[CPU/PSU] Random freezes overheating/bad PSU?

akcom

Distinguished
Jul 31, 2010
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18,510
Hey guys, first time poster here so go easy on me if I left out anything obvious :D
I've got a three year old system with a power supply that was upgrades roughly 1 1/2 years ago. Recently I've been having an issue where the computer will freeze randomly after a short period of usage. No more than 10 minutes before it would freeze. I figured the CPU was overheating, so I cleaned out the CPU fan. Lo and behold it starts up and runs fine now for a couple hours. But it still freezes. After a freeze, I'll restart it and it will usually freeze again in a much shorter period of time. So I'm wondering if it's still an overheating problem or if my PSU is bad? How would I tell if my PSU is going?

Specs:
Pentium 4 3.2GHz (dual core)
1GB DDR2 RAM
GeForce 9500 GT
ECS RC410L motherboard
xclio 600W power supply.

Readings from speedfan:
Temperatures:
GPU 47C
Temp 1: 38C
Temp 2: 39C
Core: 47C

Voltages: Anything not listed here was right on target (ex 12V was 11.9V)
Vcore1 & 2 voltages: 1.22, 1.20V
-12V: -7.84V
-5V: -1.79V
Vbat: 3.12V

edit: should also mention the fan in the PSU is sounding a little funny. just louder than normal I suppose. I keep the desktop on nearly 24/7 if that's useful info. Also, when I cleaned the CPU fan off I removed the heatsink from the CPU to do the cleaning. This is probably a very amateurish question but do I need to reapply the thermal paste after doing that?

Thanks in advance guys!
 
Solution
You would need to first clean off the thermal paste, then apply a small amount on the processor and spread it out evenly before putting the HSF back on - it probably is still overheating as the CPU without thermal paste makes it harder for the CPU to dissipate heat into the heatsink which could cause overheating problems.
You would need to first clean off the thermal paste, then apply a small amount on the processor and spread it out evenly before putting the HSF back on - it probably is still overheating as the CPU without thermal paste makes it harder for the CPU to dissipate heat into the heatsink which could cause overheating problems.
 
Solution