Thread: PC woes
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Dave Plowman (News) Dave Plowman (News) is offline
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Default PC woes

In article ,
Andrew Gabriel wrote:
In article ,
"Dave Plowman (News)" writes:
In article ,
TMC wrote:
Any other guesses?

Graphics card is another cause of random restarts


It doesn't restart - it shuts down.


Does this coincide with high CPU activity?


I reckon so.

Have you the option to check the processor temp either in the bios or
using feature of the motherboard?


Dunno. The heatsink feels normal, though.


What OS do you run?


XP.

The BIOS may well have a screen for setting up cooling
parameters (fan speeds, etc), and tell you the core temperature,
although that might be quite different from when the OS is
running.


I have the 'cool and quiet' disabled. But haven't actually found a page
that gives actual core temp. Probably because I'd not looked. But it's
taken to shutting down while in that setup mode so I can't really look
much.

Also need to make sure that the heatsink is clipping on properly as I
don't think that they should wiggle about


Meant move slightly with pressure. It is clipped on properly.


It shouldn't move.


Think anything will move if you try hard enough. ;-)

Make sure the mating surfaces are both
very clean (clear of old heatsink compound, and any scratches
which have resulted in any raised burr). Assemble without
heatsink compound initially and make sure the faces align
properly without any wobble. Then reassemble with the heatsink
compound. You want as thin a layer as possible which will still
guarantee contact across the whole area. Such a thin layer will
by itself generate sticktion between the two surfaces, so again
I would not expect any movement without a large enough force to
break the sticktion.


Ok - I'll give it a try. What confuses me is that it worked fine for
several months after replacing the compound. And for about a year with the
original. My gut feeling is this is a red herring...

--
*A snooze button is a poor substitute for no alarm clock at all *

Dave Plowman London SW
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