What to change next

uch

I've been having a few problems with my PC lately, It started hanging randomly about three months ago, so I thought a reinstall would fix, but it didn't.
So then I changed the IDE cables, but no joy, I then tried some known working memory but still no luck.
I have put in a new motherboard but it is still happening, I can get the PC to hang in the BIOS also so it doesn't seem to me like it's a Video card or Modem problem, I have two 40Gb maxtor drives and a Philips DVD burner.
The only thing I havent tried is changing the Processor cause i thought it was a very longshot but I can't think of anything else.

Any ideas would be much appreciated as I'm at my witts end.

Gurgle

uch wrote:

The only thing I havent tried is changing the Processor cause i thought it was a very longshot but I can't think of anything else.

I'd count the processor as a very short shot.

What temperatures is the CPU running at ?
Type ?
Overclocked ?

Try underclocking it, see if it goes any better.

uch wrote:

I can get the PC to hang in the BIOS

How?
(And why did you want to?)

uch

The processor is running at about 70c, it's not over clocked but I never thought of under clocking it I'll try that, thanks
The logic behind hanging in the Bios is there are only basic dos drives loaded so I could rule out windows drivers.

Gurgle

But what do you do to get it to hang in the bios ?
Or does it just happen sometimes ?

uch

Nah sorry I wasn't clear, It just happens it's not that I do anything except monitor the CPU temp and fan speed

ElNino

uch wrote:

The processor is running at about 70c, it's not over clocked but I never thought of under clocking it I'll try that, thanks
The logic behind hanging in the Bios is there are only basic dos drives loaded so I could rule out windows drivers.

Jaysus you could fry an egg on that! It is no wonder that your computer keeps freezing particuarly in the hot weather. My CPU runs at 35c. You need to look at reapplying thermal paste to your CPU, getting a better cooler and your fan situation.

rALLy

I had similar problems with my old Athlon Xp, when i removed the heatsink I found that there was very little thermal paste, I re-applied the paste and added an extra case fan, never had problem again

zuma

ElNino wrote:

Jaysus you could fry an egg on that! It is no wonder that your computer keeps freezing particuarly in the hot weather. My CPU runs at 35c. You need to look at reapplying thermal paste to your CPU, getting a better cooler and your fan situation.

P4's run a hell of a lot hotter than AMD64's(which I assume you have) mainly due to bad design.

As said above try reapplying thermal paste as 70C even for a P4 is high!

Oriel

It's over heating, get a new fan or two, that should solve the problem.

CuLT

ElNino wrote:

Jaysus you could fry an egg on that! It is no wonder that your computer keeps freezing particuarly in the hot weather. My CPU runs at 35c. You need to look at reapplying thermal paste to your CPU, getting a better cooler and your fan situation.

Depends heavily on the architecture.

My old AthlonXP ran at ~70c under full load, my current AthlonXP hits ~50.

I have fairly crap cooling btw. Coolermaster heatsink, but a much quieter glacialtech fan... must be three years old at this stage.

Gurgle

CuLT wrote:

My old AthlonXP ran at ~70c under full load, my current AthlonXP hits ~50.

Yup, I had an Athlon XP @ 65-70C for 2 years from 8:30 on monday to 4pm on friday.

Never had a problem.

uch

Right, I've added new Thermal paste and two new chassis fans, seems to be working OK, temp now running at about 54 degrees, is this safe enough ?

P.S thanks for all the help

mp3guy

Yeah, that should be fine. Do a burn in test for a while to be sure

Gurgle

mp3guy wrote:

Do a burn in test for a while to be sure

^^
Em, don't do that :rolleyes:

Just use it as normal.

Burn-in is for when you want to kill a weak chip.
Unless you've got spares, I'm guessing you want to get as long as possible out of it.