Need emediate help, Core 2 Duo core temp 90+ C

[lcandy]

I am startng to get a bit worried! After putting together my core 2 duo system today, and everything working brilliantly first time, I decided to take a look at the temps.

Surely this isn't even possible?!?!?! 90 degres and sometimes hotter? And its not degrees F either? Have I not installed the heatsink and fan properly or is a dodgy health monitor more likely? The air being blown off the fan was almost room temperature, surely it should be melting my skin?

Oh yeah, gigabyte board, DQ6, installled up to SP2 and no problems. I didnt see any protective cover over the compound for the heatsink, so I didnt remove any. There were just 3 lines of the stuff, is this normal? If there was a cover and I didnt take it off, is it as good as dead?

 

[mjp1618]

It should be just an incompatible version of the temp monitors.

What board do you have?

Do you have the latest BIOS version?

 

[lcandy]

Sorry, edited quickly, its the gigabyte 965 DQ6. Both the bios health monitor, and gigabytes tune up 5 or whatever said the temps were that high, although the tune up 5 said around 70-80. Original bios. The chip doesnt appear to be clocking down to compensate either.

Also just checked intels website, they say 60 degrees C is the maximum for the E6600... so if this was right then surely the chip should be a smouldering mess by now? Is there any way I can get a new health monitor or something? *confused and knackered after several hours putting it together*

 

[Gary_Busey]

Turn it off, pull of the heatsink, clean the cpu, reapply thermal paste, reset heatsink.

 

[lcandy]

I dont have any of that stuff!!! Although, it is turned off... is there any way to check without me taking it apart? I dont even know where to localy get this stuff.

 

[mjp1618]

Well, I won't advise any drastic steps now... I think there was a query just like this here some time ago... Then someone knowledgeable (probably JumpingJack, but not sure) suggested that it was just a false alarm because of minor incompatibilities with the new processor...

Maybe someone knowledgeable here can help you... Hang on tight.

Anyway, what are the fan speeds? Is it too loud? Also, you said that the air from the fan is not too hot, right?

I don't think it is anything too bad.

 

[Gary_Busey]

I dont have any of that stuff!!! Although, it is turned off... is there any way to check without me taking it apart? I dont even know where to localy get this stuff.

What do you mean "stuff"? You don't have any thermal paste?

 

[lcandy]

Thats right, and to be honest, the noise wasnt that loud either. The fan air was basicaly room temperature and the heatsink wasnt like hot either. Also, everything else inside seemed cool.

No gary, no thermal paste at all. Who carries that stuff around with you? lol, it was a retail heatsink and fan, already applied.

Got off the phone with tech support, they say the process wont even work at those temps and its probably a faulty sensor. And I should flash my bios! Sorta sounds like what you were describing mjp.

 

[Gary_Busey]

No gary, no thermal paste at all. Who carries that stuff around with you?

Anyone who builds there own computer...

I have a couple tubes at the house right now actually.

 

[sony3127]

No gary, no thermal paste at all. Who carries that stuff around with you?

Anyone who builds there own computer...

I have a couple tubes at the house right now actually.

yup, he's right Icandy... but you can get some off newegg

 

[NMDante]

Okay, not to be a jerk or anything, but you have built computers before, right?

Intel's stock heatsinks have a thin film of plastic covering their thermal paste that needs to be removed prior to install. I know people say, well, DUH, but some folks are so eager to get it running, that they forget to remove it. They see that funky white stuff, and think it's just pop it on and go.

I have built many systems, and yes, like Gary I have about 2-3 tubes of thermal paste in my system building toolkit (yup, I have a dedicated toolkit - has standoffs, thermal paste, philips/flathead screwdrivers, needlenose pliers, etc). Oh, and check any local computer shops you have, or at least call them and ask if they carry any thermal paste. You don't need the best, but if they have some good ones (I use Artic Silver, myself) it should do fine, if you need paste.

I would just check the heat sink again. Maybe it's not installed or clicked in all the way. 90C is way high, especially since my own P4 systems never hit over 70C at any time.

Good luck.

 

[lcandy]

That still doesnt explain it running very cool and quiet... I dont want to resit the heatsink and fan unless I have to. Unforunately, I have to keep switching back to this old PC, as after getting SP2 I now cant maintain an internet connection for more than 30 seconds then need to reboot. Im trying to download all the updates for the board including the bios, will burn to cd and hopefully that might eliminate one more thing.

I honestly cant see how the CPU wouldnt just go up in smoke at those temperatures, let alone update to SP2 before any problems started showing (only the net stability).

Edit: No offence taken, I read the instructions, on a 3rd party website, which said check for it, but the intel instructions did not. I had a look but didnt see anything, I may have missed it though, which is what has me concened. Also, the tech support guy said it shouldnt have any. Yes I have built several (AMD) systems before, and spent several hours with this thing.

 

[Grimmy]

Whoa.. thats kind of scary.

Hope a bios update will help you out on that.

If it doesn't I recommend at least re-doing the HSF installation just to be sure.

 

[lcandy]

Yes, well, it will certainly be something I'll have to do if it comes down to it. I just wish there was a way of knowing without doing it... oh well. Darn gigabyte website is so slow, will be here forever.

 

[NMDante]

The C2D system is rebooting itself as you're using it? If so, that might be the thermal protection stuff, but I had a system overheat, and it shut down, not rebooted.

As for reseating the heatsink, yeah, it's a pain, but I'd rather take the time to check, then realize that my CPU is fried.

Go for the BIOS updates, and check if temp readings are better, but I would still consider checking that heatsink.

 

[lcandy]

No, the system isnt rebooting, Im losing connectivity, and having to reboot to get it back. There was an update for the lan drivers but I cant get them yet as the site isnt letting me get past half way.

I still dont understand why the heatsink is almost cold to the touch and theres no hot air. I did consider that there may be no theraml connection and so its just keeping allt he heat to itself. But then why is it even booting when intel say it wont go past 60.

Edit; Oh yeah, anohter thing it says the system temperature is 55 degrees C, and I sweat I could freeze drinks in there.

 

[Grimmy]

If the HS is cold, that is a bad sign.

The heat isn't being transfered to the HS.

 

[lcandy]

Uhoh, well burning the bios, will give it one shot then consider my options from there. Im not sure its really cold, just, not hot either... grrr @ myself

 

[NMDante]

No, the system isnt rebooting, Im losing connectivity, and having to reboot to get it back. There was an update for the lan drivers but I cant get them yet as the site isnt letting me get past half way.

I still dont understand why the heatsink is almost cold to the touch and theres no hot air. I did consider that there may be no theraml connection and so its just keeping allt he heat to itself. But then why is it even booting when intel say it wont go past 60.

Edit; Oh yeah, anohter thing it says the system temperature is 55 degrees C, and I sweat I could freeze drinks in there.

System temp is 55C? Uh, my processor right now is at 65C, so I think something is wrong with your readings. You would be feeling the heat as your entire rig would be getting hotter to the touch.

And if you can't feel any heat what so ever on heatsink, that's not a good sign. As Grimmy mentioned, it might not be transferring heat to heatsink.

Good luck. I'd hate to hear about you losing your CPU.

 

[FITCamaro]

No gary, no thermal paste at all. Who carries that stuff around with you?

Anyone who builds there own computer...

I have a couple tubes at the house right now actually.

yup, he's right Icandy... but you can get some off newegg

Or just run down to Best Buy. They sell Artic Silver. I'm sure CompUSA does as well. Or any local PC hardware store.

 

[will14]

If you've built amd systems you can do an intel.
At this point.
They used cheap white paste crap anyway right?
Go to a Best Buy/Comp Usa hell maybe even a meijer or walmart.
I don't know where you live radio shack would work too I bet.
Buy arctic silver. Small tube $6.
Reseed cpu/heatsink.
You may as well do it, can't hurt really.
I know I was having problem on my first athlon 64 3200 because of cheap thermal paste/glue crap pre-assembled it came with. I will never order pre burnt in/assembled again.
I don't think it's running at 90c either.
So it's probably Mobo sensor.
I'm guessing you bought online but the thought of replacing mobo if not too difficult might be a good idea.
Providing store/reseller cooperates nicely.
I'm unable to build a comp now so I'll live vicariously through ppl such as you for now.
Regardless don't worry.
Small nothing feel no heat doesn't reboot.
I'm 95% sure it's incorrect reading.
at 90c it'd melt/crash.

 

[dthomason119]

I'd rather be safe than sorry. Reapplying thermal paste and reseeding the HSF properly is a better alternative than the processor destruction. I ran into a similar issue, but reapplying/reseeding allotted me the process of elimination. I strongly recommend you eliminate user error, which we all have had in the past, present and future. Good luck!

 

[niz]

>> The fan air was basicaly room temperature and the heatsink wasnt like hot either.

This does NOT indicate that your cpu is cool. Only that your heatsink isn't getting/removing heat from the cpu.

Check that you removed any film between the heatsink and cpu. Its rather worrying that you didn't see/remove any in the first place. It would also explain why your heatsink isn't getting hot if your cpu is actually hot.

Also, back in the P4 days, the paste that intel supplied looked like cheap crap but was proved to actually perform better than the expensive stuff like arctic silver etc. Don't be too quick to replace the intel-supplied stuff.

 

[lcandy]

Ok, thanks for the advice guys, latest news.

Bios update did nothing, no surprise there! It never said it would anyway.

So I shut down the computer, unplugged and set about removing the heatsink and fan, a lot easier than it went in. I had a look at the circiular heatsink bottom, where it connects to the cpu and the thermal paste was there, but it had NOT covered more than 2/3's of its surface area. What's more, it seemed to be, just, one single thermal compound. After all, there were only 3 thin strips on the heatsink in the first place!

So, heart in mouth, I removed the CPU, replaced the socket cover and the backcover of the CPU. Then went for broke and touched the shiney metal surface, with once again, about only 2/3's of it covered in thermal compound. Considering the sensor it was 90 degrees a minute ago, this was more like luke warm tea. It was not hot, Im not surrpised the heatsink wasn't getting hot, because the chip wasnt hot either! Arghhhhh

So now Im sat here thinking, that something has to be wrong with the sensor, there wasn't s thin strip covering the compound and if there had of been it would have been evident in the seperation of the two. The instructions didnt refer to it, the tech support guy said there shouldnt be any, I didnt see any and there was no evidence of it after the event. All the while, the CPU never did a thing wrong except I got constant connection loss after updating to SP2 (a drive issue I think).

So now I have a seperated CPU, heatsink and fan, that I'd be too worried to put back together through fear of actually causing a problem. Also, I am worried that I will invalidate my warranty if I apply 3rd party compound. And not living in America I dont know any of those stores, I could try PC world I guess, probably the best there is here

 

[russki]

Not to beat on the dead horse, but like somebody said above, if the heatsink is not hot it could mean two things:
1) The processor is not that hot
2) There is poor heat transfer between the processor and heat sink, and the processor is probably hotter than it should be

Since it's better to be safe than sorry, case 2 should probably be avoided. Get some paste (like AS), read instructions carefully, and reapply it. Make sure to clean both surfaces (proc and the sink itself) according to instructions before applying new compound. And try to avoid overheating cores if possible - nothing good comes out of that.

I know it is all banal stuff, just my $0.02