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Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt,alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware (More info?)
So I was handed this e-machines pc
http://www.emachines.com/support/support_info.html?prodName=C1641 and asked
to fix it for a friend of a friend. This would be the 2nd time. (they have
a house full of kids, who undoubtedly aren't exercising much restraint as to
what websites they go to). The computer was laden with viri the first time
I re-imaged it, and I assumed this time it would be no different.
Well, when I turned the machine on this time, either my ears are playing
tricks on me, or it's running remarkably louder than the last time I
received it. The fan seems like it's going at full tilt, and I can feel
what seems like an unhealthy amount of vibration through the cables and
chassis when this thing is just idling. I looked to BIOS, and there doesn't
appear to be a hardware monitor built in. Without a BIOS temperature
readout or fan speeds, so I installed Motherboard Monitor.
Here's a pic of what I found.
http://homepage.mac.com/elipman/.cv/elipman/Public/mbm.bmp-link.bmp
During install it said something about the Elite ECS K7S5A being
blacklisted, while asking me about checking a couple possibly problematic
addresses. It then had me select my board from the supported list. The
board inside this emachine is silk screened as a L7VMM 1.0. It looked like
the MBM profile was for version 1.3 or higher.. OR maybe the >=1.3 was
saying it supports up to rev 1.3 ?!?
regardless I must have not configured MBM quite right, because that case
temp of -55C sounds a wee bit low.
I also just popped off the fan and heatsink and vacuumed the dust bunnies
out of them. The heatsink doesn't appear to have an ounce of copper on it,
and the fan is a cooler master EFB0621HHA. Are these emachines and included
cooling solutions just loud chatter boxes? I mean, I wouldn't expect it to
be silent for $499 or whatever these things cost, but this one is pretty
loud.
In any case, if MBM is reporting anything correctly, it definitely looks
like the chip is staying pretty cool, and that the fan is roaring away
pretty high in RPM world. Is this something that I should expect the
motherboard to be running at a lower speed? Or is this not a variable speed
fan?
I might have managed to quiet things down closer to normal by tightening
down the mother board screws which had apparently loosened up a bit. Never
thought about putting locktite on motherboard screws, but this machine might
need it, if I stay with the heatsink and fan its got right now. It's
definitely still generating lots of vibration. I'm not looking to spend
money on a new heatsink and fan unnecessarily, but I don't want to spend all
this time re-imaging the computer and laying down applications, if the
hardware is fubar..
1) Is this a single speed fan, that spins at 5000 rpm and nothing else?
2) Was my MBM test at all valuable? How did I end up with -55C case temp?
3) Should I be worried about this thing? Might the mobo be bad, keeping
the fan at top speed? or are these desktop processor fans all like that and
this is just a loud fan / heatsink / rickety case combo?
your suggestions are much appreciated.
Thanks,
Ethan
--
To e-mail me, replace "_nospamtoday_" with the "@" symbol when replying to
my address.
So I was handed this e-machines pc
http://www.emachines.com/support/support_info.html?prodName=C1641 and asked
to fix it for a friend of a friend. This would be the 2nd time. (they have
a house full of kids, who undoubtedly aren't exercising much restraint as to
what websites they go to). The computer was laden with viri the first time
I re-imaged it, and I assumed this time it would be no different.
Well, when I turned the machine on this time, either my ears are playing
tricks on me, or it's running remarkably louder than the last time I
received it. The fan seems like it's going at full tilt, and I can feel
what seems like an unhealthy amount of vibration through the cables and
chassis when this thing is just idling. I looked to BIOS, and there doesn't
appear to be a hardware monitor built in. Without a BIOS temperature
readout or fan speeds, so I installed Motherboard Monitor.
Here's a pic of what I found.
http://homepage.mac.com/elipman/.cv/elipman/Public/mbm.bmp-link.bmp
During install it said something about the Elite ECS K7S5A being
blacklisted, while asking me about checking a couple possibly problematic
addresses. It then had me select my board from the supported list. The
board inside this emachine is silk screened as a L7VMM 1.0. It looked like
the MBM profile was for version 1.3 or higher.. OR maybe the >=1.3 was
saying it supports up to rev 1.3 ?!?
regardless I must have not configured MBM quite right, because that case
temp of -55C sounds a wee bit low.
I also just popped off the fan and heatsink and vacuumed the dust bunnies
out of them. The heatsink doesn't appear to have an ounce of copper on it,
and the fan is a cooler master EFB0621HHA. Are these emachines and included
cooling solutions just loud chatter boxes? I mean, I wouldn't expect it to
be silent for $499 or whatever these things cost, but this one is pretty
loud.
In any case, if MBM is reporting anything correctly, it definitely looks
like the chip is staying pretty cool, and that the fan is roaring away
pretty high in RPM world. Is this something that I should expect the
motherboard to be running at a lower speed? Or is this not a variable speed
fan?
I might have managed to quiet things down closer to normal by tightening
down the mother board screws which had apparently loosened up a bit. Never
thought about putting locktite on motherboard screws, but this machine might
need it, if I stay with the heatsink and fan its got right now. It's
definitely still generating lots of vibration. I'm not looking to spend
money on a new heatsink and fan unnecessarily, but I don't want to spend all
this time re-imaging the computer and laying down applications, if the
hardware is fubar..
1) Is this a single speed fan, that spins at 5000 rpm and nothing else?
2) Was my MBM test at all valuable? How did I end up with -55C case temp?
3) Should I be worried about this thing? Might the mobo be bad, keeping
the fan at top speed? or are these desktop processor fans all like that and
this is just a loud fan / heatsink / rickety case combo?
your suggestions are much appreciated.
Thanks,
Ethan
--
To e-mail me, replace "_nospamtoday_" with the "@" symbol when replying to
my address.