Help needed / CPU Overheating

[Steven Battisti]

Hi folks,

I built myself a computer a few years back with the following specs:

- COOLER MASTER HAF 932 Advanced RC-932-KKN5-GP Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case with USB 3.0, Black Interior and Four Fans-1x 230mm front RED LED, 1x 140mm rear, 1x 230mm top, and 1x 230mm side
- Corsair CMFSSD-64GBG2D 2.5" 64GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
- SAMSUNG Black 22X DVD Burner Black SATA Model SH-S223B
- CORSAIR TX Series CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V v2.3 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply
- Western Digital WD Black WD7501AALS 750GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive
- HIS H577F1GDG Radeon HD 5770 (Juniper XT) 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card
- Nippon Labs Premium 18" (1.5 ft.) SATA II Cable with locking latch for SATA I and SATA II Hard Drive Model SATA-L0.5-R
- Intel Core i7-860 Lynnfield 2.8GHz LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor BX80605I7860
- ASUS P7P55D LGA 1156 Intel P55 ATX Intel Motherboard
- G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL7D-4GBRH

It's running Win 7 right now.

In general, it has been awesome. No problems to speak of.

However, in the past few weeks, I've noticed it has been overheating. Upon booting, the BIOS screen will appear with the error message "CPU Overheat Error! Press F1 to resume!" (That may not be the exact wording, but that's the gist.) The thing is, sometimes I get that message even when the computer hasn't been on, so it's not like it happens after the machine has been running for hours.

I opened the case and cleaned the fans. I don't see anything obviously wrong with them. Typically, if I continue the boot, it runs fine, but it makes me nervous, so when I get this message I typically turn the machine off for a while.

Thoughts on how I could troubleshoot this? Despite having built the machine, hardware isn't really my strong suit...

I ran a hardware monitor utility (HWMonitor), and could post the results here, but they are kinda lengthy, so I'll wait for someone to ask for it...

Thanks!

Steve

 

[DEADLY9996]

Ok was doing some quick reading, try this first http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/2089/real-temp-3-70/ (before the new heatsink if you wish)

Install that and take a screenshot of the readings



If you want to test the performance once you got the new heatsink, you need a program to stress test your CPU, (when you have the new heatsink). While you monitor the temperature with HWMonitor.

http://files.extremeoverclocking.com/file.php?f=205

http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/System-Info/SiSoftware-Sandra.shtml

http://www.passmark.com/download/pt_download.htm



Tutorial here:

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/220743-cpu-stress-test-using-intelburntest.html


But let me see the results on realtemp first

 

[Steven Battisti]

Just to add one more note. I just left the PC on for an hour or so and did some work (so it wasn't completely idle). I turned it off, and then touched the heatsink over the CPU, and honestly, it's room temperature tops. Not even noticeably warm or giving off heat.

So I am leaning more and more towards a sensor issue.

Which leads me to the question: is there anything I can do if the sensors aren't working? Presumably they are part of the motherboard? I am going to try the CMOS battery, if I can figure out where the heck it is.

 

[DEADLY9996]

BIOS and some temp monitors read off the Motherboard temp sensor, some read off the CPU, i think realtemp does, so give that a whirl and show us a screenie, just to be sure

But it does seem like a sensor problem, i just dont want you using it, thinking it's OK from what i've said, come back to your PC an hour later and find it melted away :lol:

http://www.legitreviews.com/images/reviews/1162/ASUS_P7P55D_Deluxe_top.jpg

This your Mobo? The cmos battery is that big round silver thing under the first PCI-E Slot

 

[Guest]

Alright, so, riddle me this:

Is it possible that the new Arctic Silver takes a while to "kick in"? Because yesterday just after I put the paste on, like I said, both Real Temp and Core Temp were giving very high readings immediately after logging into Windows. But today I've been sitting here running RealTemp since Deadly's last post, and it's cool as a cucumber:

 

[DEADLY9996]

Those readings are direct from the CPU

Does HWmonitor and BIOS still say 90+?

Well you can either get the Heatsink or not, by the looks of that, i'd still go for it, if it fits in. Should make a good difference at full load for sure .

 

[Guest]

Hi folks,

Just wanted to follow up and let you know that everything looks great now! I did get that fan/heatsink. (What a pain it was to install. I had to take out my (@*#$ mobo).)

Thanks so much for your help. I'm going to mark someone's post as the answer, but I'm sure that won't do justice, since so many people helped out!! (EDIT: OK, so maybe I can't mark this as answered myself. Not quite sure what that process is, but my problem has been SOLVED. )

Thanks again!

Steve

 

[DEADLY9996]

Great! Congrats, glad it's sorted! i'm sure that massive heatsink and fan will have been worth the trouble in the long run!!