CPU overheating

[ajs7997]

I have just built a new PC. I powered it up for the first time and it ran fine. I let it run for a few days before I had a chance to install Win XP. It continued to run fine. Then I figured I'd give my new P4 2.4GHz processor a test and ran music videos from the internet. Again it ran fine for about 15 mins until it shut down. I figured the processor overheated, which it did. Now every time i turn it on, the processor overheats after about 15 seconds. All fans are working fine. Any suggestions?

 

[ski]

If the CPU is overheating in 15 seconds, then there's something drastically wrong, and hopefully it has not been damaged.
Make sure that the CPU heatsink is firmly clamped in place and it's not coming in contact with anything other than the CPU die, the heatsink fan is running at its design speed, and that the thermal compound is properly applied between the heatsink and the CPU die.

What's the max temperature it gets to?

 

[ajs7997]

The heat sink is placed in the correct spot and is clamped down. The max temp that i've seen has been 97C. I immediately turned it off when i saw it that hot. I currently don't have any thermal compound on the processor since i have just recently learned that it is needed, but is that enough to get the temp down to the proper temp? It ran perfectly for several days and then started having problems as soon as i started testing it out with video from the web. Any further help or suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[ski]

Apply a very thin film of Arctic Silver 3 thermal compound(best stuff on the market) to both the bottom of the heatsink and to the CPU die, and make sure that no excess gets onto any CPU components other than the CPU die.

If the system still has problems, then the CPU may be damaged.
And if it got up to 97C, then the MB may also be damaged.

 

[paparazi]

I am very sorry to have to inform you but given what you have said, it would appear that you have just learned a very expensive lesson.
Fitting the heatsink without thermal compound is often fatal for a CPU, and can also damage the motherboard as mentioned.
You may just be lucky! P4 motherboards and CPU's do have better thermal protection built in, fingers crossed.
But thermal compound really does make that much differance.
What I am surprised about is that the heatsink didn't have a some kind of thermal pad already applied.
Martin Replying helps further our knowledge, without comment leaves us wondering.

 

[ajs7997]

the heatsink did have a pad on the bottom at first. that melted under the extreme heat and is now bare. i will certainly get some thermal compound and use it. as far as damage, i'm not for sure yet, but from what i've seen everything seems to be functioning properly still (i hope). i hope that the thermal compound will be the answer. i'll go buy some today. thanx for the tips.

 

[mainegeek]

Hello ajs7997,
It sounds like the cpu fan may not be functioning.
Also, you need to completly remove the "old" thermal pad from the heatsink before you apply the thermal grease.

 

[ski]

If the bottom of the heatsink is bare and has absolutely no remnants of a thermal pad, then probably there was no pad there to begin with.

Also, did you check if the CPU fan is running at design speed either in BIOS or with a MB monitoring program?

 

[ajs7997]

well, i applied the thermal compound and it's working great. cpu temp is now holding at about 45c. MAJOR difference. i never knew that such a little bit of that compound could make such a huge difference. thanx for the tips. thankfully there was no damage and all is working fine.