Overheating problems?

[SlowChemical]

Lately I've been getting some BSODs... one of which gives the MACHINE_CHECK_EXCEPTION and another gives 'A clock interrupt was not received on a secondary processor' or something along those lines. I've been googling my ass off and keep coming to improper installations, overheating, or a bad part. I ran a temperature monitoring program... it has a little flame symbol next to the GPU and Temp1 which is... well i'm not really sure. It says IT8720F. Which is this: http://www.afatech.com/EN/products_more ... =3&ID=5,69
What that is... I don't know. I'm not a genius with comps, average at best. I know more than most average people, but I'm not even close to an expert.

Anyway. So I'm guessing overheating is the problem. However, I was not having ANY problems until I installed Windows 7 a few weeks ago. Don't know if this is related or not, but it had been running fine for about 6 months. It could just be the fact that it's summer now. But yeah... now just playing WoW will give me a BSOD after a few min. Any ideas on how to cool, or what to do?

EDIT: There is a Temp1, 2 and 3. Temp1 is overheating at like 78C. Temp 2 is normal. Temp3 is -53C... *shoots self*

[gandalf37]

Depends on your CPU but usually the upper limit a CPU is allowed to get to is around 65C, above that your computer will shut down completely to protect it from damage.

Now, I've had a bunch of overheating problems due to fans failing (doesn't even have to be the CPU fan, my exhaust fan broke once causing problems) and one cause my heat sink wasn't placed juuussstt right and in all those times, the above situation I described is what always happened. I never got BSOD's due to overheating. I'm not saying it isn't possible, but I can't see how the two would be related.

In any case, what temperature monitoring program are you using? I use SpeedFan and I find it pretty good. If what you are using is anything like it, then Temp1, 2, 3 won't be your CPU temp, they'll be some sort of temp sensor on the motherboard. There should be a temperature actually labeled CPU or Core 1, Core 2. Check that out. If you are idling at 60C, that's way too hot and you may have found the problem. Open up your case and check that your fans are spinning, if they are, check the RPM's of them (SpeedFan can also tell you this), if they are too low then it means your fans are shot.

[SlowChemical]

I am using SpeedFan. I'm using a relatively new computer. I bought it last year in August. The fans shouldn't be busted... lets see here though. It's showing that I have 3 fans, though I'm not sure that's the case... I only see 2. The first 2 are at 1329 RPM and 552 RPM. The third one says 8133 RPM... but I still don't see where a 3rd one is. Plus that seems like an insane speed. Anyway, the GPU seems to be idling at around 51C after turning the computer on and letting it run for about 10 min (it gets that flame symbol at 50C). Hasn't been rising past that. Temp1 had that little flame symbol as soon as I turned the computer on, though you seemed to say ignore it correct? All the Cores (0, 1, 2, 3, 4) are fine in temperature, none higher than 44C.

I think the biggest problem is the weird design of these Dell XPS desktops. When I initially bought the computer, I replaced the graphics card and power supply. Now an Nvidia GeForce GTX 260 is in there with a 500 watt power supply. The thing is, the graphics card is on the very bottom slot... the ONLY slot that will fit the damn graphics card. So all the heat that it generates is getting stuck at the buttom... the fans are likely having a hard time getting it out of there. Whether or not that's the cause for the GPU temperature rising... I don't know.

The symptoms of the BSODs go like this. I am playing WoW. All the sudden, the sound starts to get all staticky and crappy, whether it's WoW sound effects or AIM dings. Then the frame rate in WoW starts to dip. Then it freezes, and goes to a BSOD. I've gotten both errors I listed when this happens. I've done a lot of driver updating, so I don't *think* that is the problem.

[Ensabahnur]

If it was overheating you wouldn't get a BSOD, the PC would literally just turn itself off without warning at least in my experience.

Problem sounds driver related to me.

Were you getting BSOD when you first loaded windows 7 or did you just load a bunch of drivers/updates right away?

Also http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/threa ... 1539&sid=1

[GraveI]

Huh. It was my understanding that chips etc today can go much higher than 65C before temp becomes an issue - often in the 85-95 range.

[Ensabahnur]

Well it depends on the chip but if the chip is constantly above or around 60-70C your going to be degrading its lifespan.

The PC will still run and all but over time its going to damage the chip.

[gandalf37]

The chip may be able to handle that temperature but I think mobo's still have the emergency shutdown to protect it at around 70C since long periods at those temps, you are damaging it. Mine is at that anyways.

Temp1 had that little flame symbol as soon as I turned the computer on, though you seemed to say ignore it correct?

Yeah don't worry about it, like I said, it is a sensor on the mobo that probably is a spot where hot air is blowing over it, or hot air is kinda trapped there. You are mostly concerned about the cores, which seem fine and don't worry about your GPU temp, mine is frequently at 60C.

I agree with Ensa here, sounds like a Win7/driver problem. Make sure you have the latest mobo firmware, I know some mobos released firmware updates for win7. Try reinstalling your important drivers (vid card, sound, etc) making sure to uninstall your old ones first. Did this start happening right when you install win7 or can you think of something you may have done (installed something/uninstalled) around the time you remember this started to happen? Make sure you do a windows update too, they sometimes release updates that can fuck things up (I remember one time they released one that caused BSOD's on my machine) and they will later release a fix.

This MAY also be a hard drive failure. My hard drive shit the bed a couple months ago and what you described with the freezing and stuttering is exactly what happened leading up to it's complete demise in which I couldn't even re-format it. I can't remember if I got BSOD's though.... I don't think so, I think everything just froze and I had to shut it down. This is a big maybe though, as like I said, I don't think I got BSOD's and your computer is practically new.

[Ensabahnur]

Yeah it could be hard drive failure but that would be an odd coincidence considering the changes that you've made to your PC over the last 6 months and the PC is pretty new.

I got BSOD when my hard drive started failing but it was very random whereas this doesn't sound random and is unlikely.

Please check what video drivers you have and take a look at the wow forum post I made as it sounds very similar to the issue you're describing.

[SlowChemical]

This MAY also be a hard drive failure. My hard drive shit the bed a couple months ago and what you described with the freezing and stuttering is exactly what happened leading up to it's complete demise in which I couldn't even re-format it. I can't remember if I got BSOD's though.... I don't think so, I think everything just froze and I had to shut it down. This is a big maybe though, as like I said, I don't think I got BSOD's and your computer is practically new.

I've actually tried running WoW both on my internal HD and my external Western Digital HD. Both had the same problems... so I'm assuming it's not that.

Would having an outdated video driver as you suggest Ensa, cause audio problems too? I went to my sound cards website and downloaded their most recent Windows 7 drivers, thinking it was that. But I am downloading the one from your link, I appreciate the help. I will try it out, and post results when I get a chance.

Also gandalf, I hadn't done any Windows Update stuff until I had been having these problems as far as I can remember. I updated some optional things once I started having these problems, but yeah I don't think that was the problem. (no updates available atm)

EDIT: I installed the driver and started up WoW. I'm looking at SpeedFan again... after just idling in WoW for like 10 minutes, my GPU temperature is at 73C (and still climbing). This seems high according to you guys. :/

EDIT2: After leaving the computer on for a few hours, all of the Cores have gone up to around 50C.

[Ensabahnur]

So its no longer giving you a bsod?

[SlowChemical]

Turns out I already had that driver installed. But I still removed the one I had and did a clean install this time. Also downloaded RivaTuner to manually adjust my graphics card's fan. I guess the card wasn't even going past 40% fan speed even when it got hot. I don't know why, but I manually increased it and it stayed cool while I played WoW for around an hour and no BSOD. So I guess I solved my own problem, which doesn't normally happen... thanks though guys.

[gandalf37]

Glad to hear it. Just out of curiosity, what version Nvidia driver did you install? 196.75 had fan control issues which have been since fixed in the latest version.

[SlowChemical]

I'm using 197.13 right now. I'm just manually changing fan speeds though to play games even though it's an extra step to play, but I'm just thrilled to be playing again, don't really care.