PC Repair

Gavin Scott · Mon 15 Sep, 2008 10.38

Ok - so - I bought a nice little dual core pc around 2 years ago. Maxdata brand (from Germany I think). It was on offer from eBuyer with a three year warranty.

It died about a year ago, so I called them and they sent someone round to my house with a new motherboard and replaced it. It should have been a return to base warranty, but I wasn't complaining.

Motherboard two died about 3 months ago. I called them again and this time they said I would need to send the machine back.

Well, at that time I didn't have the money to hand so I just left it.

Recently, I found a motherboard on eBay for a buy it now price of $77, including shipping - so I bought it. It was altogether easier than sending the damn thing back on a courier.

Managed to replace it all and get it working. Had no problems with it booting up, even though its a slightly different motherboard (no digital audio out and only two SATA ports), but a quick updated audio driver and its fine.

The fan is running really hard though. I looked in the bios and I see that the fan will kick in to "high speed" at a certain temperature, which the machine seems to be idling at.

I'm realising that its probably the heat issue that's been causing the motherboard to die.

There's only a fan on the processor - not one in the case itself.

There is a space for one there, as well as a power connector on the motherboard to run it.

Is that the solution I need? Pop a fan in?

Any advice gratefully received.

Netizen · Mon 15 Sep, 2008 11.41

A case fan isn't a bad idea, a 2 year old PC ought to have been built with one or two IMO. What temp is it idling at? It may be that the threshold temp is set at a low default value which it needn't be. If it's below 70 degrees-odd then there's nothing much to worry about. If nothing else in the system has changed, I can't see any reason for the temps to be worse than before. Unless the case and CPU fan are full of dust, that is.

Gavin Scott · Mon 15 Sep, 2008 11.50

Netizen wrote:A case fan isn't a bad idea, a 2 year old PC ought to have been built with one or two IMO. What temp is it idling at? It may be that the threshold temp is set at a low default value which it needn't be. If it's below 70 degrees-odd then there's nothing much to worry about. If nothing else in the system has changed, I can't see any reason for the temps to be worse than before. Unless the case and CPU fan are full of dust, that is.

The CPU fan is pretty dusty, yes. My smoking in the house means everything is pretty dusty.

The temperature (if memory serves) was around 87 degrees - which is where the fan kicks to high mode. It went off periodically but as soon as I make the computer think, back it comes.

I was surprised by the lack of fan, too. But the machine was only £340, so I don't mind paying for a new one.

I added a graphics card and another disc, so I suspect the airflow has been lessened in the box.

Sput · Mon 15 Sep, 2008 11.55

87's pretty warm for a desktop, although my Macbook Pro gets up to 98. Possibly you'll want to invest in a replacement heatsink and fan for the processor, or try replacing the thermal paste between the processor and heatsink to ensure the heat is getting conducted away efficiently.

marksi · Mon 15 Sep, 2008 12.00

Just by way of a comparison, my 5 year old desktop machine (Pentium 4, 3Ghz) has a heatsink and fan on the cpu and a case fan that I upgraded from the original.

The CPU temp (and I've been running video) is 38 degrees, the inside temperature of the case is 26 degrees.

Heat's definately your problem.

Gavin Scott · Mon 15 Sep, 2008 13.11

Umm, I didn't add any thermal paste when I popped the cpu and fan onto the new motherboard, but there was some left behind from its original installation.

I'll add a fan from my old desktop to begin with and see if that has any impact on the running temperature. Water cooling would be nice - but I can't be bothered faffing around with it.

marksi · Mon 15 Sep, 2008 13.18

The thermal paste will make a big difference if there is poor contact between your cpu and heatsink>

Netizen · Mon 15 Sep, 2008 13.21

Get a can of compressed air with a long nozzle to clean out the CPU heatsink and anything else that needs it. I think they're expensive for what they are (especially Maplins), but it's easier than taking it all apart and using a dry paintbrush (my personal favourite cheapskate method).

Gavin Scott · Mon 15 Sep, 2008 13.23

I'll pick up some compressed air from my old work tomorrow. I need to go along there anyway to buy some batteries for the office.

Not sure where I'll get thermal paste. The nearest PC spares shop is off my route home and I'm very, very lazy.

Ta much.

Sput · Mon 15 Sep, 2008 13.30

Gavin Scott wrote:I'll pick up some compressed air from my old work tomorrow. I need to go along there anyway to buy some batteries for the office.

Not sure where I'll get thermal paste. The nearest PC spares shop is off my route home and I'm very, very lazy.

Ta much.

Order some in, it's very cheap. You'll want to clean off the old stuff first. This is almost certainly the reason it's so hot.