Computer Overheat??

[calhoun]

I do lots of DVD encoding on my computer which is P4 2.66Ghz / 1GB ram. I have never had any probs until about 2 weeks ago when my PC started making tiny little irregular beeps presumably from the internal speaker. When I finish encoding the beeps stop. I have noticed that my PC case gets very hot on top while encoding but quickly cools down again when encoding has finished.

Has anyone ever encountered this before or have any suggestions as to what is happening?

Thanks

[888888]

While encoding, run a temperature reader like Speedfan in the background:

http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php

Make sure you know which of the readings is the CPU temperature. Then check to see how hot your CPU is while there are beeps. Post the results and then you will know for sure.

A burn-in test like Sisoft Sandra could also be useful in determining if your CPU is running too hot.

http://www.sisoftware.net/

Be careful with that though.

[thecoalman]

You could also open it up and see if the heatsinks are packed with dust which is going to happen over time. Get yourself a air-in-a-can and blow it out.

[calhoun]

Thanks guys, i'll try all you suggest and post back.

[calhoun]

I ran that Speedfan program, it is showing 3 temperatures 1 & 2 are at constant 25 degrees 3 is at 35 but icon shows it to be OK.

When I encode a video the 3rd temperature grows steadily to 58 degrees and the icon is a flame. I cant seem to be able to identify what hardware specifically these readings apply to though I assume 3 is my cpu.

Not very encouraging though is it..

I'll have to take it apart and check. Maybe thermal grease for the cpu heatsink..

[888888]

58 C is quite hot. But not THAT hot. I don't think your system should be experiencing issues with 58 at full load. Weird.

[glockjs]

could be the warning is just set at low temps in bios

[gmatov]

58C is not at all hot for a P4 2.66. Go to Intel and see what they say.

AMD is 85C limit for their newest, and supposedly Intel has always been able to go hotter.

DL Motherboard Monitor, V5, I think it is, install, upgrade, look at the little window in the tray at the bottom right of your machine, keep a running tab.

My 2400 sempron, right now is 45 C, case, 39 C.

Cheers, George

Do any of you know the difference between Centigrade and Farhenheit, and justy what they mean. Good grief!!!

Cheers,

George

[calhoun]

OK, thanks to you all.

The temperature warning is set to 60 degrees in the bios. I am assuming that the recent increase in ambient temperature where I live has contributed towards my cpu edging on 60 degrees at 100% cpu usage.

The cpu heatsink and fan had a moderate amount of dust on them and after cleaning my cpu runs about 4 or 5 degrees cooler.

Thanks again guys