CPU Over heating?? Slowed down horribly.

[dmetria]

Hello to all you techno-geeks! I need your help.

Purchased a computer in Oct 06 and it is having some troubles after it was handed down to a needier member of our family

So, basically here are the issues that keep coming up:
-Random CPU Temp error messages during boot
-CPU temps never go lower than 58C, normally stick around at 60C but doesn't cause restarts...?
-Strange problems with USB ports (mouse gets stuck/doesn't receive enough power possibly?)
-VERY slow boot time. Sometimes 30 seconds on Windows loading screen, but usually over 90 seconds. Total load time is easily over 2 minutes.
-Bad reaction times when loading programs, seems bogged down

I have run checks on the hard drive multiple times, have checked ram 3 times on 3 different sets of ram sticks, set fan speeds to maximum using AI Suite/Q-Fan/SpeedFan. This only varies the temperature 1 or 2 degrees in either direction. It doesn't seem to go over 63C.

Several times in BIOS, hardware monitor has shown CPU temp of 90C+, directly after that Speedfan also showed CPU at 99C. After restart it went back down to 60C.

I am just totally at a loss. I have read several posts/sites that suggest the upper temp for this CPU would be 60C. Most of the parts are out of warranty (except the PSU & CPU) so I really need help!

Could it just need better cooling? The CPU has the stock Heatsink on it, and 2 case fans that push hot air out. I have left the case open, and this does not help temps go down.

Used to be able to run WoW and AoC on this machine perfectly with no slow down or problems. This has been a problem the last 2 weeks or so.

Thank you !

Specs:

550w Thermaltake PSU (Silent Purepower)
E6600 2.4ghz cpu 1066mhz FSB 4mb cache
Asus P5B Mobo- Intel P965 chipset
2 x 1gb DDR2 Super Talent 800mhz ram
Western Digital 160gb HD
Lite-on DVDRW drive
Asus 7950GX2 1GB Video card
XP 32bit

 

[sublifer]

You mentioned it was given to someone new, in this process, did the machine get jarred or dropped and cause the heatsink to become improperly seated? 60c is high but its not the worst, take a look at some HSF (heatsink/fan) reviews and you'll see temps higher than that though usually in the overclocking part. You mention the PC runs slower, has the machine been reloaded? Installed software will slow down a machine, even if its uninstalled there are residual traces of the software in the registry and the larger the registry gets the slower the PC will become. Also check for viruses if you haven't already, I recommend Malwarebyte's anti-malware (MBAM)

Good luck!

 

[dmetria]

Sub:

I doubt it. It only moved into the next room.

We did take the heatsink off to dust the computer out. Scraped the old gel stuff off and applied new Arctic Silver to it. It has NEVER been overclocked, always kept at starting specs on all the parts.

We haven't tried to reinstall XP yet either, just removed some old drivers and added new files (mostly pictures and documents.) Other than that, nothing has changed on the computer. No hardware changes etc besides changing out the ram.

Ran SuperAntiSpyware, Avira Antivirus and Malwarebytes already. They only found a few cookies, and all were done on full scans.

Any other suggestions?

 

[sublifer]

You probably won't like the next one... with the variety of issues you're seeing, your motherboard might be flaking out on you. To eliminate the overheating possibility first though, double check the seating of the HS, make sure thermal grease hadn't leaked out onto any circuits, grab a Windows based temp monitor (your MB driver disc may have one) and run some Prime95 or something to stress it and watch your temps.

 

[dmetria]

Well, I did end up running prime95- it passed thru fine. Since that didn't show any issues, I decided to go ahead and wipe the harddrive and reinstall windows.

When setup was trying to run on the new partition, it would get an error saying that it could not install windows setup onto the hard drive and that it may be broken.

So, as of June 8, I have a new Seagate 500gb hd and have installed new copy of XP on it. Everything is running okay, not seeing the slow downs that I had before on this machine.

Only problem that is persisting is the motherboard thinking the CPU is overheating. I reseated the Heatsink (it's just the stock Intel fan) according to the motherboards instructions and made sure the paste was on there correctly. The fans still stay on in full mode once the computer is powered off (completely shut down, not sleep mode etc.)

The temps are running 55-60C on the CPU, and 43-48C on each core.

Any other ideas? We are going to get a better heatsink soon and see if that might help but I have a sinking feeling that it won't

 

[dmetria]

Started running RealTemp while I am reinstalling WoW. CPU is alternating between 1500mhz-2394mhz and about 11%-43% usage.

RealTemp is showing that cpu0 and cpu1 are ranging from 43-59C each. Is this a normal temp?

I have a 20" fan blowing directly on the thing, and a room air conditioner going. It's about 67F in the room, and temps are still this hot?