding your questions/comments about Windows:

 

• Vista/Windows 7 performance: You should see a significant speed increase on 7, why haven't you upgraded the laptop to it yet? It's pretty much imperative (to me) unless for some reason the laptop won't run it. It's an upgrade install and very easy.

• Windows XP mode: Runs older software, even software that's much older than XP. If Windows 7 can't run an application or program in "compatibility mode", XP Mode is the next step to try. And if it can't run in XP mode, you can also install your copy of Windows 2000 in its own virtual machine using Virtual PC (which is what XP mode runs under, and is free) and run anything you like. For maximum silliness, you could image your hard drive to a disk image, convert it to a virtual machine, and run it in a window in Windows 7.

• Here are copies of XP, Windows 2000, and Windows 7 all running in their own windows. All it takes is horsepower.

• USB Fax modem: It should be external because many new mainboards come with only one, or possibly two, compatible PCI slots. You may need that for something more important, like a RAID controller (you are running hardware RAID, right?). Also, Windows 7 64 bit drivers are hard to find for older fax cards, but are relatively easy to find for USB modems. A USB modem gets power either from the the phone line or from the USB port, therefore a power adapter isn't needed, AND you're only adding one cable. If you need more USB ports, you can always add a hub (which will be powered).

• Batch jobs, old programs, etc: Windows 7 still has the command prompt, don't worry. Most older DOS commands work, with the exception of some that are obsolete. However, for batch jobs, spend the effort and learn Powershell, it's built in and is batch jobs on steroids. However, your existing batch jobs will probably work with some minor tweaking (i.e. robocopy command line switches are pretty much the same as xcopy).
• For the archiver example you mention/ask about, this is a perfect case for a powershell script using Robocopy, which is the replacement for xcopy. There are thousands of powershell scripts available here.
• As far as older games and the like, I run Age of Empires 3, Call of Duty (the original), Medal of Honor (the original), and Homeworld 2. There may be some command line switches to get the things to run, but once they're set up it's seamless.

I'm making all this sound easy by not going into a lot of the details here, we can PM if you like to get more detail, but you are certainly smart and competent enough to set yourself up with a new Windows 7 box without a lot of the pain you're expecting.

 

 

If you decide to spec out a new machine, consider that XP mode and virtual machines require horsepower. A minimum of 4 cores, 4 GB of RAM, and two separate hard disks or disk arrays (you want to separate virtual machines from your system partition to prevent high disk use) are a base requirement. Work your way up from there.

[C James]

Just a fast update (I'll add more soon)

 

My desktop system is now totally dead. I was not able to do a restart to run VMware.

 

Now, every time, it gives me the "System fail CPU test" code on POST. But, one difference; now, sometimes, all that happens when I hit the power button is the fans spin a little for a moment, then stop. The power supply to the motherboard spikes my multimeter but does not seem to reach 12 volts. I am getting ever more suspicious of my power supply.

 

I don't think I've had an overheat; I do overclock, but only by 10%. I also reset the auto-shutdown temp from default of 257 f to 180f, and my usual operating temps have always been below 120f, usally in the 80f range. I have a LOT of cooling capacity, plus 5 of the fans are multi-speed and go to higher speed when core temps climb over 100f.

 

If it's not the powersupply or something similarly cheap, I'll be biting the bullet and getting a new system.

 

I'm on my laptop now.. after a bit more experimenting on my old system, I'll attach my keyboard and monitor to it. (I hate laptop keyboards). I already have a mouse hooked up.

 

My sincere thanks to all responders, no matter how this turns out.

[C James]

My main suspect, the power supply, isn't it. I tested it on a multimeter. I found a spec graphic online

 

so it was easy to test... I tested the four pin CPU power as well, and even the peripheral plugs. I'm now checking things like the power cord, and I'll check the power outlet as well (it's plugged into an APU at the moment).

 

The battery is okay, so my next step is to play musical chips with the RAM, then test the graphics board by taking it out, along with all the other cards. A final step will be pulling apart every connector and taking out every card, then putting it back. if that doesn't ID the problem, at this point I'll have to assume it's the motherboard, which means fixing it isn't worth it. (I've examined the capacitors, they seem fine, and they're about the only thing on the MB I could fix.).

 

Actually, the most likely cause of the problem is my gremlin control unit is kaput.

[Freddyness]

Take your fans out and de dust the fans and make sure they are working.

 

Your system is over heating.

 

Please remember computers are not dust free and dust build up over time. espeshally in the fans as they suck air in.

[DragonFire]

Ok, the one thing you’ve NOT tried is to re-apply thermal paste to your CPU! What you describe sounds like a classic case of thermal degradation; what everyone forgets is that it’s advisable to clean your CPU every 8-12 months.

If your fan is almost cracking your mobo when you seat it, then you, like me some time ago, bought an Artic fan which was then ill suited for AMD motherboards. Fans should be tight, but not to the extent where you have to seriously force it. Brute force on something as fragile as a motherboard is asking for trouble.

 

Honestly, buy a new fan, thermal remover (& paste), surface purifier and that (fingers crossed) could solve your problem.

 

 

[C James]

Take your fans out and de dust the fans and make sure they are working.

 

Your system is over heating.

 

Please remember computers are not dust free and dust build up over time. espeshally in the fans as they suck air in.

 

I'm pretty sure it's not an overheat. The problem began showing up when the system was cold and warming up, never after that. Also, I have active motherboard monitoring of temp, and my cpu stayed under 100f (very cool, for an Athalon) and the motherboard under 90. I have a high capacity CPU cooler plus about ten other fans in the case... I'm a big believer in having ample cooling. The fans spec out fine; they work, plus I checked them on a multimeter. The only one that's a little doubtful was one of several case fans, and unplugging it made no difference. I have cleaned everything anyway, though.

 

 

Ok, the one thing you’ve NOT tried is to re-apply thermal paste to your CPU! What you describe sounds like a classic case of thermal degradation; what everyone forgets is that it’s advisable to clean your CPU every 8-12 months.

If your fan is almost cracking your mobo when you seat it, then you, like me some time ago, bought an Artic fan which was then ill suited for AMD motherboards. Fans should be tight, but not to the extent where you have to seriously force it. Brute force on something as fragile as a motherboard is asking for trouble.

 

Honestly, buy a new fan, thermal remover (& paste), surface purifier and that (fingers crossed) could solve your problem.

 

I will try that, probably tomorrow (I've been busy with work these past few days so not much time to work on this) . I left it to last because I'm more likely to do damage doing that than I am testing stuff with a multimeter. I can pull it off tomorrow and have a look, but if I need remover and surface purifier I'll need to wait until I can get some shipped here. I've just used acetone in the past, then alcohol for surface prep, but that'll depend if I have paste near plastic here. I do have some thermal paste to use though.

[clay49]

Did you get your system up or did you have to replace it?

[C James]

Did you get your system up or did you have to replace it?

 

Neither, yet. I haven't had time to work on it, due to other stuff (like a car repair) taking priority. I'll be getting back to it this week. So far, I've tried all advice above, including remounting the CPU (another delay, getting some arctic silver to redo the mounting paste). I just have to put the thing back together again and try it.

CJ

[Rilbur]

Way down at the bottom of the list are CPU chips. They just don't fail unless you cook them.

In an old enough device (i. e. given a LOT of time), electron migration can kill a CPU too -- but that's a general principle, it can't be causing this issue. (Electron migration is the way the 'paths' inside the chip tend to waver a little over time, drifting sideways... if two paths touch, boom goes the CPU)