On Thu, 2008-04-17 at 16:27 +0100, Andrew Oakley wrote: > Farran wrote: > > I did actually run a memtest for almost a whole day, passing 8 times > > with no errors > > Therefore I would strongly suspect your CPU is overheating. When most > modern CPUs overheat, they automatically slow themselves down to avoid > permanent damage. > > When the PC crashes, immediately reboot into BIOS and check the CPU > temperature. A typical temperature would be in the 45-55c range. > Anything over 55c may or may not mean you have a problem. Anything > approaching 70c is very suspicious. Over 70c may cause permanent damage > in the long run. > > Try booting up with the case open and check that the CPU fan is rotating > and is not obstructed. Also check the airflow through the case (eg. dust > lumps accumulating in the front or back grilles), and check the airflow > through the PSU (many machines rely on the PSU fan to suck air through > the case). > > If your BIOS supports overclocking, check that it is using > non-overclocked settings. Again, if your BIOS supports CPU fan speed > settings, check that the BIOS CPU fan setting isn't on super-slow. Or, > just reset your BIOS to factory defaults - the "take off and nuke the > site from orbit, it's the only way to be sure" option. > > If you replace/re-fit your CPU fan, ensure you use some silicone grease > to get a good heat transfer contact between the CPU and the heatsink > (but don't coat everything with grease, that'll prevent airflow - only > the bit where the CPU touches the heatsink). Most CPU fans come with a > sticky pad of grease already fitted, but if yours has worn thin, buy a > tiny tube of silicone grease from Maplins or similar for about 2 quid. > If the fan or heatsink is gunked up, use a screwdriver to unscrew the > fan from the heatsink before cleaning. If the fan is gunked up, consider > replacing the whole CPU+heatsink anyway, no matter how well you clean it > (since the fan blades will most likely be unbalanced now). > > As Matt said, it's most likely either overheating, or the hard drive is > knackered. It's difficult to check the hard drive without wiping the > data already on it, so the best thing to do is to eliminate RAM and > overheating first. Clattering noises or excessive whine sounds are > symptoms of knackered hard drives, but not always. > > To test the drive without wiping it, find a spare second-hand drive, > disconnect your original drive, and install Ubuntu on the spare drive. > If the spare drive works much better than the original, your original is > dying. > > Next I'd consider your graphics card. If you have a non-onboard graphics > card, try replacing it with a known-good spare. Also consider > overheating on the graphics card. > > Finally, if everything else is fine, then your motherboard is probably > b0rked, sorry (rare, but I have seen it happen twice in 20 years). > > -- > Andrew Oakley > >
Johnathon: just realised I hadn't tried command line. have now and it's in progress :D thanks Andrew: All 3 fans work, BIOS is set to optimised defaults (as of this morning), and ALL the hardware is new (Christmas) bar 2 cd drives and a floppy. I've hunted around online a bit and lots of people have had problems with the same motherboard. Graphics card is nVidia 8600GTS 1024mb memory, peak temperature around 50 degrees. Cheers =================================== Farran Lee I'm only 15 :P
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