I am pretty sure my computer is overheating as it averages 70 C when idling, after I cleaned the fan out with a vacuum cleaner.

I am not sure this is average for a 3.0 GHz Intel Pentium 4 processor but I'm sure it isn't as my laptop hovers around 40 C.

The hard disk in it recently stopped working and I was wondering if it could have overheated as well and if there is anything I can do to restore the files off it or at least get the (or some) files of it.

Any recomendations for a new fan? I am looking to spend no more then AU$50 and would like a good fan that will keep my system cool.

Could you please help as my entire family is biting my head off complaining that they have nothing to do.

Thank you,
sonoftheclayr

That's indeed too high for idle temperatures (btw. are you sure there's no program in the background that uses the cpu a lot ?).
Has this always been like that, because if so, your case might be bad ventilated.

Try touching the heatsink and check if it's hot. If it's realy that hot, then the heatsink/fan combo isn't sufficient enough. If it isn't, then there might be a bad contact between the CPU and the heatsink or your motherboard is reading out incorrect data.

About the hdd, it might have been so, the max. operating temperature of a hdd is generaly 50-55°c, anything higher could damage the hdd. These thing do get hot, my hdd easily gets to 55°c without active cooling in a case with 28°c temperature.

If you'd like to replace the cpu heatsink, it'd definatly check out the heatsink reviews at [M]adshrimps or at Frostytech. These 2 compare cooling performance and how much noise they create.

Also have a look at the space between the processor and the fan, isn't it full of dust ? Then, try removing the dust, with a toothbrush or blowing air on the dust. I had this problem last month, and removing the dust on the processor radiator solved the problem.

I had a couple threads going on this subject a while back. I've also got a 3.0 Ghz processor, and had countless problems with it overheating. I also have a 2.8 and a 3.2 Ghz computer that run fine. It seems the 3.0 processor, at least some of them, have basic overheating issues. they run at a temperature much higher than either higher or lower rated chipd. go figure. anyways, there didn't seem much the techs could do other than shrug their shoulders and say, you shouldn't have bought that one. anyways. I'm averaging 55-60 degrees when it's running normally, and up to 80 when heavy processing. It would constantly overheat and shut down unless i had a wall fan up against it. By chance my power supply (450w OEM) gave out, and i had no choice but to spring for a $100 ASUS 450W. My computer has not overheated ONCE since installing that new power supply. it will still get up to 75 or so sometimes, but never more. You can tell the difference in quality because while the OEM one weighed in at maybe 750g, this one weighs about as much as the rest of my computer. I would give it a shot... if you can borrow someone's good PSU or bring it to a friend, and try running some processor-intensive stuff and see how it does. that faulty power supply also damaged 2 of my hard drives, as it wasn't supplying the proper power and the needles kept dropping. That could be the case with you too.