Need a lower end HSF for someone's Intel Processor

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Punkrulz

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Nov 11, 2001
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Hey guys,

I was working on my friend's mom's computer today. She had previously said it had been going really incredibly slow for quite some time, and also freezing at times. Her friend backed up all of her files to a portable hard drive for her. While I was working on the computer, I was attempting to reformat Windows when every single time it would get to the screen about to begin the reformat (it's unattended), the computer would shut down.

I was about to use my standard Windows CD when I was poking around in the BIOS, and noted that this computer, which had been disconnected for about a week now, was IDLE at 76c!!!!!!! Sheesh that's hot! I took a look inside the case, and noted that the stock HSF was functioning correctly. The BIOS was set to shutoff the computer at approximately 70c. I'm astounded at how her friend was able to get the files off of the computer to begin with.

Her current HSF is the stock one that comes with Intel processors. I removed the heatsink, and reapplied some thermal grease that Zerotherm provided with my friends HSF. While it helped for a short while, the processor eventually began making it's road back up to that temperature. I also set the fail-safe defaults to make sure the processor wasn't being overclocked, which it didn't appear to be, voltages appeared normal and everything.

I am going to need a HSF for this person's processor. I'm not sure what kind of processor, it's a couple years old, it's 2.2GHz... my guess is a Pentium 4. Also, I'm not sure what kind of motherboard she has... all I know is that it's purple, it's a VIA chipset, and it says something like P-800 or PR-800 or something like that. I know that it has the stock clip for the HSF attached to it, the black bracket, and it isn't using springs or screws. Will that be easy to remove from the motherboard?

Also, on the side of the processor that is closest to where you plugin the peripherals, it has an entire row of capacitors... I don't know if that helps identify. If someone can link me something on Newegg that isn't that much, and isn't overkill as she WONT be gaming or overclocking, that'd be great. I'm looking for something that is going to be easy to install.

I'm a bit concerned as to why this processor would be heating up so much all of a sudden, I've never seen that before, especially if her friend was able to copy files and such and then all of a sudden it didn't work. It seemed secure when I was messing with it. I hope that the stock clip is going to be easy to remove from the bottom of the motherboard...

Any and all advice is appreciated! I will be ordering the part tomorrow.
 
I would hope you already know this as you are working on the hardware of someone elses computer.

You can find out what processor by usually reading what is printed on it.

I would say that if the stock HSF is failing there are other issues then that.
 
I don't have the processor handy or fully cleaned off to be able to make out what kind of processor it is. By the time I fully re-applied the thermal grease, it was too late. What other issues could cause a processor to seriously overheat besides high voltages?
 
Punkrulz said:
...What other issues could cause a processor to seriously overheat besides high voltages?
Click to expand...

A faulty board or CPU. Are any of the capacitors on the board bulging? Did you try another PSU?

P4 boards are hard to come by these days. Do you live near a Fry's? If so, you'd be better off upgrading her to one of the sub-$100 Fry's cpu/mobo combo deals.
 
I don't have any spare power supplies that I can use for her, nor do I have a fry's nearby. Are we all relatively certain that this is a far greater issue that she's jumping to 76c IDLE, rather than a simple issue with a better HSF?
 
Anyone? I asked my friend to take a look at the motherboard capacitors to see if any of them appear bulging or otherwise... I really need to know if you guys think it'd be worth to try a new heatsink or what. I do agree, however crappy the intel heatsink could be, it wouldnt be that crappy that it's jumping to 76c immediately upon boot unless something else was wrong... I'm sorry about the limited information.
 
if it's instantly jumping up to 76, then it very well could be a temp. sensoring issue.

Try touching it to see if it's hot.
 
I didn't touch the processor when it was hot... I did touch the HSF immediately after turning off the computer and removing it, and it was incredibly warm to the touch... not enough that it burned me that a 70c temperature would.

It would make sense that a high temperature would be causing her computer to crash sometimes while in Windows... if I disable the emergency temperature shutoff in BIOS, and leave the computer on and attempt to reformat, and it really does exceed 76c and continue... what's the worst that could happen, honestly? Would the computer crash profusely, or is that the point where i would have to worry about the processor burning a hole in the floor? I'm willing to test it if the results are not so severe.
 
I doubt an intel chip would stay on long enough to burn itself, but I don't know for sure.
 
Let me say one thing here: did you ensure you did not over-apply the thermal paste? Thermal interface material does not last forever, same goes for the stock TIM Intel uses. Also, make sure that the heatsink is pushing down on the CPU with enough force to ensure good metal-to-metal contact. TIM is only used to fill the microscopic gaps.
 
or you could try blowing some of the dust out of the current HSF. I'm sure it's clogged.
 
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