I have been having a lot of problems with my PC recently ( a long story that I wont go in to unless I have to) . When I run the management software that came with my motehrboard (I built the PC from components 2 years ago, it’s an Athlon 900) it tells me that the CPU temperature is 56 degrees Celcius. The overheat temp is 50 celcius. It also list the voltages coming into and out of the CPU. These all seem to be fine except for the 2.5V voltage which is only registering at 0.35V.
As you can these are not good signs. Anybody know what I can about this?
I did a web search on the Athlon 900. It looks like the system contains a small refrigerator which it uses to cool the CPU.
It sounds like you have a power supply problem. I suspect that something in the cooling system relies on the 2.5 volt line.
If the power supply is producing a low voltage, you need to fix it regardless of whether it is causing the overheating problem. The easiest solution would be to replace the power supply as a unit. You could also repair the power supply (or have someone do it) - it’s hard to say how much this would cost or how long it would take.
You should also check the air filters. If they are clogged, the machine will not be able to cool itself properly.
If the problem persists after you fix the power supply and filters, I would guess the problem is in the refrigeration unit.
There’s no small refrigeration unit on an Athlon 900 - not unless it’s custom-made and you’re a hardcore overclocker, anyway. There’s just a CPU heat sink/fan combination. And the vast majority of home PC’s don’t have air filters, just vent holes/slots.
It’s almost never worth the effort to repair a power supply - they’re modular, throwaway components. They’re not terribly expensive, either, unless you want a really good one. And they’re one of the most likely components in a computer to fail.
I doubt that the reading of 0.35v is accurate. Your processor is likely powered by the 2.5v line and if it really were only at 0.35v the system wouldn’t boot at all. It could just be a failure of the circuit that senses the voltage in the machine.
Setting the shutdown temperature to 50 degrees C seems a bit low to me. Most BIOS’s will let you set it higher than that - see if yours allows it. If you’re confident enough to do so, open your machine and make sure the CPU fan and heatsink isn’t clogged with dust. Blow it out with a can of compressed air if it is. Be gentle blowing directly on the fan blades, though - some CPU fans are fairly fragile and might not hold up to a full-power burst of air.
Most heatsinks come with a bit of thermal conducting tape or pad already applied. However it is not as effective as good thermal paste/grease.
If your heatsink came with a pad/tape you could try and remove it and apply some grease instead, it can however be quite hard to get the old pad off. Be sure not to scratch the surface of the heatsink if you try to remove it, as that will surely lead to even worse cooling.
You might also want to check the general airflow in the cabinet - e.g. flat cables blocking airflow will affect the cpu temperature.
50c is quite low for an overheat warning - the lowest max die temperature I’ve found for an athlon system is 70c, but that is ofcouse die temperature which should be somewhat higher than the one you’ll see.
Basicly a good heatsink+fan, good thermalpaste and good airflow in the whole cabinet is what I would look at.
Athelons are known heat generators. DO NOT, repeat, DO NOT run your system for an INSTANT w/o the fan-sink firmly attached to the CPU or it will self destruct before you can say BOO.
Likely your over heating problem is that lack of thermal compound.
Lack of air-flow after that.
Pretty much everybody here is right. My K62-500 is running at 56C, and that’s after some intensive gaming action. Unless you think it’s related to those other problems you mentioned, I’d say you don’t have a problem there. (Note Rob V’s warning though. You wouldn’t even get a chance to turn it off.)
I actually tried running my athlon 1400 without heatsink (after it was already dead from a chipped corner) - I do belive I would have had trouble saying BOO before it started smoking…
Do you have a slot-A or socket-A Athlon processor? If it’s a slot-A processor (it will look like a cartridge with a large heatsink and fans on it, and will slide into a slot on the motherboard), replacing the heatsink will be EXTREMELY difficult. Either way, completely dust the system with some canned air, paying special attention to the heatsink, and check to see if the fans all still spin properly. You should also have adequate case ventillation, if you don’t have any case fans (besides the CPU, power supply, and any motherboard or videocard fans), you’ll need to get at least one.
If the above doesn’t fix your temps, and you have a socket-A processor, you can get a new heatsink+fan with a copper base for relatively little money. Make sure that you remove any included thermal gunk, clean the CPU completely, and apply a PAPER THIN, EVEN LAYER of thermal paste to the CPU core (blue square that says “Athlon”) only, then install the new heatsink. This should fix your problem.