Resolved - CPU Over Temperature Error

[Legend]

Name: Legend

Rank: Sergeant Major

Type of issue: Not sure

Brief Description of Issue: Had diablo 3 open, then opened DoDS and screen went hazy purple with small lines. Comp crash to a screen saying " CPU Over Temperature Error." Told me to also press F1 to enter setup but my keyboard wasn't responding. So i waited awhile and i'm back up, but it seems like there's something fishing going on.

I'm running a defrag and other spyware/malware programs to clean it all up, and ill check my drivers. I looked into it a little and it may be my Cpu overheating, so if any of you can confirm this it would be great to get some remediation steps.

Best,

Legend

***Medical Supply Staff ONLY Below this line***

Current Status: Resolved

Main Technician:

Supporting Technician: Sgt. N. Holland

[Lafy BAR]

What did the error message look like? It could have been your bios locking the machine to prevent hardware damage. You may want to check if there's a setting in the bios for a max CPU temperature and maybe install speedfan or some other temp monitor and see what temp your CPU runs at while gaming. If the temp your games run at is close to the max your motherboard will allow you can either increase the max allowed, if you're confident the CPU is rated for a higher temperature, or improve your cooling.

Are you using a stock or aftermarket cooler? Are you overclocking? Does your case have sufficient airflow?

[Holland 1st MRB]

Firstly, are you gaming on a laptop, or a desktop?

If desktop, make sure it is not choked with dust. Take the sides off your case and clean it. Make sure that the vents and fans are not obstructed in any ways (ie. closed by a nearby wall).

As Lafy posted, are you attempting to overclock your hardware?

Look into the actual temperature of your CPU via the software he suggested.

[Cutts]

What Lafy and Holland said!

Also a few quick questions...

1) Is it a desktop/laptop?

2) What make/model of motherboard / CPU?

3) How long had you been running it / playing games?

It is most commonly a build-up of dust that causes this sort of thing, and carefully cleaning your CPU heatsink and fan would fix that.

I generally recommend getting inside a desktop PC every 6 months at least, and vacuuming out all the cobwebs.

Your CPU is probably still fine though... most hardware these days have automatic system to reduce the voltage as soon as a certain temperature is exceeded, before any real damage can be done (though they sometimes don't work fast enough).

If its a laptop, you probably shouldn't open it up yourself, as that will likely void any warrenty, but again its probably dusty. Depending on the manufacturer (and how old it is) they may provide you with free servicing, which would generally clean out all the crap. I got a free new GPU for my Dell (UK) laptop over 2 years after I bought it, as the GPU fan had died and it overheated, so its possible to get quite lucky with them... I have no idea what Dell is like outside of the UK though.

[Bryant 1st MRB]

and also there are a bunch of programs you can download online which will monitor your temp and post it while gaming to see what temps you are pushing to see if there programsn are running your temp up too much

[Legend]

What did the error message look like? It could have been your bios locking the machine to prevent hardware damage. You may want to check if there's a setting in the bios for a max CPU temperature and maybe install speedfan or some other temp monitor and see what temp your CPU runs at while gaming. If the temp your games run at is close to the max your motherboard will allow you can either increase the max allowed, if you're confident the CPU is rated for a higher temperature, or improve your cooling.

Are you using a stock or aftermarket cooler? Are you overclocking? Does your case have sufficient airflow?

It looked very weird and almost formal, said "American Megatrends ," and it listed my usb inputs, keyboard and mouse ect.. but i couldn't use anything or do anything on that screen. I'll try looking into the bios and getting the speed fan test. And i believe i'm using the stock cooling fan on the cpu, i am not overclocking, and i believe the case has very good airflow.

processor

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16819115071

motherboard

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16813131729

videocard

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16814125401

Case

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16811139010

[Lafy BAR]

American Megetrends?

[Legend]

ya

[Lafy BAR]

It's very odd for a stock speed sandybridge CPU to overheat like that....

Once you figure out what temperature your CPU is running idle, and under load (during a game) you might want to try something like this

http://www.neowin.net/forum/blog/460/entry...ck-coolerspeed/

Edit,

I should say that if the idle temperature is strangely high then you have a serious issue and should not just try to bandaid it.

Edited June 8, 2012 by Lafy BAR

[Legend]

roger

[Cutts]

Well, so if its not a dust buildup problem, I'm not sure what else it might be really. I don't know

enough about your specific hardware to make any insightful suggestions I'm afraid, but I can

give you a few general tips.

Your case looks better than average, so should have enough airflow. Do you have a high ambient room

temperature? It could just be that on a warm day, your cooling isn't sufficient, when its fine on a colder day.

One thing... how many fans does that case have, and are they setup properly? Ideally you need

both intake and exhaust fans, and they should be setup to work together (eg, don't put an intake

right next to an exhaust, but put them on opposite ends of the case, to get air flowing smoothly).

I once bought a case with this problem, so I had to unscrew some of the fans, and bolt them on

the other way round, on the outside of the case (they only had screw holes on one side). It looked

ugly, but it worked like a charm afterwards.

Stock cooling *should* be alright if you're not overclocking, in theory, but I would never recommend it.

I would suggest buying a new heatsink + fan unit for your CPU even if you were not overheating, and

carefully replacing the stock one... you'll want to have a look around for the right one though... there

are generally hundreds of them available and some of them are completely useless.

This seems a reasonably priced one, with a high level of consumer confidence... not the best, but if

you're not overclocking it should be enough, and I can also personally recommend Coolermaster

products, as I use something similar. Although... do make sure to check the dimensions of these

things first, as they can be simply massive; I made this mistake once and my cooler was too big for my case!

As McDowell says, you'll want a good thermal paste... I use Arctic Silver 5, but I think McDowells

suggestion of Arctic Cooling MX-4 is better.

(Note: If you've not used thermal paste before you need to be a little bit careful... ideally you

want the smallest amount you can, whilst still covering the surface. The arctic silver guys have

a good bit of detailed information about this here, but the basic idea is is to squeeze out a blob

and spread it very thinly with a plastic card or a razor blade.)

One general tip for building PCs, is to keep everything hot as far away from everything else as you can.

Easier said than done, given that most motherboards only have one slot for the two hottest components,

but generally, keep all your PCI/PCI-x boards as far away from your GPU as possible, and use

rounded cables, with cable ties, to keep your cabling as far from the CPU and GPU as possible.

Edited June 8, 2012 by Cutts 1st MRB

[Dillon 1st MRB]

What is the temperature where your computer is running? Using A/C? Its summer, and I don't have A/C so I have to be a bit careful with my computer whenever the ambient temperature is over 80.

Ensure you have good airflow. Is there a place where the hot exhaust air can vent to?

example - was working in school as Desktop Support for students. Student had done everything, brought me their nice little Shuttle case (they are the size of a toaster) and complained it was overheating. I could not reproduce it. He kept it clean and it looked great. Took it back, and he had the same problem. Turned out, he was keeping it in the shelf of a desk. While there was good intake air, there was no place for the exhaust air to go.

If these two things are good, and given that you just built this computer, I'd look to a bad seat on the thermal paste. Like McDowell said, the thermal paste that comes stock can be terrible. By terrible, I mean that its a one-shot deal. If you smudge it badly enough, you may have created a problem that will only crop up when its hot out. Thermal paste is cheap, and if you can get some locally, its good to have on hand if you are going to keep building/upgrading.

[Legend]

On my readings, says everything is around 30-40 C on speedfan, but when i click their Exotics tab, it shows a fire symbol on core 0, core 1, core 2, and core 3 all around 50C.

I dont know what this tab is, but i dont get why it wouldnt show cores overheating on the "readings," tab.

[Holland 1st MRB]

If this is a continuing problem, be sure you read through all of the above posts, as they are the best solutions to the problem.

As well, if you are unsure of where to go from here, please answer all the posted questions as best as you can, and we can continue to assist you.

[Bryant 1st MRB]

Has this issue been resolved?

[Legend]

I think it may have been a very hot day and it over heated, i'm gonna keep my tower cool and see if this re occurs.

[Holland 1st MRB]

That's a good step to take.

If the problem re-occurs, please just respond to this ticket.

Resolved - for now.