Just crashes.....I h8 my luck!

[Omen109]

Hey guys,
I recently posted a question about my system and heat issues but Im starting to wonder whether or not my problems were heat related or not.

I installed an athlon xp 2100+ onto my asus A7A266-E and booted up things ran fan etc.. until i played any games and then it decided to crash on me. So i checked the heat and asus probe (yeah i know its inaccurate) told me it was around 75 -80 degrees in there underload.
(yes i am using the stock fan)

I underclocked the cpu to 1.3ghz instead of 1.73 and ran the games and they did not crash and my system only reached temps of about 70 maybe a bit more when under load.(with me so far?? good ! )

I then forked out some cash for a new chieftek scorpio TX case in the hope that it would cool down my system and I would be able to enjoy some happy gaming.

the installation of everything went fine (except the cd rom which is old it didnt fit right so i had to ingeniously use a long screw to hang it right)

I started up the pc and everything worked so i decided to clock it back up to 1.73 like its supposed to be. the temperature now is around 55 0c and nearly 70 when under load (i.e playing games) however it still crashes (not as ear;y as b4 but it still crashes sooner or later)

Since the maximum temp it has been is 68 at 1.73ghz and it never crashed at 73 at 1.3ghz is there still reason to believe that its heat related?
if not then what could it be?
I really dont know what to do and i need help

Im running
win98
Asus A7A266-E bios revision 1011 (latest)
Athlon XP 2100+
Asus Geforce 3 Pure v8200 on Nvidia 30.82s
Western Digital 40gb 7200rpm
512mb pc 133 ram


if u need any other information please let me know.

thanks in advance

[ReSpAwN DeMoN]

heh, it does sound like over heating to me. I don't know why though but those temps are quite high. Even though AMD claims that thsee processors can reach (89) 190 without a problem. Your temps are still quite high. What are you room temps usually at? Also is your side panel on or off? Try taking off the side panel and putting a giant fan next to it. That's usually a good way to test for heat issues or not.

[Omen109]

its on but i dont have a big fan LOL...its never usually nice weather in cardiff. My room temp is high but not scaulding. I am just sick and tired of having to buy new things to fix things that should have worked in the first place :)

I bought the cpu with fan, then ahd to buy new case, now i might have ti buy a new fan ... but what if its not heat? LOL i dont want to spend more cash if it aint gonna solve the prob.

[ReSpAwN DeMoN]

I understand totally. However 1 or 2 degrees in a room for some reason is enough to have a 4 or 5 degree difference in a computer. Why? I don't know for sure but that's what it is. In my case atleast. Depending on the kind of case you have. What kind is it? A mid tower full tower or mini tower? My brothers case was garbage and had alot to do with him overheating. His power supply sat right above the CPU. Very bad design. If you have a full tower you can get a cheap 92MM fan and have it hanging from the metal bar going across near the CPU this can cause temps to drop dramatically. Unless you want to go full and drill a hole through your case. That can work too. I've heard that a blow hole without a fan is actually better then with the side panel off. Why? Its because when the side panel is off air will just flow over the computer and not be directed anywhere. With a blow hole air will find its way over the side panel and into the hole and concentrate on that area. Of course fans do thse same same thing only MUCH better.

But I understand you not wanting to spend more money so try the fan near the open case idea. If your computer doesn't crash then you know you can do what I told you to do. Then if it does then apparently heat may not be your problem

[Omen109]

the case is a chieftek scorpio tx its a decent case ive jsut bought it....it has four areas for case fans but i havent got any case fans yet. If it isnt the heat what do u think it might be?

[ReSpAwN DeMoN]

I don't know. What I do know is everything is pointing towards heat. First off yours temps are rather on the high side. Second off you said you downclocked your processor and it didn't crash. Thirdly your running a stock AMD cooler which isn't all that good in the first place but isn't bad. I think there ment to prevent the processor from dieing. Never said prevent it from overheating while gaming or doing any other kind of high intensity program.

This link below.....points to a program that allows users to test there "heat" issues for stability. I suggest you either not use it at all or use it "carefully" it'll put LOTS of degrees on your CPU. Infact I think it brought my CPU rather high as well but not unstable cause I'm running a wind tunnel plus and a WBK 38. They give disclaimers saying if your overlcoked or have insufficient cooling this can damage hardware so beware.

http://users.ev1.net/~redelm/

[Omen109]

i'll give it a miss then ..god know m luck is so bad it would probably melt my cpu core.

[ReSpAwN DeMoN]

lol ya I was expecting that but it is DEFINITLY the best stability checker I have ever seen.

[CuriousMan]

the case is a chieftek scorpio tx its a decent case ive jsut bought it....it has four areas for case fans but i havent got any case fans yet. If it isnt the heat what do u think it might be?

Yikes! Install some case fans. Good air flow through the case is critical. Otherwise the heat remains trapped. The case will become an oven. Unless you plan on cooking something, install some case fans...

I assume you installed some good thermal compound like Artic Silver3. But just a thin layer. Gooping the stuff on heavily and installing a heatsink will not help, in fact it will make it worse. This is a classic mistake many make when building their first computers.

Lastly, use a good copper based heatsink. Thermalright AX7 is my personal choice (good price/performance ratio). If you want to overclock and money is no object something like Thermalright's SLK800 will do the trick.

Good luck. And yes, modern CPU's produce a lot of heat. I don't see this changing anytime soon. Water cooling will probably become mainstream in the forseeable future.

[drpeterbright]

Yes, Yes, Yes HEAT IS YOUR PROBLEM. Case fans at the very least. Many of us are running 4 or more case fans than came with our cases. Be kind to your proc & it will be kind to you. Keep it under 50 C.

[fragman]

If you are using the stock AMD fan with your 2100+, then I'd suggest getting a better heatsink/fan combo. You don't have to go all out, just something like the thermaltake Volcano 7. I've found the stock fans that AMD supplies to be a bit below par, especially the pink phase change material they use for heat transfer. I've had quite a few of them that just wouldn't run much below 50deg idle, even after changing to decent thermal paste. You shouldn't really need tons of case fans to get your temps to a reasonable level. As a reference my 1700+ runs at a cool 32deg idle under a Volcano 7 :)

[Thejup]

I had the same problem with my comp. It would lock-up or BSOD and reboot only when I started to play a game. . I got a better heatsink and I still had problems. It turns out that my power supply was the problem. I replaced my old 300W PS then installed an Antec true power 550 and now it works fine. The was I tested this was I got a can of duster air turned it upside-down and sprayed it into my PS if this makes it play a little longer before crashing the that is your problem.

[Beeker25]

The first thing that I would have done was buy a good, all copper Heatsink and fan such as a ThermalRight AX7 or a GlobalWin CAK4 and some Arctic Silver 2 or 3, even before buying a new case. Your Temps are very high, I have Dual Athlon 2000MP's running on Tyan K7 Thunders and Tyan K7 Tigers and my CPU temps don't get above 50C under full load in 2U & 4U Rack Mount chassis, which are harder to keep cool then standard ATX Mid Tower cases. The all Aluminum AMD Stock HSF just don't cut it for the higher clocked CPU's, I've got a whole pile of them sitting on my shelf from all of the retail AthlonMP's that I have bought and have never even used a single one. Good Luck with your new system.