:: Currently listening to: Amanda Marshall - Birmingham ::
Do you have a problem with your computer locking up? Have you tried everything you can think of to fix it and still are at wit's end? Have you checked it for overheating? That's what I should have done long ago when my sister said she was having some issues with her computer. She said that her temp alarm would go off every now and then. I have seen it (the temp monitor) give false alarms before, so it didn't mean much to me. Because by the time I was there to look at the machine everything was back to within normal. However last night when I went over I noticed her computer was locked up and the alarm was on there saying her CPU temp was too high. I reset the machine and went into the BIOS and did find her CPU temp was too high. But more over I found that her CPU fan (which always looked normal before) was only going at like 1300 RPM. I thought it should be going faster. I opened the case and touched the heatsink. Needless to say it was pretty damn hot. I immediately told her that she needed a new fan or heatsink/fan combo. And being that the local computer superstore (which shall remain nameless, but I am sure you know who they are) didn't have just a fan. They did have a new copper heatsink/fan for only $20 so that's what she got.
I go over there today and of course the other fan is spinning at it's normal range at about 4300 RPM. I told her I was not taking any chances with it as I am sure she doesn't want to buy a new CPU at this point. I installed the new heatsink and so far so good. I can't believe this tho - I get this new nice copper heatsink and it comes with that cheap-ass silicone-based (at least I think that's right) heatsink compound. I would think that if you are going to provide this nice copper and nice fan you are going to supply some silver-thermal heatsink compound since it is much better. Anyway, I just tossed that old shit to the side and used some silver on there.
Why I should really kick myself in the ass is because I've seen overheating problems before and I should have known that is what it was. Of course while I was there last night, she did inform me that yes the computer was freezing - something she neglected to tell me before. But just take a look at this picture if you want to see how hot that fucker was getting! I was really surprised when I pulled that off! The little cushions that were on the CPU itself are even melted somewhat. Well at least one of them was.
I guess the moral of this story is this - keep an eye on your system fans and your system temperatures! You don't want a meltdown for something as simple as a fan. And I believe that is a common problem with them not lasting. This particular fan is only about 1.5 years old. It does make me want to exchange a lot of my fans I have because they have molex connections and I can't monitor them from my motherboards. So that is something I am going to be working on within the next few months. At least all my machines to have temperature monitors installed and can also monitor that CPU fan speed. Jason just had to replace a video card because of a bad fan. I think they need to have more sensors to monitor them on the motherboards. Most of the boards have only two fan connectors - one for the CPU and one for the case. That's all my boards have IIRC. But with the higher speed machines, you got to keep an eye out on your temps. It won't take long before your equipment will meltdown once a fan starts malfunctioning.
OK, so I got long-winded here. I think I needed that. I have not done it in a while! LOL