Overheating Computer!

[evildrummer]

I am trying to fix a problem on a Packard Bell iXtetreme, It turns on and everything ok, but after a while it shuts itself down I think it is overheating as it runs pretty hot after a whole, Does anyone know how to stop this?

Here are the specs: CPU TYPE: Intel Pentium 4 CPU
CPU SPEED: 2400MHz
CACHE SIZE: 512 kb
MEMORY: 1024mb

Help will be much appreciated.

[Theros]

Uh, how's your case cooling? Losta of open air? How many fans are you running?

[fattony]

1: Buy another fan
2: Throw computer out the window
3: Clean out the computer (dust)
4: Kick computer through a closed window
5: Check for any sealed vents
6: Find largest building - throw computer over edge - point and laugh
7: What is the power supply rating? It may not be strong enough to handle all the components.
8: Give up
9: Have you given up yet?
10: That's all I can think of

[chrisclick]

hmmm. Put more fans in... Clean out dust... Take casing off and leave off

[evildrummer]

Well Ive cleaned it out and Ive never had problem with fan before, but would it matter if I left one side of the case off? any safety hazards?!?!?!

[fattony]

Dust will gather will the side off faster than with it on, no real hazards unless you drag your feet around the room and constantly touch the inside of computers.

[evildrummer]

I might just try say a day with it with no side, its out of the way so it shouldnt be a problem.

[fester8542]

take theke the fan/heat sink off your cpu - squirt some artic silver or other thermal gearse on the processer and your good to go.

[Vexir]

Unevenly spread thermal grease can limit heat transfer; I would say clean out your case with some of that pressurized dust-off stuff, then check if anything is blocking the case vents. It might be a good idea to use a grounding wrist cable to make sure you don't screw up the hardware components ($3.00 at any decent computer hardware store); its always a good precaution.

[Anogar]

Slapping Arctic Silver on will only get you .5 to 1 degree of difference at best. It's good stuff, but highly over-rated, and often applied poorly. What temperature is it running at? You can check with a utility or in the BIOS.

[evildrummer]

*BUMP* Ok, I tried it with the side off, it was ok, but I decided I cant just do that so I cleaned it all out, took it all to pieces got sid of all dust with can of sut-away or some other similar stuff. Now when I turn on PC, I get three beeps pause three beeps pause three beeps paue etc etc I am worried now as I dont know what that means, Have I just not plugged something in properly or have I truly messed up my computer.

[chrisclick]

mmm... Ive left the site of my PC off for over a year now... a little dust not piles of dust

[t0mm0]

leave the casing on, having fans with casing off effectivle renders the fans usless. check the airflow and direction of the computer, and maybe look into watercooling?

[evildrummer]

The cooloing is not a problem now, I have ordered a better fan + better power supply, and some thermal paste, The new problem is when I plug it allin (I had to take it to pieces) I get a black screen everything powers but I get three beeps, then a pause then three beeps, then a pause, three beeps, then a pause.

[evildrummer]

*bump* I found this thing for the beep codes but dont understand it http://www.uktsupport.co.uk/pb/mb/phnxcode.htm I get three short beeps then paue then three short beeps, what do the numbers stand for.

[fattony]

That would be a Fatal error not sure which one though

[Frazer1]

Get a Mac

[hl]

Holy crap! A Packard Bell! I have one of those! (But it's slower than my calc and runs Win95)

I thought they stopped selling Packard Bells a LONG LONG time ago.

[Theros]

Get a Mac

Have you by chance, seen the exploding Macbook? :elderly:

[Anogar]

Two things.

1. Never leave the side of your case off to improve air flow. Anyone who thinks that doesn't know what they're talking about, ignore any advice they may have. Good cases have intake fans and outtake fans, which work by moving air quickly through an enclosed area. Taking the side off completely defeats the purpose, as t0mm0 pointed out.

2. Those should be the number of short beeps. For example, since there is no low short beep preceding the code, what you're describing is a fatal system error, the code of which is 3, 3 ... ? Or perhaps ?, 3, 3. So, that leaves you with either a screen initialization failure or a RAM failure.

Take the RAM entirely out of your machine, and see if you get the same beeping. You could have fried the RAM in the process of working on the machine, this is actually fairly easy to do if you aren't wearing a static bracelet.

A screen initialization failure indicates, I believe (I could be wrong) a problem with your video card. This may be something as simple as you having reseated your video card wrong. Did you take it out and then put it back in? If so, you may have either damaged something by doing it incorrectly, or you may just not have jammed it in far enough. Sometimes those slots really take a bit of a shove (more than it feels like it should take) to get them properly seated.

So, do this:

1. Make sure the Video Card is properly seated.
2. Take the RAM out, and see if you get the same beeps, or a different set.

Good luck. :beer:

-R

[Frazer1]

Have you by chance, seen the exploding Macbook?

That's a Sony InfoLithium problem. Got nothing to do with the Macbook. Speak to Sony about that one. :smirk:

[fattony]

Good points Anogar exactly what I was thinking, yes taking off the side panel while may seem like a good idea is actually not really that effective, cases act like a vacuum sucking the air out of the system you can feel this if you put your hand next to a open vent.

If you see no video just a blank screen, RAM may be ok, you could have fried the vid card or it may just not be seated.

[Theros]

Have you by chance, seen the exploding Macbook?

That's a Sony InfoLithium problem. Got nothing to do with the Macbook. Speak to Sony about that one. :smirk:

Yes Sony makes the battery, but a lot of laptops use it... So it's not just Dells that get affected. My Point.

[Anogar]

Note: My views do not necessarily represent that of my employer.

Both Dell and Apple use Sony batteries, and their combined recall of 6 million batteries is the largest electronic recall in history.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14500443/

However, it is worth noting that Vaio laptop batteries are manufactured by Sony as well (of course) and there haven't been any reports of overheating or exploding. The blame is not entirely upon Sony - those companies had to do something wrong to get them to blow up; none of our own products explode. :-/

[Frazer1]

My Macbook hasn't exploded yet either, and I haven't experienced any heating problems either. One of the companies that I do freelance design for has just got new Macbooks for all their sales people and have had no problems.

I do all of Sony's web work and a lot of print stuff in South Africa and I've asked them about the problem, but they've told me that they aren't allowed to comment on the issue yet...

[Anogar]

Note: My views do not necessarily represent those of my employer.

Sony has already released multiple comments on the issue. I work in the Vaio engineering department doing Flash development, so I work with the people who make Sony laptops.

Like I said, our own products, which use the same batteries, don't explode.


Some Vaio notebook series utilized the batteries in question, but at present we have not received any incident reports related to these products.

Sony's Vaio adopts its own design for safety technology, and Sony considers there is no danger of emission of smoke or fire from these products.

The battery charging system that Vaio uses is different from that of Dell.

edit: You do all of Sony's web work? Huh? :h: (You do all of the South Africa web work, perhaps?)

[evildrummer]

I fixed it, I just hadnt out the ram in correctly :ponder:, im not a complete n00b.


Holy crap! A Packard Bell! I have one of those! (But it's slower than my calc and runs Win95)

I thought they stopped selling Packard Bells a LONG LONG time ago.

Well they cant be that old, as without editing at all, its a 2400MHz 1gig RAM Windows XP comp.

[Theros]

Heh, I have a 5 year old Dell laptop that runs XP... so they can be really old...

[Anogar]

Heh, Video Card or RAM, I called it. :P Glad it's working now. :thumb:

[Frazer1]

edit: You do all of Sony's web work? Huh? (You do all of the South Africa web work, perhaps?)

Yep, sorry that's what I meant. I hardly get to sleep just doing Sony South Africa, I think I'd have to be superhuman to do all of Sony's work. (-:

[Anogar]

Yeah, I was checking out the Sony South Africa page, that looks like a lot of work for a single person. There are tons of people world wide who do web work for Sony, both in house and contracted. You'd have to create a cloning machine before you tried to do it all yourself. :lol:

[Frazer1]

Yep, it's a lot of work. Besides the commercial site, there are loads of microsites and loads of intranet projects happening at the same time. Lots of work, but it keeps me out of trouble. I've been doing Sony SA now for nearly 5 years. I'd love to count all the psd's Ive created for them since I started. It would be in the thousands. I created about 300 psd's for the current consumer site from it's inception til now.