How do I know if my CPU is permanently damaged?

nij

Guys i've been having trouble with CPU overheating (I'm sure, because of the BIOS beep codes, and the fact that it told me what was wrong on screen at startup), but despite cleaning off dust and applying more thermal paste, it's still deciding to switch off at random points (without me touching it). I would have thought that if the cpu were damaged, it wouldn't work at all, but could this persistent 'overheating' and sudden shutting down be a sign of permanent damage?

Spear

nij wrote: »

Guys i've been having trouble with CPU overheating (I'm sure, because of the BIOS beep codes, and the fact that it told me what was wrong on screen at startup), but despite cleaning off dust and applying more thermal paste, it's still deciding to switch off at random points (without me touching it). I would have thought that if the cpu were damaged, it wouldn't work at all, but could this persistent 'overheating' and sudden shutting down be a sign of permanent damage?

Sudden shutdowns could also be the PSU overloading. And you don't want more thermal paste, a thicker layer acts as an insulator. The layer should as thick as a sheet of paper, just enough to fill the microscopic crevices in the metal services.

Design_Dude

Hi, did you recently install a new cpu? This happened me a while ago and i thought the sam thing, but it turned out that i needed a microde update patch for my bios as it was running a higher bus freq. than the old one.

nij

Yeah I'm pretty sure it's the CPU (Beep codes + error message, "The CPU was previously shut down because of a 'thermal event' [overheating]"). No, I didn't upgrade it... this just started happening. Turns out the heatsink was clogged with dust.

I cleaned the dust and tried it, but it didn't help. Only then did I try the paste... still didn't help. I looked up the intel site for advice, and it said to use the whole tube of paste! :O I put a bit more on, but still, same problem. That's why I think it's been damaged. The only thing is, though, that I would have thought a damaged CPU would be completely dead. Mine seems to work for about 5 - 8mins and then shuts off.

irlrobins

The whole tube??? God no, a tiny drop is all you need. You just need to ensure a thin film covers the CPU, it's not a bagel and cream cheese scenario. If you put too much on it has the same effect as putting none on: the CPU overheats.

nij

Yeah that's how I always understood it. I initially put on a tiny amount, but it did not help

Ah well, I need to upgrade anyway.

Design_Dude

Can you check your core cpu temp in your bios, that would tell u if its overheating.

nij

I checked the temperature in windows, and it was running around 21 degrees celcius before it switched itself off. Seems pretty cool to me, which it why i think it's foooked.

Design_Dude

hm ill have a think and get bak to u

10-10-20

21 degrees sounds more like the ambient temperature (front of case/room) than the CPU temperature. All normally cooled cores heat up approximately 25 degrees under no load, so 21 degrees just is not correct here.

Be aware that on many systems the chipset has a thermal monitor, so this could be triggering also.

nij

Case temp was 19 degrees. I should add that the side panel was removed.