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Built a brand new PC last week, installed SP2, all updates, and now for some
reason, it shuts down after being on for about 5 mins. Could it be anything
wrong with mobo, or processor? Specs as follows:
Sempron 3000+, Gigabyte GA-K8VM800M, 512mb lemel ram, 80gb western digital
drive (ide). No cdrom, just bare basics machine.

Have checked event logs, nothing shows up as critical, and no warnings
either.
How can I tell what is going on? Any software I can install to let me know
of any incompatabilities of the hardware?

Thanks,
Brendon

Brendon wrote:
> Built a brand new PC last week, installed SP2, all updates, and now for some
> reason, it shuts down after being on for about 5 mins. Could it be anything
> wrong with mobo, or processor? Specs as follows:
> Sempron 3000+, Gigabyte GA-K8VM800M, 512mb lemel ram, 80gb western digital
> drive (ide). No cdrom, just bare basics machine.
>
> Have checked event logs, nothing shows up as critical, and no warnings
> either.
> How can I tell what is going on? Any software I can install to let me know
> of any incompatabilities of the hardware?

I'd be looking very carefully at the CPU heatsink/fan - this feels to me
like an overheating CPU causing the shutdown.


--
EMB

Thanks. OK, I left the thermal tape on the CPU that came with it, then shot
down to DSE, and grabbed a syringe of grease as well, and smeared a healthy
does of that on. Is there any way to confirm this may be the issue?
Oh, it also packs a real sad and freezes when trying to install new
software. Requires a forced restart.
Cheers
Brendon

"EMB" <> wrote in message
news:e2169o$29v$...
> I'd be looking very carefully at the CPU heatsink/fan - this feels to me
> like an overheating CPU causing the shutdown.
> --
> EMB

Brendon wrote:
> Thanks. OK, I left the thermal tape on the CPU that came with it, then shot
> down to DSE, and grabbed a syringe of grease as well, and smeared a healthy
> does of that on. Is there any way to confirm this may be the issue?
> Oh, it also packs a real sad and freezes when trying to install new
> software. Requires a forced restart.
> Cheers
> Brendon

First thought - grease OR tape, not both.

Second thought - have you got the heatsink mounted correctly (it's not
on back to front is it)?


As a really simple test, boot up and go into the BIOS, then go to the
"PC Health" or whatever page that shows voltages and temps and see what
the CPU temp does. As it should only be idling doing this I'd expect to
see the temp stay nice and low - if it exceeds about 50 degrees doing
this then you almost certainly have a problem.

--
EMB

OK, will look into this after work tonight.
Cheers for the tips.

"Brendon" <> wrote in
news:L2V0g.13694$:

> Thanks. OK, I left the thermal tape on the CPU that came with it, then
> shot down to DSE, and grabbed a syringe of grease as well, and smeared
> a healthy does of that on.

Here is a good instruction page, for help with applying thermal compound-

http://www.arcticsilver.com/arctic_s...structions.htm

Brendon wrote:
> OK, will look into this after work tonight.
> Cheers for the tips.

Yeah, what EMB said. Either/or with the Thermal Interface Material, and then
just the thinnest layer possible. Those pads are designed to melt and have
the HS clamp pressure force out most of the material so that there's
basically none between the die and the HS. Just enough to fill gaps. Using
paste as well may have stopped this happening and the TIM is acting as an
insulator instead of a conductor. Also, God alone knows what the
consequences of mixing two different compounds are.

Another thing I'd be looking at is case temp. It could be a problem,
possibly in combination with TIM problems. The 5 minutes thing makes me
think that maybe it's not *just* a TIM problem, that would possibly show up
more quickly, although that is most certainly not helping. This being a
"basic" machine maybe case cooling has been overlooked?

Third thing.... PSU maybe. IME one of the most common causes of this type of
problem *after* heat has been ruled out.

Definitely take that HS back off, clean it, and the die off thouroughly (use
a lint-free rag soaked in meths if you have to) and add a *small* amount of
the paste, just a paper-thin layer, to the die. You can also rub some paste
into the area of the HS that will contact the die, then lightly wipe excess
of again. If the HS has machining marks on it this will help fill the
grooves. When applying or rubbing in like this have your finger-tip cobered
with cling-film to keep oils from your skin from contaminating the TIM.
Also, some of them are toxic.

Good luck.
--
~Shaun~

Thanks Shaun, I'll take a close look at these suggestions tonight.
Cheers
Brendon

EMB wrote:

>
> I'd be looking very carefully at the CPU heatsink/fan - this feels to me
> like an overheating CPU causing the shutdown.
>
>
And keep it out of direct sunlight, the solar gain can be terrific.

Thanks for the instructions. Great link.
Brendon

"bambam" <> wrote in message
news:Xns97A9890D55FB097hk66302sneakemailc@127.0.0. 1...
> "Brendon" <> wrote in
> news:L2V0g.13694$:
>
>> Thanks. OK, I left the thermal tape on the CPU that came with it, then
>> shot down to DSE, and grabbed a syringe of grease as well, and smeared
>> a healthy does of that on.
>
> Here is a good instruction page, for help with applying thermal compound-
>
> http://www.arcticsilver.com/arctic_s...structions.htm
>