Bizarre overheating problem - virus?

[tko_man]

Hello,

I have been using a Radeon 5970 for a few years with no problems at all. I recently downloaded a program that I think may have had a virus - it crashed Firefox which is now unrecoverable. While running anti-virus software I noted that the fans on my system were running pretty high - thought it was just using a lot of processor.

No - what is happening is that the card idles at about 55-60 - *as long as I am using the computer* - if I let the mouse idle for about three minutes - a small circle whirs next to my mouse pointer and immediately the GPU starts skyrocketing toward 80+ degrees. A soon as I move the mouse it immediately cools down to 55 and stays that way.

Something is running after about three minutes and I have no clue what it is or what to do. Three separate anti-virus checks say no virus - but could a setting have been altered?

Thanks a lot for anyone who can help on this,

 

[coozie7]

Try rolling Windows back, hold F8 while the system is booting to get to the recovery menu.

 

[tko_man]

Try rolling Windows back, hold F8 while the system is booting to get to the recovery menu.

Thanks - turns out a trojan was found in the system by Malwarebytes and confirmed/fixed by an offline/safe mode type program that wiped it out - it was starting some kind of process that was using the GPU and had a profile in Cataylst that had the fans manually turned down.

Nice!

 

[dingo07]

reinstall windows from the DVD after deleting the partition it was on - it's the only way to be 100% certain you're out of the woods

 

[coozie7]

Glad you've sorted it out, mate, even if my suggestion was not needed.
Have fun with the system.