Extreme CPU temperatures. Fans not working?

[laddiemawery]

I've been having trouble with my computer for almost two months now. I've tested everything possible as far as parts go, memory was fine, cpu was fine, psu was fine. The only bad part was my ssd was faulty, so I'm now just booting with an old hdd.

I am almost completely rebuilding my computer so I didn't think much of it until I decided to check the temperature of it last night. The only two parts I wasn't replacing were my psu and case.

I used Core Temp to find out what it was at. All cores of my CPU measure at no less than 95c. The same time my computer started having problems the case fan leds had also turned off (the case is the NZXT Phantom), I thought nothing of it at the time maybe they just burned out or something.

I took the case apart this morning to check if the fans were actually plugged in, and as far as I saw they were.

Is this a problem anyone has had before and have you been able to fix it? Spending more on a case along with the other parts is something I would really like to avoid if at all possible.


Edit: I should have also said that I can see the fans spinning and hear then speed up when I turn up the control for them. So I know they are spinning but I don't know what's actually causing the problem, I just assume it has to do with the fans because I'm dumb.

 

[geofelt]

Most likely, your cpu cooler is not mounted properly.

 

[laddiemawery]

Most likely, your cpu cooler is not mounted properly.

Honestly I didn't know there was a wrong way to have it mounted. I always thought that as long as all four pegs were mounted into the board it would be fine. I'll take a look at it right now though.

 

[geofelt]

Most likely, your cpu cooler is not mounted properly.

Honestly I didn't know there was a wrong way to have it mounted. I always thought that as long as all four pegs were mounted into the board it would be fine. I'll take a look at it right now though.

The stock Intel cooler can be tricky to install.
A poor installation will result in higher cpu temperatures.

To mount the Intel stock cooler properly, place the motherboard on top of the foam or cardboard backing that was packed with the motherboard.
The stock cooler will come with paste pre applied, it looks like three grey strips.
The 4 push pins should come in the proper position for installation, that is with the pins rotated in the direction of the arrow,(counter clockwise) as far as they can go.
If you want, play with the pushpin mechanism until you know how they work.
Place the cooler so that all 4 pins are oriented over the holes in the motherboard.

Push down on the entire cooler so that all 4 pins are through the motherboard.
When you push down on the top black pins, it expands the white plastic pins to fix the cooler in place.

The trick to getting it on is to push down on a DIAGONAL pair of pins at the same time. Then the other pair.
If you do them one at a time, you will not get the cooler on straight.
Lastly, look at the back of the motherboard to verify that all 4 pins are equally through the motherboard, and that the cooler is on firmly.
This last step must be done, which is why the motherboard must be out of the case to do the job.
It is possible to mount the cooler with the motherboard mounted in the case, but you can then never be certain that the push pins are inserted properly.

If you should need to remove the cooler, turn the pins clockwise to unlock them.
You will need to clean off the old paste and reapply new if you ever take the cooler off.

 

[laddiemawery]

I don't have the original packaging just because its a few years old. But your point about pushing in diagonal pins is what I think I did wrong. I pushed in one at a time like you also said. is reapplying new thermal paste something that must be done or just recommenced? I only ask because I don't have any and do need to use my computer for some work.


Edit: I just finished putting everything back together and setting in the cooler properly this time. the cpu temps are not around mid 40's and I can already see a big difference in performance and load times. The only thing I could not do was apply thermal paste as you suggested but I called a local tech store and will be picking some up on my way to work today. I can't thank you enough for the very in depth post!