I just got the parts for my new computer today and assembled them. When i would power up the computer, it would should off in 2 minutes, every single time. I checked the BIOS and noticed that my CPU temperature would climb from 30C to 90C then shutoff. Whats the deal here? Is this just wrong, or is it really getting this hot? If i turn off that auto stuff in the BIOS i can go past the 2 minute shut off, but my temps want to go over 100C, and i turn it off before it gets there. So, ive yet to experience anyhihng outside of my BIOS so far

I applied thermal grease, the CPU cooler fan is going, its tightened down , no idea why its showing itself so damn hot
HELP PLEASE!




System Specs:

Processor: Intel core 2 Duo E8400
Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-EP35C-DS3R
Video Card: Geforce 9800GTX
PSU: OCZ GamexStream 600W
Memory: 4GB gskill 1000 DDR2
HDD: Segate 500gb
CPU Cooler: ZEROtherm BTF90 92mm

Hmm.

I use the bigger ZeroTherm 120 on my Q6600.

I would imagine the installation is similar.

I'd recheck the installation. Can you show us a pic what it looks like installed on your MB?

Boot into windows, run realtemp and check it out. The BIOS may be reporting the TCase temperature incorrectly (saw this 2 days ago on an Abit board) and because fan speeds and motherboard-based thermal shutdown is based around this temperature instead of the core temperatures this may be your problem.

Heh... I'd recommend updating the bios, but with that problem, it could become a disaster if it shuts down during the update.

Doesn't even sound like he has windows installed to use RealTemp.

Edit:

Here's a pic on my ZeroTherm that I didn't do a while back :

Doh! Of course, new build

@OP: Disable the thermal shutdown in the BIOS, install windows and do what I said earlier. If the CPU is critically overheating, it will shut itself down without external intervention from the BIOS. It is borderline impossible to damage the chip from heat these days.

is it a push pin fit on the hsf? like the stock ones?

How much thermal grease? should be a tiny tiny amount, how tight? are you a noob to building or not?

The plastic film covering the thermal paste on the heatsink/waterblock has been removed?

I guess to help answer some of the monkey(s) questions:

@13th:

His HS setup should be with a back plate:

- Gah didn't know the pic was that small.

@mouse

You know my ZeroTherm 120 or my Tuniq never did come with a plastic film since it (TIM) wasn't installed at factory, but the grease came in a tube.

So I would not suspect his setup would be any different then it's bigger brother other then his is in 2 pieces:

Pic of it from AnandTech's site

Or I'm having a memory laps of not remember that I took something off.

It is a bit of an assumption on my behalf, that a HSF would have something protecting the base whilst in transit.

Just the packaging itself, pretty much kept the bottom safe on the coolers I have.

The only HS I remember that has a plastic film on the bottom, was my dad's clone of the Arctic Freezer Pro. The only reason why it had a film on the bottom, was the pre-applied thermal grease.

All the other 3rd party HS's I've owned never had a plastic film:

ZeroTherm 120
Tuniq 120
Zalman 7700
AeroCool X-Raider (used on old AMD Thunderbird/XPAMD 2100+)

Edit:

So the above coolers didn't have pre-applied thermal grease, but did come with a tube of thermal grease. I guess you could say it was more of a self service type of thing.

Grimmy: no probs, guess its not the usual poor fitting of push pin, 1 potential cause down...

OP: how much thermal grease, I imagine you couldn't put that much on that it would become ineffective, i'd think it was a 5-10C difference at best.

Grimmy: how do you know when you are 'tight enough' on that kind of fixing mechanism? surely it has to be beyond just 'nipping it up' to get a good clamping pressure.

OP: Bios better than or equal to F2 is required, but F2 is only the second update, so you should be ok

That's all i've got

That is a good question. The answer is I don't know exactly how tight is enough. But what works for me, is to tighten it slowly till I can't turn it, and not go beyond it.

Even my Tuniq, all I did was tighten it by hand, since you don't use a screw driver, till I can't turn it no more. So far my E4400 is happy, and my Q6600 is happy, in my 80-83F room. . o O (okay, I may NOT be that happy, I can only blame the designer of the house for having my bedroom exposed to direct sunlight )

Edit:

Forgot to mention, when tightening it down, I went in a "X" pattern. One corner, then the opposite corner.

i'm thinking to get good contact you need a decent amount of pressure, hence why the push pins are so difficult to use properly.

You could probably have the hsf perfectly secure, just not making good thermal contact

Agree that the tightening pattern is important.

I removed the zerotherm cooler and replaced it with the stock one, and my CPU temperature dropped drastically. So obviously, im screwing something up with my installation.

I woke up this morning and checked out the fan, and instead of putting the intel chip bracket on the fan in a rectangular fashion like the base of the fan is shapped, i instead put it on to turn the base into a square, so nothing fit properly at all. I assume thats what was messed up, ill give it another go here in a hour or so.

Thanks for your replies.

read over this:
http://www.frostytech.com/articlev [...] 986&page=1

bump

Update on situation: I put the chip plate on the cooler wrong so it didnt fit quite kosher. I switched it and all is working well now, thanks for the help!