Forum Home
Press F1
Thread ID: 64790	2005-12-28 05:19:00	Overheat ? PC Freezes non-stop.	Soulgolem (9491)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
416218	2005-12-28 05:19:00	Hello, I am having serious problems with my computer at the moment, and i would appreciate any help possible . Here is what's going on : Last summer, my computer started having these regular freeze ups, the mouse would stop moving, everything would be frozen, only a restart would help the situation . If audio was playing, then a loud constant noise would come out until i press the reset button . I figured it was a heat problem since the temperature was affecting these happenings . I then gradually lowered the resolution and removed programs to avoid the pc overheating, but it seems it would get worse in time . I was pretty busy at school recently, but managed to format it but this didn't help at all, now I'm stuck with my outside fan next to the tower box with the lowest resolution, I also can't play audio or video or put the heater too high or the freeze will come . It also takes around 2 start ups until one works without automatically restarting . I individually checked the fans I could and the fan beneath what i believe to be the videocard is turning fan, the big fan on the motherboard also, and the one behind the power supply also is turning . In Speedfan software, out of two fans, it says one is turning at 0 RPM . In the provided with the motherboard ASUSprobe software, it comes up with Power fan and Chassis fan not monitored by default, but when i turn them on, it says that they are not turning . In both softwares, the tempratures of everything do not seem to be alarming at all . Also the interior of my tower is very dusty and when i bump it a little, sometimes i hear a fan making a loud rusty sound struggling to turn for about a minute, but then it goes back to normal in time . Can this be cleaned ? it's pretty sticky dust . So the softwares tell me temperature is fine, but the problems occur when I overheat the surround area, when I absolutely need to use audio or video, I usually open the window (it's winter here) and it works half the time . I will need to change parts, that i'm sure of, but i'm not sure how to proceed to find out what is problematic . And bringing it to a repair person . . . well considering my pc is not a big value now, i'm thinking it's worthless to send it for repairs, they might charge me a lot for replacement parts, and take awful lot of time to make the actual repairs . I need my pc fixed and working for an audio recording project, and now's my vacations . Thank you for any advice . Francis . PC info : Intel P4 2 . 4Ghz Processor ASUS P4S533-VM Motherboard ASUS GeForce4 MX 440-8x 64MB 512 Mb RAM Memory 80gig Maxtor Hard Drive Thanks .	Soulgolem (9491)
416219	2005-12-28 05:29:00	get some new fans they are very cheap and make suer that you have good airflow through the case........formatting and etc wont do anything to cure an overheating prob	drcspy (146)
416220	2005-12-28 05:46:00	Well I'd clean out all the dust first. Use a paintbrush - clean - and leave it plugged into the wall for earthing. (Power off) Then see if all the fans are spinning correctly. Replace any noisy or sticking ones. www.overclockers.co.nz And turn off any fan speed control stuff.	pctek (84)
416221	2005-12-28 05:49:00	Sounds like you've connected the molex power connections to the fans, instead of connecting the fans 3 pin connectors to the mobo headers . They have to be connected to the mobo headers, before a program can read their speed . Umm, whats the power supply in the case? What else is in the case, besides the hdd, videocard and memory??	Speedy Gonzales (78)
416222	2005-12-28 05:51:00	And bringing it to a repair person... well considering my pc is not a big value now it will be worth zilch if you fry it replacing the fans should cost no more than $100 here, don't know where you are from but should be about the same weigh the cost up against the cost of a new pc or no pc if you can't afford to repair/replace it a reputable pc repair shop should give you a free diagnosis and a quote to fix it take it to a couple of shops and get a couple of quotes sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and pay the man.	bartsdadhomer (80)
416223	2005-12-28 08:35:00	I have my doubts about heat and here is why- "It also takes around 2 start ups until one works without automatically restarting". You say when you cool things down by opening a window it works HALF the time this does NOT add up. Add to this your monitoring software reports heat as OK, its probably not heat. If it is resetting from a cold start it is very unlikely to be heat unless you have extremely poor hint sink contact on the CPU or video card etc, in which case it would not be stable enough to stay up for even a few minutes ever!. I would suspect bad ram causing intermittent results, or possibly sagging voltage from the PSU. By the way. Lowering the resolution would not help heat, nor would installing software, just because it is installed doesn't mean its running. Also ignore the Speedfan reading 0RPM, the fan it is trying to measure probably doesn't exist or connected to the molex cables in wich case its probably on the 12V rails and running at full speed anyway.	Battleneter (60)
416224	2005-12-28 21:32:00	I'd agree with Battleneter. I think heat is a red herring. I was thinking the heater power could be causing a power slump, a brown-out. It may not be perceptible, such as a dimming lamp, but perhaps a hardware component is borderline. You might try a new power supply first, and then possibly a cheap UPS.	kingdragonfly (309)
416225	2005-12-28 23:30:00	Thanks for the replies guys, i really appreciate the suggestions. Here are some precisions about some takes on my problem : Speedy Gonzales - I never changed anything in my PC, it's about 6 months old and just started doing it. Battleneter - I'm pretty positive that heat and resolution are affecting the performance since when i change the resolution to something better, my pc won't last anything over 5 minutes, while under minimal resolution, it can last for hours, as long as the heater is not high though. As for the window, opening the window is the only way i can listen to audio or video, if i wouldn't open it, the computer would crash right away, also, if i forget to put down the heater when the pc is on, it will crash real quick, as without the heater, i can have it open for simple applications for hours. Also, if i forget to put my exterior fan on before opening the computer, it will keep freezing and restarting. The PC usually freezes, the restarting problem is usually only at startup. bartsdadhomer - I reside in Canada, i guess it's not that expensive, I just don't want to buy something that's not part of the solution. Thanks again, Francis.	Soulgolem (9491)
416226	2005-12-29 01:37:00	I wonder if it's just your video card fan failing to keep the card cool enough Can you try another video card and see if the problem disappears	bartsdadhomer (80)
416227	2005-12-31 03:57:00	So I did it, not as throughtly as I could have, but with my means. I bought compressed air and used it inside the machine, disassembled a lot, then sprayed more, on the fans mostly, the heatsink too. Looked pretty clean after that.. Once everything is plugged back together, to my suprise, my computer doesn't restart, everything goes well, I reajust the resolution, no freeze, so happy I was, after about an hour, it froze, than i restarted and it refroze, I lowered the resolution and put my exterior fan back next to the PC. My computer is now a lot more stable, but it still freezes sometimes it seems. Not sure what else I could do. I noticed the fan on the video card was making some constant noise, I think the trouble may have come from that, should I replace it's fan ? I'm affraid of ending buying a lot of replacement stuff and not solving the problem, I saw my pc on a paper ad for 400 $ !! Francis.	Soulgolem (9491)
1 2