Is anyone here familiar with SpeedFan? :)

[Filip Norrgard]

Hi everybody,

Is anyone here familiar with SpeedFan? :)

I've got an "old" AMD Athlon XP 1700+, Windows XP Pro, 768 MB RAM, and with a Nvidia Geforce 2 MX. The problem appeared yesterday when I was testing watching a channel from an external digital TV box (DVB-C) composite input to a WinTV analog card (complicated I know) and started another application. The result: total system lock-up with only the sound being the only thing continuing. :?

Next, I rebooted, tried to log in... nothing, no mouse movements, keyboard response, etc. The d*mn thing locked up again! :x Ok, so I hitted the reset button and tried again. This time I could log in but after a while, before I could open any programs, it locked up again! :roll: The fourth reset (or at least the xth time; where x is an integer greater than 3) did let me start using the computer again.

I have tried troubleshooting the event log (result: nothing there), and looking for viruses/trojans/worms/pest/adwares/spywares (result: nothing). Hence, I concluded that it might be a hardware problem. The first thing that comes into my mind was the heat in the chassis. I opened the case a bit, just incase the problem is heat. I also downloaded SpeedFan to see the temps and possible problems.

Well, guess what, there is a sensor called Temp3 that jumps from 30 Celcius to smokin' 50 (and everything inbetween) while I'm running non-graphics intensive programs! 8O Now, my problem is to find that sensor. Do you know where I can possibly find the sensor?

The other temperatures are quite OK, with the 7000 RPM Maxtor SATA drive mostly staying below 50 degrees and the processor quite steadily at 45 degrees. I've been thinking of putting some extra fans in the casing to keep my computer a whole lot cooler, but I wonder if I should first change graphics card to an ATI. :P The case isn't the best one either: I would need to cut out some holes for the fans, if I am to place them on the case. Not that there is much space for extra fans either. :roll:

Any one got tips on getting better cooling crammed in a "small" case? ;)

[Suhit Gupta]

So, the only places that I trust with cooling solutions are 3DCool (http://www.3dcool.com/index.asp) and Cooler Master (http://www.coolermaster.com/). Having said that, a lock up like your really does sound like an overheating problem. However, from your bug report, it doesn't seem like you have done a full cold boot, you only seem to be rebooting by using the reset button. One of the first things I would recommend is a full cold boot. Turn your machine completely off, remove the power cable if you have to. Typically you should have to wait only for 10-15 seconds so that all the capacitors discharge, but I would recommend waiting 5 minutes so that things have a chance to cool down. Then see if the problem persists.

I haev not used SpeedFan and I don't know what Temp3, I have only used Motherboard Monitor (http://mbm.livewiredev.com/), you may want to try that as well. BTW, I just did a google search for the Temp3 sensor and there are a lot of hits. I don't know what your motherboard is but if you type that in as well, I am sure you will find something. You may also want to go to your motherboard manufacturer's site and see if their documentation tells you where temp3 is.

Suhit

[Filip Norrgard]

Hmmm.... recycling the power didn't help directly, since it still locked up on the first cold start. But on the second run, which remained a long run, it did not freeze! *yesss* :D

( Maybe it did still help. ;) )

I haev not used SpeedFan and I don't know what Temp3, I have only used Motherboard Monitor (http://mbm.livewiredev.com/), you may want to try that as well. BTW, I just did a google search for the Temp3 sensor and there are a lot of hits. I don't know what your motherboard is but if you type that in as well, I am sure you will find something. You may also want to go to your motherboard manufacturer's site and see if their documentation tells you where temp3 is.
Thanks for the link to the Motherboard monitor, that sure is a handy program! ;)

As for the Temp3 sensor, it seems that Chaintech put a sensor somewhere below the CPU (i.e. not a CPU sensor) and some sites call it a "bogus sensor". Not that I'd call it bogus since it still measures something... :lol:

So the sensor does confirm that it is too hot in the area around the CPU which I will have to try to fix today by adding fans to bring in some better cooler air. It also seems that my graphics card has attracted some dust, which I'll have to blow away. I regularily clean my computer, but it looks like the dust has amounted quite fast this time around. The dust problem might be the root of my problems...

[Suhit Gupta]

Yeah, dust could do it.

BTW, try booting your computer by leaving the case open (if you haven't done so already). I had a server that would run really hot and not even post when closed up but work completely fine when the case cover was open and the room air was able to flow over it.

Anyways, it might be time to start removing all the parts from your computer and narrowing the problem down to the particular device causing the problem. It is tedious work but you will have to replace that part sooner or later.

Suhit

[KidKomputer]

I'm not familiar with Speedfan but people in the sfftech.com forums are. I think about half the people over there use it in their Shuttles.

[David Prahl]

I used to use it on my P4-based ASUS system when I was overclocking. neat app.

[Filip Norrgard]

Well, I think it is time for an update here...

The graphics card went dead just days after my last post. I was working on my computer and whammo, the screen went to standby! 8O Next, the computer did an automatic reboot and beeped very much like an ambulance... so, the graphics card went bye bye. :cry:

But, as always, good things come from bad things and I had to get a new graphics card. Not only that, but I also bought a better power source with a bigger fan and bigger power (the brand was Qtek, I think). Much to my surprise, my computer became much faster and more responsive when I installed a brand new ATI Radeon 9600 Pro 256 MB card! 8O

Seems to me that there was something more sinister going on with the previous card, since I got this speed increase with a newer card. (Yes, I did have the latest drivers for the older graphics card -- but not yet for the new one) As a bonus, the computer temperatures have dropped radically. :cool: The processor and case temp are around 5-10 degrees lower than before (depending on how intesive programs I have been using). When I added a case fan below the hard drives later on which brought down the temps on the hard drives as well. :D

What happened to the old graphics card? Well, frankly I don't know. Maybe some condensator went bad ("thanks" to industrial espionage), the processor was bad from before, or something freaky happened to it. I'm not sure, but I'm sure I like the newer card way much more... ;)