• Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
    Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.

P4 Thermal Issues

A

aarmenaa

Weaksauce
Joined
Jul 27, 2003
Messages
101
My friend has a Gateway that's having some issues. It shuts down, and when it's restarted I get POST message saying that a "thermal event" has occured. The chip isn't breaking 55C, and the case hovers around 40C. I've tried everything I know, I'm using MBM 5 to monitor the temperatures, and there's just nothing getting that hot. As far as I can tell, these "thermal events" only occur while the 3D card is in heavy use, such as Halo or 3D Mark 03. But that really shouldn't be able to trip any thermal sensors, right?

This is the same computer that killed a 6800GT a week or two back, in this thread. This computer is just full of surprises.

SPECS:
Pentium 4 3.0 Northwood
Intel i865: BF86510A
Infineon 512 MB Dual Channel DDR 400 CL3 (2 x 256)
GeForce 3 TI 500 64 MB (Hercules)
 
Unfortunately, replacing the board is my preference, but not an option. Honestly, I can't even figure out what it is; Gateway gives their boards funny names, but it's just an Intel. I can't find the model number, though.

EDIT: Gateway calls the board "Midway," but I think it's actually an D865GBF. However, attempts to flash Intel's BIOS for that board always fail.
 
just get something with an 865pe or 875p and throw it in htere.. i picked up an abit is7-e off the forums a couple weeks ago for 50 bucks

why isnt it an option?
 
This comptuer was purchased in July, and the guy paid a good bit for it, I'm sure. Then he bought a GeForce 6800 GT, a power supply, and case fans. He's out of money. Also, the damn board should work -- and did -- up until very recently. I hate Gateway, and I know the hardware's bad, but it should work.

EDIT: I should mention this is in a college dorm room, students never have money!
 
well, if you cant replace hte board... go in there, make sure the HSF is seated correctly( i had a gateway PIII profile with NO THERMAL PASTE) apply some as5 or similar if you have it, if there are no case fans, install one... 40c is a very high ambient temp BTW
 
The only thing I haven't done yet is replace the themal compound. I added an 80 mm 35 CFM Sunon fan to the case, which didn't help at all. The temperatures listed are load temps. The CPU runs 35C and the case is 30C at idle. As soon as I find some thermal compound, I'm going to try reseating the HSF like you said, but I don't think it's going to help, as the system is months old (7/7/04), and that kind of stuff usually shows up way before now.

I was actually hoping someone would know about how temperature throttling on the P4 and such. Shouldn't a P4 scale the clock back when it overheats or is that just Prescott cores? Is there any way I can set temperature thresholds at all?
 
im pretty sure throttling is only prescott - and even then, 55c wouldnt make it throttle.

i dont think you can set temp threasholds like that on a gateway board, but since the CPU is not overheating, perhaps the chipset is... is the video card passivly cooled?
 
The video card has active cooling, the chipset (ICH5) is passive, and can get a bit warm to the touch. I would have thought the addition of a case fan would have taken care of any chipset heat issues, though. One interesting thing I noticed is that SpeedFan detects the GeForce 3 and some sensors...is it even possible that this could cause the issue? I'm going to put a screen shot below. The image is taken while the system is under load from Prime95. Look at the text box at the top where sensors are detected.

Also, I just took the HSF off, cleaned the chip and HSF with alcohol, and used some new thermal paste. The temperatures are about the same.

Image (144 KB JPEG)
 
Grasping at straws, I put a Geforce 2 GTS in the system, and ran 3D Mark 03 again. There's artifacts everywhere, I can't even believe it. The computer didn't throw a "thermal event," but this leads me to believe that there's something far worse wrong with the system. I have a nagging suspicion that the dead 6800 GT from last week is somehow connected to all this, though how I don't really know.

Screenshot (50 KB JPEG) of the courruption.
 
well, geforce2's didnt exactly run cool... my gf2MX gets burning hot to the touch. im gonna say temps.

edit: the gateway POS i had was very picky about video cards...it wouldnt run windows with my 9600, and sometimes itwouldnt post with it. didnt like my TNT2 either. hell it was picky about everything. it would corrupt the hard drive just about every damn week, and sometimes it wouldnt POST, saying there was a CMOS checksum error. it was also unstable as hell. i finally took it out back and smashed it up good wtih a hammer, and bought an asus a7v133 second hand to replace it. havent had a problem since.

since it is still under warrenty im guessing, go ahead and call gateway up since you dont have any money. tell your friend never to buy a gateway again.
 
Alright, the system is going back the retailer it was purchased from, probably for repairs. If he can, the guy's going to try and return the system, but I'm betting he can't. I knew his system was going to be trouble, I've made fun of him for it since the first time I saw it.:rolleyes:

Oh, and it's not throttling according to Throttlewatch. Thanks.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top