Heat and voltage problem.

[ppnl]

I have a 3.2 ghz pentium on a ga-8knxp board running winxp-pro that I built some time ago. It has been a stable system that I leave on for weeks at a time sometimes. But recently it started making a strange sound kinda between a beep and a click. (It mostly only does it when I run a python program that uses pygame). I thought it was the hardrive but it turns out it was comming from the system speaker.

Ok I think heat problem even if the beeping does not really sound like an alarm. Maybe a bad speaker I dunno. So I check the input filter and sure enough it is stuffed full of dust bunnies. I clean that up no problem. It would seem the problem is solved.

But I downloaded mbm5 and toast to check things out and I get some results that I don't understand. I have never used these before and I'm not sure what I'm looking at.

Idleing in winxp the cpu temp is 40C. But in bios the temp drifts up to 50C. Is that reasonable?

I start toast on priority and the temp goes up to 52C.

But I close toast and start the python program and the temp hits 73C!

But it is the voltages that I really don't understand.

The +3.3v line is at 3.28v-3.30v
The +5v line is rock steady at 4.08v!
The +12v line is +11.31 - +11.43. Seems kinda low but what do I know.
The -12v line jumps around randomly between -10.96 - +1.96!
The -5v is peged to zero.

The system is still rock steady with no crashes or reboots. I use it for lite gameing, internet and learning game programming with python. So what gives with these voltages?

 

[o1die]

Motherboard monitor is not that accurate. Their latest version lets you select your motherboard, and configures the temps automatically. But it doesn't work very well, at least with my ecs board. I don't use it anymore. I use the bios hardware monitor. While the readings for the cpu temp and fan speed may be close, the readings for the power supply are all over the place. All you can do is check your heatsink clamp, and be sure it's set correctly. If you've already applied a thin layer of thermal paste, and the heatsink is mounted correctly, I wouldn't worry too much.

 

[ppnl]

ok, thanks. The voltage numbers in mbm5 should be ignored. I suspected as much. They just didn't seem possible.

But I'm still unhappy with that 73C temp.

 

[Crashman]

Actually, MBM5 IS accurate on most boards. And those voltage levels probably ARE accurate. I'd get a different power supply.

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[ppnl]

Can the voltages be that far off and the system still be stable? I'm running a gigabyte of 800 mhz memory. No crashes no reboots.

I did have a problem when I first put the system together. I was useing a 500w powmax powersupply. People here said that was a crappy power supply so I changed to an antec and have had no problems. I don't remember off hand how big the power supply is but I'm sure I got it large enough.

Could the voltage problems cause heat problems?

 

[Crashman]

Probably, I think the parts that use 5v are a little more tolerant of voltage variance.

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[ppnl]

No, just changed out the PS with one I had in another computer. Same voltage fluxuations. But I did notice that the lines that are the most off are low amp lines. So maybe it just isn't very important.

I Dunno, the system is stable so I'm just gonna get a can of air and finish cleaning out all the dust really good and let it be.