New PC Cutting Out: Please Help!!

[Rossco]

SO after my last one died, I've bought all new stuff, everything has gone apart from my 3 hard drives. So I finally installed it all today, and switched it on. Screen comes up saying now components installed etc and lists them all, so everything is plugged in 100% deffo as all the CPU RAM HDD DVD-RWs are all listed. So I go to start windows and its coming up with an error which is fair enough, I thought I might need to reinstall so I go about that then half way through it just cuts off the power.

So I turn it back on and same again, 5 minutes later, cuts off the power, do this plenty of times and the more I do it, the quicker it cuts off. So I thought something might be overheating and causing this. Does that kind of thing happen? Auto shutdown when something is too hot?

I managed to go into the BIOS and check the details of some things and it said the CPU was 103 degrees celcius. Cant possibly be that hot though when all I'm doing is starting it up and trying to install. Could that be the problem though?

Or could it be the HDDs? Only thing I'm using from the old setup, but they are being seen correctly and even the names and sizes of partitions of them all come up too and I managed to format one before it cut off earlier too.

I need help as this is killing me now, brand new PC and I cant even get it working.


Any ideas would be very helpful.

[briareos_kerensky]

103 C?? BIOS readings aren't perfect, but are right to a certain degree. If it lists more than 100?C there's something out of place.
The computer might auto-shutdown for excessive heat, not even able to throttle down to an acceptable level.
Double check how you installed the CPU, if the thermal compound is spread evenly on the die, if the heat sink sits firmly on top of the CPU and its fan is spinning. Or even if the HSF is capable of handling your CPU.
Faulty HDDs hang the system, do not shut it down, even in cases of serious electric feedback.
The Windows error is probably due to old motherboard drivers installed and so the OS screws up how it should handle north and south bridge functions (I suggest a clean reinstall, or boot in safe mode, uninstall all old mobo drivers, clean the register and restart).

[Rossco]

Yeah thats why I wasnt worried about the windows error and was happy to reinstall it anyway. By HSF do you mean the actual CPU fan as I'm using the one that came with the CPU just now but its spinning full speed and when I put my hand inside the case it doesnt feel to warm, but the CPU is hot to touch after taking it out to check.

The original compound that was on the heatsink looks fine, I'm gonna try and find some more before I start work tonight if any shops in the town have it. Then I'll put some on and see if it makes a difference. But the fan is all put in tightly and secure on the CPU so it seems strange that the temp readout would say 103°C!

Do you reckon it will be the CPU temp that would be causing the shutdowns then?

[eastyy]

103c is really hot think my cpu is between 70 and 80c....and i think even thats classed as hotter then average

usually when its a heat problem it will shut of automatically......also if it does not shut itself of you get alot of crashes and blue screens
oh in the bios does it say anything about fan speed ?

[sj33]

103C? Jesus Christ!

Mine is ~35C, 50C is the average, anything above 60C is a concern! I'd say that's definately why it's cutting out.

[eastyy]

what cpu is it ?

[huxley]

Quote -
The original compound that was on the heatsink looks fine, I'm gonna try and find some more before I start work tonight if any shops in the town have it. Then I'll put some on and see if it makes a difference. But the fan is all put in tightly and secure on the CPU so it seems strange that the temp readout would say 103°C!

Do you mean to say you took the cpu out of another board and just lobbed it in a new one as is?

[Rossco]

Core 2 Duo E4400

Just tried again, turned it on, straight into the BIOS and it says the CPU temp was 94°C. That was under a minute from turning it on. Couldnt possibly be that hot that fast.

Possibly the sensor is messed up and cutting it off because it thinks the CPU is too hot!?



No mate, its a brand new CPU and board, the Heatsink had a blob of compound on it already, I mean it was just the original of that. Which obviously is dried in now so I do need to clean it off that and the CPU and get some more anyway, but it still shouldnt be 100°C!

[briareos_kerensky]

This is a possibility, however, I wouldn't took any chance and disable the thermal shutdown and ending up with a burnt CPU.
BY HSF I mean Heat Sink Fan, the whole thing.
If the CPU and heat sink temperatures are strikingly different, I'd think there's something wrong in how you attached the HSF, after ten minutes of use it should be much more than warm.
About the thermal compound that came with the stock cooler: is is some sort of pink/purple or grey blobby thing attached to the bottom of the HSF or it's a paste that you have to spread? In the first case you'll might want to replace with a proper compound (like this or this), but in both cases it can be no longer effective or just a faulty product, not able to transfer heat from the CPU to the HSF.

[eastyy]

well the only way i have seen it get that hot that fast was when the heat sink was not connected at all

core duos are also supposed to run very cool to

so possibly might be a faulty motherboard

[Rossco]

Well I'm off to work now and going to Maplin on the way to get some more compound! I'll give that a try when I'm home around 10ish and report back with findings. Hopefully from my new PC!

The Heatsink is deffo connected properly btw, its all clipped in snug and doesnt move about once in so I'm sure of that anyway. So its possibly a faulty board. We shall see...

Thanks for all the help so far guys!

[Rossco]

Well I got some new compound. Before putting it on I checked the temp again, turned the PC on, started around 45°C and kept rising for a minute or two until 103°C and turned itself off.

So I put the new stuff off, cleared all the old compound off too and tried again, startes around 45 again and slowllllly rose to around 65°C over the space of like 5-10 minutes so straight away that was an improvement.

So I'm in the middle of trying to reinstall windows right now, and we'll see how far I get. Still too hot to be sitting at 65°C when idle but we'll see what happens if I get Windows installed and can do some other checks outwith the BIOS.

[huxley]

Did you clean the old gunk off of the cpu and heat sink? Ipa is the best thing.

[Rossco]

I'm still struggling, I managed to install Vista but it aint running smoothly as I thought, and I cant get the drivers for anything and the internet isn't working properly, some sites just keep timing out and the thing keeps hanging every so often. The GPU I have says Ready for Vista on the box, thought that would mean I wouldnt have to install the drivers for it but its not working properly and needs the drivers it says!


When I tried to install XP again it got so far, and when it started "checking drive C" it took AGES. Goes to 50% fast then spent 2 hours waiting and only went to 63% after that. SO something was up there.

The whole time though, it never shut itself down, temp stayed around 70°C which was better but still not ideal.


I dunno what to do now though, something is obviously not right, whether its with the CPU or motherboard I dont know, or even the PSU providing the power incorrectly, or whether my HDDs are broke too since they are responding very well either!

[Rossco]

Woop woop!

Back on track. Everything is going perfect now. Got rid of Vista as is runs so bad and couldnt get any drivers working for things.

Changed back to XP Pro, and after an hour or two of messing around I've got everything back the way I want it and all my files transferred back over etc and its all peachy AND the CPU is sitting nicely at under 50 degrees the now having just burned a DVD which was a nice stress test for it too!


Feels so good to eventually have it all working!