Overheating Video Card

[drewp29]

Just to clarify, my graphics card is integrated into the motherboard. I'm not sure, but I do not think I can change the PCIe frequency.

I unplugged the external hard drive from a USB port. Both the mouse and keyboard use a PS/2 connection already.

Still no luck!

My bad, I thought you said you had tried a new graphics card . . . I naturally assumed you had left it in there, or you had an actual card previous to the new card. yeah, if you are using the integrated graphics, I'll have to look some thing up to see what you can change regarding the PCIe frequency as I'm not sure you can in that situation either.

Drew

 

[Spectre6]

I have the XP media center edition installed on one hard drive and Vista pro on the other. The problem exists when either hard drive is in use.

I did both the selective an diagnostic startups. Problem keeps on happening in both.

When SYSTEM takes up 100% of the CPU, it is an acpisys thread that causes the problem. In XP, this process can be suspended; in Vista, it cannot. However, when I open a game, ntdll.dll.rtluserthreadstart is the problematic thread. When Google Chrome is open, chrome.dll!ChromeMain+0x39a1d2 or chrome.exe!SetActiveRendererURL. Sometimes, it is one of the thirteen(?!) svchost.exe processes running on my PC; it is also the ntdll.dll.rtluserthreadstart thread causing the problem in this case.

I have a screenshot of acpisys taking up 90% of the cpu; I'm not sure how to post it, though.

 

[drewp29]

Most Motherboard Bios' have an option for disabling acpi.

Try rebooting and disabling it in the bios, then see how the machine behaves in Windows.

Not knowing the motherboard manufacturer I don't know if the bios has the option, but it can't hurt to see.

It could be that acpi.sys starts the problem and then just hands it off to whatever application thread is currently in use.

See if your motherboard bios has the option to disable acpi (automatic configuration power interface).

There may be an option for power management, which is basically what acpi.sys does, it throttles power when the cpu doesn't need it, or when the cpu is having heat issues, which yours is clearly not. ACPI has been known to be somewhat buggy . . . I don't have a lot of experience with it because I have always turned mine off in the bios.

Let me know what you find out.

Drew

 

[Spectre6]

Well I didn't see any option in the bios to disable acpi.

These are my motherboard specs:

Manufacturer: Asus
Motherboard Name: A8N-LA
HP/Compaq motherboard name: Nagami2-GL8E

I went to the Asus website to see if there were any updates for my bios, but they have no mention of my motherboard on their site!

 

[drewp29]

Here's a bios update for your board . . . its 3.11, so if you already have the 3.11 bios, this won't help.

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareDownloadIndex?softwareitem=pv-43508-1&lc=en&dlc=en&cc=sg&product=3184119&os=228&lang=en

You could try this HP update:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareDownloadIndex?softwareitem=pv-66744-1&lc=en&dlc=en&cc=sg&product=3184119&os=228&lang=en

It says it fixes some 'minor defects' . . . hmmmm what would they consider a 'minor' defect?

The option in your bios might also be the APM (Advanced Power Management) options. Have you tried clearing your CMOS and letting the bios detect settings again. There is a jumper on the motherboard - see this picture:

http://mxdtr.com/upld/asus-a8n-sli-seluxe-motherboard-layout-settings-m.png

On that picture it shows the CLRTC and the jumper configuration . . . you want to move the jumper from pins 1 and 2 to pins 2 and 3, leave it for like 10 seconds or longer, and put it back on pins 1 and 2.

The bios reset might help, and is easy to do, so you could try that first before updating the bios or installing the HP update.

Oh, here's the link to the main page for the updates for your motherboard:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareList?os=228&lc=en&dlc=en&cc=sg&lang=en&product=3184119

We'll figure it out eventually

Drew

Edit:

Here's some interesting reading on APM and the options:

http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Battery-Powered/powermgm.html

 

[Spectre6]

I have the 3.11 version of the bios, so that's not the issue, I guess. I also tried resetting the bios with the CLRTC. Didn't work.

I then had the grand idea of reapplying the thermal paste on my cpu. I saw that AMD Athlon 64's are supposed to run at 65C and mine was pushing 70. After reapplying it, the temp went up to 72-73C. Now my computer won't even restart. It gets stuck when it tries to load XP and Vista at the point where it has the progress bar going across the screen.

I hope I haven't ruined anything. I guess once I get it to restart, I'll try installing all of those HP updates. I think I've already installed most of them, but it can't hurt to install them again.

 

[drewp29]

I have the 3.11 version of the bios, so that's not the issue, I guess. I also tried resetting the bios with the CLRTC. Didn't work.

I then had the grand idea of reapplying the thermal paste on my cpu. I saw that AMD Athlon 64's are supposed to run at 65C and mine was pushing 70. After reapplying it, the temp went up to 72-73C. Now my computer won't even restart. It gets stuck when it tries to load XP and Vista at the point where it has the progress bar going across the screen.

I hope I haven't ruined anything. I guess once I get it to restart, I'll try installing all of those HP updates. I think I've already installed most of them, but it can't hurt to install them again.

What kind of thermal paste? Normally thermal paste has a break in period where temps will decrease as the paste sets, but I wouldn't think that you'd see an increase in temps from redoing it. Maybe you have too much paste on there? I have put too much and have seen an increase in temps. Usually heat won't cause an operating system to hang at the loading screen, but heat can do weird things.

Are you using the stock cooler? Did you make sure you got it seated well - AMD (and Intel for that matter) heatsink mounting brackets sort of suck. I would remove the heatsink, clean the heatsink and cpu very well with a q-tip and some alcohol, making sure you have a residue free surface, and then apply a small dollop of paste to the center of the cpu. I usually spread it evenly over the entire surface with a small spatula I cut out of some spare piece of plastic laying around. The layer should be very thin, almost so thin that you feel like you don't have enough on there.

Let me know how it turns out.


Drew

 

[Spectre6]

OK I managed to turn it back on. I'm using Ceramique by Arctic Silver. I made sure to put a very thin layer. I don't know if I mentioned this before, but the computer has frozen while trying to boot many times since the problem began. Sometimes, the monitor and keyboard do not turn on.

Once I got my computer back on, I tried to download more updates from the HP site. acpisys just went to 100%, freezing the computer, so I couldn't complete the download. In XP, I can kill the acpisys process and something else will take up the cpu. In Vista, I can't even suspend this process. When I just look at task manager, it says Image Name is "System", User Name is "System", and the description is "NT Kernel and System". Is there any way to edit this NT Kernel so that the acpisys process will not start up?

 

[drewp29]

Ceramique is good stuff . . .sounds like you know what you are doing on application, I just thought I'd throw that out there because some people think that a thicker layer will provide better heat transfer.

How's the cooling in your case? Do you have any more places for fans? This is starting to sound more and more like a heat issue, but maybe not with the CPU, but perhaps northbridge, kind of like Wes' problem. If it is not due to heat, then the motherboard is probably a little flaky.

Try taking the side of the case off and placing a box fan or other fan that moves a lot of air on the side. See if that makes any difference with booting and stability.

Drew

 

[Spectre6]

Well I don't have any extra places in my case for fans, but I put a box fan on the side and tried to cool the cpu that way. No luck. I was reading here

<http://www.winserverkb.com/Uwe/Forum.aspx/windows-server-sbs/31154/High-CPU-usage>

that ACP Powerchute 6.x is a problem. Could this be my problem? Or is that only if I'm using a Windows server?

 

[drewp29]

APC Powerchute is used when you have a battery backup or UPS, that way in case of extended power outages, if there is no one around to shut the computer down, APC Powerchute backs up data and shuts the machine down for you.

Do you have a UPS or battery backup? Is APC Powerchute one of the programs installed by default from your HP install disk? It should show up in programs if it is installed.

Did you try booting XP to safe mode? Does it still hang on the loading screen, or where it runs through the drivers being loaded?

It has to be hardware at this point IMHO, because Vista and XP will load two very different driver sets, and if they are both hanging at the loading screen, then its most likely an issue with Northbridge/Southbridge and/or a power issue.

Boot the machine to the bios and see what the 12V reading is showing you. There should be an area in the bios that is for CPU health, or something to that effect, but it should show you voltages read by the motherboard. Maybe your 12V power is low from your power supply and its causing weird issues. Just a hunch, I am sort of grasping at straws here as it seems we have covered all the bases one can cover to fix it without swapping out the motherboard.

Drew

 

[Spectre6]

When I boot in safe mode, it will sometimes load all the way. Other times it will freeze when MupSys (or something like that) loads. The problem still exists in safe mode.

Well I looked through the entire bios. These are the sections: Main, Advanced, Power, Boot, and Exit. Power only has After AC Power Failure [Auto] and WOL in S4 [Disabled]. None of the other sections mention anything about CPU health or voltages.

Unfortunately, I've begun looking through the newspaper ads for new computers because I really think the motherboard has burnt out.

 

[drewp29]

After looking at the computer's specifications I would estimate that it is about 6 to 7 years old right? Not that everyone needs the fastest or most up to date computer, but in 6 years time the difference will be like night and day. You can really only expect a computer that is used frequently to give you a good 5 years of service, and you'll probably have to replace SOMEthing in it in that timespan. I currently have a machine that is 8 years old, but I've replaced the power supply twice and updated the graphics card. It works as one of my backup machines and friends can play games on it when they come over, just not the latest and greatest in the highest detail. It definitely is nearing the end of its service life, but hey, I have definitely pushed it since it ran for almost 6 years pretty much 24/7.

If you have a little extra cash to purchase a new system I am sure you'll be impressed with the difference.

If you feel you have the technical expertise to build your own computer, you can get a good system for less than what companies like Delll or HP will charge, but you will be at the mercy of troubleshooting it yourself if things go wrong. Its a give and take relationship, and I much prefer to build my own, but not everyone does

If you have another power supply, or if a friend has one you can borrow, you cold try plugging it in to see if it makes any difference at all. That's all I have left to suggest, since I am trying to troubleshoot without actually being at the computer. Wish I could have been more help. Sorry it turned out the way it did.

Drew

 

[Spectre6]

You were tons of help. Thanks to you, I now know a lot more about computer hardware and software. I think I now have the confidence to try and build my own computer someday (not yet, though...). For now I will just purchase a new computer. With all the multi-core processors out there, I was due for an upgrade soon anyway.

Thanks again for all of your help.