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CPU Serious Overheating Problem

idata
Employee
2,850 Views

Hello. Today I bought a core 2 quad q8400 cpu. I used to have no overheating issues with my old cpu(intel pentium 3.00ghz 3.00ghz) I'm using a zalman 9700 cooler. However when I installed the new cpu I instantly got overheating warnings and the cpu temp was at 100C and that's the temperature I get when I use no cpu cooler at all. I tried using the cooler that came in the cpu box but still had the same problem. I also tested it on the old cpu and there were no temperature problems so I don't think that I haven't placed it correctly or something. I also get a message that I need to update my bios. I think I read somewhere in those forums that that might have something to do with the overheating problems. So is that bios update related to the problem? Are there any other solutions? Please help me with this one I'm getting desperate. Thanks in advance.

 

By the way, I repeated the whole process many times to make sure...
10 Replies
idata
Employee
823 Views

What type of thermal compound are you using?

Tex.

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idata
Employee
823 Views

I tried the one that came with the zalman cooler and the one that came with another cooler that I used to own. None of these worked. Also the cpu box didn't contain a thermal compound anyway.

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NSCOTT_P_Intel
Employee
823 Views

The boxed CPU cooling unit comes with compound already on the base plate of the heatsink. If you have been taking it off and putting it back on repeatedly, however, you will be loosing some of this compound each time and thus need to replace it. This doesn't sound like a BIOS issue at all; it sounds more like the cooling units are not being attached properly, have too much compound or not enough compound, or there is an issue with airflow in the chassis. At the times when the temperature is reaching this level, what is the speed of the fan? It should be maxed out...

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idata
Employee
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The speed is maxed out by default. I had this prob with my zalman cooler so i tried the one that came with the cpu because it's easy to install so that i could make sure. But for some reason it still overheats and the other cpu doesn't have that problem. Not only does it not overheat but it also has a completely normal temperature. Is there a chance that the cpu itself is faulty and overheats for no reason?

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idata
Employee
823 Views

Try a good spray on flux cleaner all over the problem cpu chip. This stuff can be found at a good auto supply store. CRC QD electronic cleaner.

Red can. Spray it outside. Inspect the bottom of the cpu chip for any defects to the lands.

Look over the mb cpu pins in a good light to see if you have any bent pins. Take care. Since you have a working cpu- mb combo, don't destroy the mb.

If the cleaner doesn't work, and I'd say you had a 50 -50 chance of it working, I'd rma the chip.

And this cleaner won't hurt the mb if you use it there too.

Tex.

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NSCOTT_P_Intel
Employee
823 Views

"Maxed out by default"? Does this Zalman cooler have a 3-wire or a 4-wire connector on its fan cable? If it is a 3-wire connector, then the fan is always going to run at full speed if it is plugged into the (4-pin) CPU Header. On most motherboards, unless it says otherwise, this header is specifically intended for a fan with a 4-wire connector; it is the 4th pin that provides the PWM control signal to the fan; no voltage scaling circuit is present on the motherboard to support the slowing of 3-wire fans (which have no internal capability to do this themselves (based upon PWM signal)).

We haven't talked about your motherboard. I presume, before you installed the new processor, that you ensured that the latest version of the BIOS was installed (to ensure support for latest processors), right?

Presuming that you are absolutely sure that you are properly attaching the cooling unit to the processor and using sufficient thermal compound, I can't think of anything else to try. Perhaps it is time to have your dealer test the processor (and mounting process) in their environment - or simply replace it if they don't...

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idata
Employee
823 Views

Your motherboard is not recognizing the processor temperatures correctly.

Contact your motherboard manufacturer and confirm that the new processor is indeed supported and using the old processor update your BIOS to the latest version. The stock Intel(R) Heat Sink should make your processor run around 40°C.

PV.

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idata
Employee
823 Views

I took it to the shop and they found a solution. Guess what. All they did was updating the bios. And I blame asus for that. I had already updated it using that option that lets you use the internet to update and it said that updating was complete but it never was. I had to d/l the update file to make it work. But the asus update software didn't mention that anywhere. So I had to pay 30 whole euros to fix a prob I would have fixed if I had been given the correct info. That's frustrating but at least everything works now... Life must go on lol. Thanks for trying to help I'm still frustrated btw :/ jesus.....

Btw when I said that the speed was maxed out I was refering to the intel cooler. But yeh I had set the zalman to fullspeed too...

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idata
Employee
823 Views

Hey, I told you to update the BIOS!

I'm happy that it is working for you now.

PV.

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idata
Employee
823 Views

Yeh I did update the bios or at least that's what the bios update software was saying. Apparenty the way I did it didn't work but it said that it did work and it even told me to restart the pc to complete the update. Whatever....

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