Do I need to put anything between processor and cooler?

[cheekonator2]

Hi, I recently got a motherboard replacement, so in order to install it, I needed to take out the processor (P3) and cooler. I noticed some white lubricant in between, so I figured it was fine the way it was. After doing this, I have problems running XP and 2000 Professional (sudden reboots, operating system not starting). Everything worked fine with 98SE and ME. I was told it could have been because of the processor thing. Could that be? And what should I do if that is true? And if you are thinking anything about the different file systems, everything was the way it should have been in that category.

 

[bellins1]

I thought you should have the thermal paste in between the cpu and the heat sink (but only about the size of a piece of rice-uncooked) Spread it out with a card, etc.

My computer has been constantly rebooting on it's own too. That's why I uninstalled Win2k and reinstalled 98 after several attempts at win2k... Neither os works well, so I don't think it's that, but the registry might be a problem? Did you do a clean install when you reinstalled xp and 2000? I think I've got it pinned down to either the registry on the hard drive or the memory file himem.sys. I've changed out 256 mb of pc133 with 89 mb of pc100 ram... still getting the same problems... It seems to happen within 1-3 minutes... I guess I can be thankful of that... since it doesn't take long to figure out when the problem will occur..With 2000, it would be between 10-30 minutes(but I had 256 mb ram in that one... ) Does the registry get rewritten when the system hd partition is formatted and reinstalled with the os?

Thanks... Hope that helps,

Steve

 

[paparazi]

Thermal heat transfer paste must be applied between the heatsink base and processor, just the thinnest of smears is sufficient but absolutely vital for proper thermal contact.
Available from all good PC parts outlets or electronic retailers, ie:tandy/radioshack Vote if you found this post helpful please!!

 

[cheekonator2]

Thanks guys, I'll look into that thermal paste you were talking about. To bellins, I don't thing its a registry or ram problem. I tried all kinds of ram configurations as well. And yes I was doing a clean install, not only did I format, but I was also repartitioning the hard drives, trying all kinds of FAT32-NTFS configuration. Nothing worked, so now I'm back to the crappy Win98. I must say, after you use XP, its very hard to go back.

 

[dakota81]

Yes, you need to have thermal grease between the cpu and heatsink, but as for the particular situation you're in, you gotta question further why WinXP will not work. Electrons are shooting through the CPU all the time, the CPU doesn't know what operating system you're running, it just takes care of the immediate instructions presented to it.

In other words, if Win98 always works, then you can't really blame the heat for WinXP not working. I don't know what the answer is with your computer, but I do suggest trying to look into it a little deeper.

 

[cheekonator2]

But you see, the person that told me this, he said that XP and 2000 require and use more of the processor resources or something like that. And I don't mean the resources in the windows from memory.

 

[crisc]

Hate to argue with "the person" but he/she is wrong. A CPU is like an engine with the gas pedal to the floor. dakota81 is right, it doesn't know or care what OS you are using it just crunches 1's and 0's as fast as it can. Different OS's may use MEMORY differently, but not CPU...

 

[Tedlast]

Sounds like there were two changes - Motherboard swap and an OS upgrade. The motherboard swap is the most likely candidate here. The symptoms you describe could be overheating but this could also be memory problems. Are you sure your memory is compatible with the new motherboard? To be safe, set your memory settings to the most forgiving. If you have multiple sticks, try swapping out memory to isolate a bad stick. Also, pop into your BIOS at boot-up and check your CPU temperature. Intel CPUs run quite cool so if you're running hot, make sure the heatsink is level and making contact.

 

[ceh4702]

Not to be too blunt, but how do you think a computer accesses the memory? The CPU is involved. Even if DMA is used the Processor still is involved. Especially if one operating system uses a lot of high grade Multimedia.

There are other things that can overheat. The chipset can overheat if you have a southbridge or a northbridge that has no chipset cooler and you overclock even just a little. The Memory can also heat up. The video card can heat up also.

Enermax sells some nice adjustable 8 cm case fans that can really pull a lot of air out of the case. A little thermal heat transfer paste wouldn't hurt. It wouldnt take much. About a drop is enough too much and it starts covering circuit parts. If you do not like my post feel free to point out your opinion or my errors.

 

[Tedlast]

He doesn't mention overclocking so I suspect heat isn't the enemy here. A quick and easy test would be to run the PC with the case open and see if it stabilizes or at least runs longer before a lockup. (My system temp is 23C open, 33C closed.)
If it still locks up... I suggest(ed) checking memory and memory setting. (Also, quick and easy to test.) Next, I'd be looking at drivers to see if there are compatibility issues with XP.