Ok, Help!
 

My CPU started to crash a few days ago, about once or two times a day. So I thought, hmm, what's my CPU temperature. I DL'ed SpeedFan and checked, and

IT'S OVER 9000

What should I do?

P.S.: I have a Intel Core2 Quad CPU @ 2.40GHz

I'll assume this is Celcius? Then that's pretty... Crazy. O.o

Best you can do is call your hardware tech support, or if you're on a Mac, take it back to the store.

Assuming no overclocking,
- open the case
- make sure the fans are working
(getting power, cables connected properly etc)
- dust off good
(dust is the worst heat conductor known to man and caked dust even worse)
- make sure there is conductive paste between the cpu and the cpu fan heatsink.
- gather up the various cables in bundles and create "space" in the case.
- fit a better fan if the built-in one is a cheapo that assumes you live in Alaska?

Additional info:

Yes, it's celcius. And yes, everything over 65C can damage your computer :eek:

I opened the case, all ventilators were running(LOL I HAVE ONE VENT FOR THE WHOLE CASE AND ONE FOR CPU WTB MORE COOLING). I picked up the vacuum cleaner for the first time of my life and dusted off everything. I'm running the CPU with the case open now and it's sitting at 65C without any heavy load. Still far too high.

Windows PC and 4 years old.

EDIT:

There's enough breathing space in the case, don't feel like checking the paste ATM(need to reserve an afternoon for that).

Leaving the case open does not help. It makes things worse.
Cases are build to guide a cooling airstream through all
important parts ... with an open case this is not possible.

It's for diagnostics, not to get the temp down.

And an open case will ALWAYS be cooler then a closed case, unless you've got a very special piping system.

I'm going to try to underclock my CPU a bit. What should I lower first, voltage or clock speed(I'm a complete noob with over/underclocking)?

Thermal Grease
 

QFT. When I originally built my system, it came with a small pouch of thermal grease. Seemed OK at the time, but after a few years, I noticed the CPU temp slowly rising. Not thinking much of it, I ignored it. Fast forward a few more months, and I began to have random shutdowns due to overheating.

After dismantling the system, I found that the thermal grease had almost entirely been squished out the sides from the application of the heatsink's mounting screws, and hence, not really providing it's required function.

I picked up a bottle of Zalman ZM-STG1 Super Thermal Grease, which is nice in that it has an applicator brush. After applying a layer of grease per the instructions, my temperature went from around 78C down to under 50C at high loads.

This definitely has prolonged the life of my aging PC, and was the best 10 bucks I've spent in a long while. I'd check this out if I were you. :)

Make sure you knock the dust and crud out of the fins of any heatsink including your CPU's. I have to do this about once or twice a year (it's getting time do the ol' clean out). Use a thin tool like a small jeweler's screwdriver. A tool that works really well for this is a gapping tool used used to check the gap on automobile spark plugs.

WHAT 9000?!

:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

maybe its going out.

This always raises the red flag for me. :p:p

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17zNW...eature=related

Ontopic: I had my 4 years old laptop CPU running at 95 degrees even. Same problem, like Dritdzt said, check for dust and make sure there is enough paste between the CPU and fan.

Upgrading the stock model power supply fan (I'm assuming you are using that) is no ordinary luxury.
:D

Hint to nc: DON'T use the vacuum cleaner. :) They make cans of air for a reason. :) (Well, that and so you don't spit all over your computer.)

Edit:

http://www.overclockers.com/forums/s...d.php?t=565718
http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Intel_...Specifications

I'm no expert, but the way I've always thought about it is the following (though I could be completely wrong so if someone knows better, feel free to correct me):

Increasing the clock speed will make you computer run faster, decrease stability, and not really affect temps that much.

In order to get the stability back, you have to increase the voltage, and this is what causes the temps to rise.

So basically, you'd want to lower both. I think the idea is to run on the minimum voltage possible that doesn't cause your computer to crash.

If it is not Overclocked, don't mess with it.

If it is, just select "factory defaults" from bios.

It's not overclocked, but I'm running at 75C now, so underclocking might be the solution for me.

No actually, both overclocking (increasing CPU clock speed by whatever means) and voltage increases can increase teperatures.

In terms of the problem, also get a second opinion from another program. There is the potential that Speedfan doesn't support your CPU/motherboard yet. In which case it might provide incorrect data.

Is it a brand name computer or assembled? Some brand names do not provide temperature sensor chips that programs like Speedfan can poll properly (for example, Dell is/was infamous for not providing such chips on consumer PCs).

Also, do you see feedback in Speedfan for your motherboard temperature? If so and its not elevated, a good chance the problem is with your CPU+heatsink+thermal paste/pad specifically.

A decent (CPU only) monitoring program for a second opinion: CoreTemp
. Also, if you enter most computer's BIOSes on bootup these days, there should be a screen you can access that will show you the temperatures of your CPU, motherboard, fan speeds and so on. Much like Speedfan, but in a less fancy format. But again, not likely to have that on some brand name PCs.

BIOS also says 75C, core temp says 85C(after 2 hours of CPU online time).