Sectorgame

For some reason my PC has decided to start overheating. The fan is working fine, the PSU is working fine and the chassis fan is working fine. But it's acting like the CPU fan is not working. So I opened it up and took the Fan/Heatsink out for a good dust. Quite a lot in there but not an extensive amount. Put it back. Started up. Bang, emergency shutdown within about 30 seconds. I checked it again. It seems the heatsink/fan combo won't lock down properly (you know the 4 pronged heatsinks that have those pathetic plastic things you need to push into the holes on the motherboard) - At least, that's what I'm assuming. I press down one side, and the other side pops out. Push down that side, then the other side pops out again. If I lock down one side, the other side won't go in at all. That's to say, it DOES go in.. but it won't go EVEN. It's slanted!

Like this:

The space between the plastic and the motherboard on one side is like
<--->

Whereas on the other side its more like
<------>

So I can only assume that because of this, the heatsink isn't resting properly on the CPU and thus overheating.. Or is it? Am I barking up the wrong tree? It's a real b**ch to lockdown. I've been at it for 3 hours!

Heh, depding upon your choices, you should keep at it...

SUCCESS!!

Sadly I still have the original problem I started with, which is a graphic card which locks up at the Windows loading screen.

i had this exact problem when i got some newer PC parts. just buy a better power supply and it will work.

I did try another PSU but it was the same result.

Well I've got it working again. After so many hours I can't be sure what exactly GOT it to work now..

Scrap that. It doesn't work. I can't get past the Windows loading screen when the Radeon has been installed (the blue loading bar freezes). After removing the card and restarting twice*, I can get in fine. Is this driver, board or power related?

* No idea why but it doesn't work after the first restart

Might be driver... Ive had drivers royally f### everything up like that for me in the past.

Now I'm getting a burning smell from my PSU! :S

Uh oh, did you call the fire department for help?

You are kidding, right? Anyway the PSU shorted out not long after I made that post. I've put an old (but sensitive) one inside instead. Fingers crossed

Did I look like I was kidding... silly Hunty

You need to learn a thing or two about how things work in the UK.

* Ask for a brainscan - wait several months
* Drop dead - Then you get the scan

* A fire is about to start - No firemen will come
* House half way burned down - Then they arrive

Works like this.

What Radeon card is it? It might be that the PSU overheated from the current being drawn by the card, or it could be a fault in the windows/drivers, and the PSU problem was unrelated. Normally power/heat problems will cause hard resets, whereas software/OS problems will cause crashes or freezes, but not always.

Before you stick a second PSU in there, do you have an older graphics card you can test the rest of the system with, it might be worth trying a boot-up with an old or borrowed card first to see if the system starts without it.

Well I already confirmed that it was the graphic card causing the problem, so I didn't need to install another card. Anyway I've managed to reinstall the drivers from the original CD, so far so good. The PSU problem, well.. The stalling noises when starting up, and the fact that playing EVE or burning a CD shut down my hard drive, seems to indicate a power problem...

Hunter wrote:You need to learn a thing or two about how things work in the UK.

* Ask for a brainscan - wait several months
* Drop dead - Then you get the scan

* A fire is about to start - No firemen will come
* House half way burned down - Then they arrive

Works like this.

Uh oh, sounds worrying. You smart people in the UK should take charge of the public safety