CPU too hot, no PWM, what do I do?

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Neilyos

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Not sure if this (OC & Cooling) is the right forum, but here goes nothing...
I'm using a Pentium 4 520 (2.8GHz) on an MSI 865PE Neo3-F motherboard. I have an Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 HSF installed on the CPU, and even so, this sucker is HOT. I mean, ok, I know it's a Prescott and everything, so, duh. But, it would appear that this motherboard does not support PWM, or if it does, the support is very weak because that fan, although I love the silence it delivers, will not spin faster than about 700 RPM! Now that would be all well and good if it weren't for the fact that this causes the CPU to run at about 60C. I went into the BIOS and tried to see if I could turn off fan control to speed the thing up, but no dice. There is literally no fan control setting in the BIOS, only fan speed monitoring and temperature monitoring. Upon checking out Speedfan's site it looks like this motherboard is not one that can be controlled by the Speedfan software, which leads me to believe that I will have literally no control over the speed of the fan on this sucker. Is my only option to get a fan controller and crank it up? Do I need to get a new HSF? I have the latest BIOS, which isn't saying much because it was released back in 2005. I love having silence, but if this heat issue means that I will have to go back to the stock HSF I think I'm going to bang my head against the wall. Any help would be much appreciated. Any additional questions about hardware, methods, etc, feel free to ask and I'll answer to the best of my ability.
 
Alrighty - do a little bit of modding here - since it sounds like you may be having a problem with PWM control. Please make sure you are using AS5 and properly as too much can cause overheating as well as too little. Also make sure that your heatsink is sitting evenly on your processor as uneven contact will cause thermal conductivity issues.

Tools Required:
A pair of dykes (the cutting kind pervs!)
Wire strippers
Electrical tape
Sleeving for wires
Molex connector kit


Okay so now that you have all the above mentioned tools - get ready for about a 5 minute job. Cut the motherboard connector off the cpu fan. Strip the wires and attatch the prongs from the molex connector kit accordingly (make sure you have + and - going to the right area. Plase the new sleeving on the wire so that it looks all pretty. Crimp the new molex connector together. Plug your new CPU fan with molex connector into your 12V rail. This should spin the fan up to full speed. If it doesnt get any faster - get a new fan because this one is borked. If it does - your cooling should go down.

Hope it works!
 
Any chance you have not updated the bios ?
I noticed the "support 4 pins smart fan", might be just what you need.

http://www.msi.com.tw/program/support/download/dld/spt_dld_detail.php?UID=623&kind=1

BIOS Type AMI® BIOS File Sizes 379KB
Version 5.3 Update date 2005-5-17

Update Description - Update CPU microcode.
- Support 4 pins Smart Fan.

Special note 5.x BIOS version cannot be used on 865PE Neo2 (MS-6728) & 865G Neo2 (MS-6728G) & 865PE Neo2-PS series (MS-6728v2),




Download 6728v53.zip
 
Endrithius said:
Alrighty - do a little bit of modding here - since it sounds like you may be having a problem with PWM control. Please make sure you are using AS5 and properly as too much can cause overheating as well as too little. Also make sure that your heatsink is sitting evenly on your processor as uneven contact will cause thermal conductivity issues.

Tools Required:
A pair of dykes (the cutting kind pervs!)
Wire strippers
Electrical tape
Sleeving for wires
Molex connector kit


Okay so now that you have all the above mentioned tools - get ready for about a 5 minute job. Cut the motherboard connector off the cpu fan. Strip the wires and attatch the prongs from the molex connector kit accordingly (make sure you have + and - going to the right area. Plase the new sleeving on the wire so that it looks all pretty. Crimp the new molex connector together. Plug your new CPU fan with molex connector into your 12V rail. This should spin the fan up to full speed. If it doesnt get any faster - get a new fan because this one is borked. If it does - your cooling should go down.

Hope it works!
Click to expand...

Any chance I can get past this without doing any modding? Would a simple fan controller be enough? I'm kind of pressed for time, and patience :)
 
BillParrish said:
Any chance you have not updated the bios ?
I noticed the "support 4 pins smart fan", might be just what you need.

http://www.msi.com.tw/program/support/download/dld/spt_dld_detail.php?UID=623&kind=1

BIOS Type AMI® BIOS File Sizes 379KB
Version 5.3 Update date 2005-5-17

Update Description - Update CPU microcode.
- Support 4 pins Smart Fan.

Special note 5.x BIOS version cannot be used on 865PE Neo2 (MS-6728) & 865G Neo2 (MS-6728G) & 865PE Neo2-PS series (MS-6728v2),




Download 6728v53.zip
Click to expand...

Yes I've got the latest BIOS (which is pretty old anyway)
 
I also should probably note that this HSF was working fine on my previous Pentium D system, which used an entirely different motherboard+cpu. So, I know it works.
 
I was going to say just get a 4pin molex to 3pin fan adapter cable but I cannot find out exactly how the pwm controller in the fan works. In other words if you just feed it +12 without a pwm signal would it run at full speed, in which case the adapter cable or a fan controller (I was thinking of a Vantech fanmate 2) would do the trick.

I am aware the heatsink has a 4 pin connector but a hot knife could take care of that.

Still looking around for a solution as I make my normal surfing rounds.
 
something weird, that thing should work, I suspect the mobo pwm is borked.

have you tried this ? earlier versions only allowed fan alarms, maybe this one will do fan speeds /shrug, otherwise I give up.

http://www.msi.com.tw/program/support/software/swr/spt_swr_detail.php?UID=623&kind=1

MSI Core Center ReleaseDate: 2007-1-12

Version 2.0.2.2 Support OS Win- 98SE/ME/2000/XP/XP 64bit File size 4.185MB

• MSI Hardware monitor & overclocking & fan speed control tool
 
Bridge the yellow 12V+ and blue PWM wires coming from the PWM fan together. This should force the fan to always spin at full speed. Remove the wire and the fan will return to its default speed setting.

I accept no responsibility.

try with a paperclip unfolded and shoved into the back of the fan connector or some othe small wire you can jam in there.
 
If I remember rightly most 4 pin CPU connectors will fit on 3 pin motherboard headers as well (3 wires for fan speed monitoring, 4 for control, you may notice the guiders on the side of the connector are offset for this purpose). If you have one available try plugging the fan into a different header, this should make the fan spin up at full speed. It's possible you may have to make a bois adjustment as your motherboard may think there is no CPU fan though.
 
BillParrish said:
I was going to say just get a 4pin molex to 3pin fan adapter cable but I cannot find out exactly how the pwm controller in the fan works. In other words if you just feed it +12 without a pwm signal would it run at full speed, in which case the adapter cable or a fan controller (I was thinking of a Vantech fanmate 2) would do the trick.

I am aware the heatsink has a 4 pin connector but a hot knife could take care of that.

Still looking around for a solution as I make my normal surfing rounds.
Click to expand...

I appreciate your efforts to help solve my problem. I was hoping I had an adapter on hand to take care of the 3 pin to 4 pin conversion, but apparently they aren't that common. (who wants to plug their PWM fan into a normal fan header anyway, besides me)? I think that fan mate controller only is compatible with 3 pin fans, so if I did get one of those, I would have to also get that 3-4 pin cable adapter. *sigh*, I almost want to go back and stick the stock fan on here, but I really like the silence. I wouldn't even mind it running hot if it didn't reset the machine every now and then. It's my parents' e-mail and eBay machine and so I want it as trouble-free and as quiet as possible.
 
BillParrish said:
something weird, that thing should work, I suspect the mobo pwm is borked.

have you tried this ? earlier versions only allowed fan alarms, maybe this one will do fan speeds /shrug, otherwise I give up.

http://www.msi.com.tw/program/support/software/swr/spt_swr_detail.php?UID=623&kind=1

MSI Core Center ReleaseDate: 2007-1-12

Version 2.0.2.2 Support OS Win- 98SE/ME/2000/XP/XP 64bit File size 4.185MB

• MSI Hardware monitor & overclocking & fan speed control tool
Click to expand...

Yes, I downloaded corecenter, and it won't let me mess with the fan speeds; only the voltages. It will let me adjust what fan speed it has to get to so a heat warning alarm will go off though, and that's constantly going off...
 
as suggested, I'd just connect the fan to a molex via an adapter. My past few cases / fans / motherboards seemed to sometimes come with these. Maybe look to see if you have one.
 
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