Huge Problem Bordering On Emergency!

M

motithejrt

Limp Gawd
Joined
Oct 12, 2004
Messages
203
Ok, I just got my new system up and running. I need to tell you my setup before I tell you my problem so that this prevents the "what's in your case?" follow ups.

A giga-byte K8NS-pro with an Athlon 64 3000+, 1GB memory. My system has 3 optical drives, the floppy, and one 150gb ide drive. Don't laugh because I am in the process of upgrading, but I have a 4x AGP 64mb card and a 32mb PCI card. I have a dual display setup.

Now, I have a total of 5 case fans. In the front, I have a vantec cheap 120mm with like 120 CFM used for intake. I have a 120mm blowhole using a thermaltake 3 LED fan, around 100 cfm used, obviously, for exhaust. I have a 80mm side panel fan that came with my Enermax case, its slow but its being used as an exhaust. Then on the back, I have 2 thermaltake LED fans around 90cfm each used for exhaust.

I have really good case temps right now -- around 30 degrees idle and I haven't seen it exceed 40 degrees yet. I don't really OC or spend 7 hours playing doom 3. Since I have a bunch of fans, I am using the stock heatsink and 70mm fan that came with the Athlon64.

As far as control, I have a super flower 4-fan controller. This controlller is connected to the 2 120mm fan, the 80mm side panel, and 1 of the rear 80mm. I initially had the two 80mm in the back hooked up to one channel on the controller using a Y cable but the fans stopped running, I think because there wasn't enough power I'm sure. Anyway, now the other rear 80mm is connected to a 3-pin connector slightly below it on the motherboard.

Since my last system fried for some reason, I decided to really look through the bios and set all the paranoia settings. I have the CPU alarm set to 65-70 degrees or something and an alarm for the CPU fan if it stops running.

HERE IS THE PROBLEM!! I had just finished installing XP when I hear this strange noise coming from the case, it sounded like a fan squeaking but I initially ignored it. But it got really irritating so I decided to investigate ONLY TO DISCOVER MY CPU FAN WAS NOT RUNNING! That irritating sound was the bios alram, but what a piece of crap alarm! I figured I'd get some blistering scream, anyway... Like I said, the temp readouts on my fan controller looked fine, I have a temp sensor connected on the heatsink as close to the center of the heatsink and as far down as I could get it.

This isn't a constant thing, its just happens sometimes. I want to leave my computer on for while, maybe 6-7 hours at a time when I, ahem, use p2p. Right now though, I am so incredibly afraid to walk away from the damn thing knowing the fan might stop again, and I wouldn't be there to monitor temps just in case (no pun intended).

What could this be caused by? Initially, my thoughts are maybe the fans are counteracting, like I said, the side panel is exhausting and I believe the heatsink fan is "intaking" onto the heatsink. Not to mention the 100cfm 120mm blowhole fan slight above and to the right of the heatsink fan. Then I thought, maybe that 90cfm 80mm thermaltake hooked up to the motherboard is sucking up too much power from the board not allowing enough for the heatsink fan. Then I thought, maybe my PSU is not big enough. It's a powerup 400w that came with the case. From just browsing these forums and the net, it seems like this PSU is satisfactory though I plan on moving up soon (along with my video card).

DEAR GOD PLEASE HELP, it was bad enough walking in on my computer a month ago to the horrible smell of burning CPU and motherboard plastic!!

I would be eternally grateful!
 
get a new, HSF combo. Go copper and lap it. your temps will come down even more :)

your problem might be dust or funky cpu fan berrings
 
Well, there is no dust whatsoever. Like I said, I just put the thing together. The new heatsink and fan is an idea, but I have been told and read many a time that I should wait on that and let everything burn in before tinkering. Also, like I said, I don't use this computer for extreme computing, occasional game here and there, photoshopping, p2p, burning DVDs. Lapping and exchanging is something I'm not really interested in. Whose to say that a new unit wouldn't have the same problem? I need to pinpoint the problem before implementing solutions. Thank you for your input though!
 
It sounds to me like its simply a faulty cpu fan. You "can" rma it if its a retail processor if you really don't want to just buy a new one, but that is most likely a lot more trouble than its worth.

A small cpu fan isn't going stop spinning because of a relatively low amount of air is pushing against it, just not gonna happen. I would say your power is most likely fine, it "could" be the cpu fan header on the motherboard but I seriously doubt it.

Anyway, I just recommend buying a decent aftermarket cooler (even if you don't want to OC it'll still be better) and just popping it on. Changing the heatsink isn't "tweaking" in the sense that the cpu needs to be burned in first.
 
from what i'm seeing... your PSU is definately not enough....

have you checked on the 12V rail? coz all your case fans are from high CFM and persumably from higher power rating fans. A 120CFM 120mm fan can easily drain 8-9W on 12V rail.

plus you have other 90CFM can which i can think of are fans close to tornado fans.

you can try by connecting the HSF fan directly to the molex power, by just pushin out the yellow and black wires from the connector and plug it directly into the molex... it actually fits nicely.
 
just outta curiousity, if ur not an OC'er nor a huge gamer, y so many fans?
 
Well you said that your 400w PSU came with your case ..

1) toss that POS away .. no psu that comes with a case is worth a plug nickel

spend all that money on a computer don't cheap out on the most important part of it get a decent psu with a good 12v like a 550 Antec or a Evermax or Powermax or something spend 150 bucks max get your self a good psu and stop using p2p networks * word from your friendly riaa spokesperson* thank you :D
 
bonkrowave said:
Who uses the stock HSF combo thats comes with their processor now-adays anyway ???
Click to expand...
not I... I've got a shelf full of oem never-used heatsinks.

let me know if anyone needs one :p
 
ocphangaz said:
from what i'm seeing... your PSU is definately not enough....
Click to expand...

I agree. Most PSU's that come with a case are junk. Get a real PSU and I bet your problem goes away.
 
Okay, I know this is going to sound stupid but the same thing happened to me. I knelt down and looked through my plexi-glass cover to see the fan on my motherboard not spinning. I opened up the case and there was a wire running through the fan preventing it from spinning. Check that out (I'm sure you did) before you return the other one.

Good luck
 
potroast said:
not I... I've got a shelf full of oem never-used heatsinks.

let me know if anyone needs one :p
Click to expand...


And I thought I was the only idiot that saved those. ;)
 
Like everybody else said get a new hsf & fan. Not that big of a deal dude...

I would recommend www.frozencpu.com it will run you 50 to 80 bucks to get anything decent, it blows my mind people use those retail units, wow

the psu is probably worth replacing as well, again these are things that are not INCREDIBLY time critical, as you mentioned yourself the unit on there currently does fine in a passive cooling environment. Just dont do any cpu crunching and it will be ok until you can scrape together the $$ you need.
 
Mot,

I had this happen recently, mine turned out to be the plug I was using for the fan. It was a cheap Y cable, I pulled the Y out, rearranged my power cables to free one up, and plugged the cpu fan into it- no more problems.

"nitially had the two 80mm in the back hooked up to one channel on the controller using a Y cable but the fans stopped running, I think because there wasn't enough power I'm sure"

looks like you may have already ran into one bad Y cable :)

HTH
 
Shopping for a PSU and heatsink/fan as I type this... a few concerns:

Is it my understanding that with any aftermarket HSF I'm going to have to remove the motherboard from the case? I've seen installation guides regarding some of these products and they all refer to the backing plate. My gigabyte came with the AMD mounting bracket I suppose. Not that its hard to remove the motherboard, I just don't want to have to remove all those damn USB pins and all those other tiny connectors. It's just a headache.
 
the zalman usually works with the stock backplanes... I do it all the time on msi boards.
 
I sell that MOBO at work and have had that problem with 3 of them out of the past 20 we have built. I think its a faulty design in the Gigabyte 64-bit board.
 
Sounds like a power issue to me (like other respondents).

To test, disconnect a few of those 120mm fans (they aren't needed if you ain't ocing anyway). Also, why do you need 3 optical drives? I can see the point of 2, but 3? Disconnect one of them (at least to test the power theory). Disconnect any lights. Disconnect any unneeded usb devices (or run them off a powered hub). With all that stuff no longer drawing current at start up, your hsf should get enough juice to spin up. If this sorts it, you have the choice, buy a new psu or keep the stuff disconnected (probably do your hearing the world of good too!)
 
bonkrowave said:
Who uses the stock HSF combo thats comes with their processor now-adays anyway ???
Click to expand...

uh...I am actually. Until I can resume my watercooling project. Right now my g/f's PC is in the midst of being upgraded so I can't work on my stuff right now. :(

I also agree with most all of the respondents here. Get a new PSU. You've got a lot of power hungry components on your system.

And replace that fan. Keep it just in case you need to RMA if it's a retail CPU.
 
Wolf-R1 said:
uh...I am actually. Until I can resume my watercooling project. Right now my g/f's PC is in the midst of being upgraded so I can't work on my stuff right now. :(

I also agree with most all of the respondents here. Get a new PSU. You've got a lot of power hungry components on your system.

And replace that fan. Keep it just in case you need to RMA if it's a retail CPU.
Click to expand...

i concur.

i use stock fans/hsf on my last 2 AMD-64 purchases...they are decent for stock and the cpus run pretty cool

not all of us have p4's
 
First off, while it is true I am not a OCer or a hardcore gamer, there is a reason I need the fans. My home office is located in a sunroom of sort. There are curtains ofcourse but the room does stay warmer than the rest of the house, not unbearably, but relatively. It was a warm day yesterday, highs in the high 80's, and my fan controller (super flower) indicated a CPU temp of about 35. I have the temp sensor inside the heatsink as far low and as close to center of the heatsink as possible. (is that ok BTW?).

Second, I burn lot of DVD's and even more CD's. My dvd burner can burn CD's but not as fast as my CD burner can. I'm not talking about 1-2 minutes here, I'm talking 5-6. When I need to burn say 10 cd's, it takes a lot of time out of my day waiting. That is why I have 3 optical drives. But I see your point.

Ok, now onto this problem. I've posted in power supplies regarding a recommended PSU but no answers. Would you guys recommend anything particular for this setup? I was looking at the fortron 530w since it is getting rave reviews from users here. I was also looking at one of the enermax PSU's with dual 12v rails or another that had a 12v rail with nearly 39 amps. Since I do have all those fans, I thought the dual rails might help. I'm willing to spend money on the PSU now that I know how incredibly important it is. It's strange but I've put so many systems together yet never thought of it. :( Of course many of those were simple setups.

As far as heatsinks, I've been looking at the thermalright xp-120 but the think is frickin HUGE. Anyone know if it will work with my mobo? That thing seems so badass, I might be willing to pull the mobo out to install it if need be. If not, I will probably go with the Zalman unless anyone can recommend another badass PSU.
 
yeah, the fortron is supposedly one of the best...but depending on how much you can fork out for a PSU...if you have $215 laying around, you could get the PC Power and Cooling 510w deluxe....that is THE best PSU on the market......but as for a "cheap" one (less expensive), go with the Fortron 530w

as for a HSF, i'm not sure if it will fit, but the xp-120 is nice...if it does fit, by all means go for it!

hope that helps, and good luck!
 
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