So I have a brand new computer. Just bought it a couple months ago. It's an Intel 915GAVL motherboard, 3.0 Ghz HT enabled processor, 1 GB 400Mhz DDR, dual SATA 80 GB hard disks, PCI-e 128 MB Nvidia Geforce GT 6600 OC, 450w power supply, and running windows XP Professional SP2. I have two cooling fans, both side panels off, the computer is sitting on top of my desk, and it's in an air conditioned room with relatively little dust. But it still has problems.

For some reason, it overheats. or that's what i've been told by the service center. already I've had the power supply totally burn out, and then the day after i got that replaced, the graphics card burned out as well. all this was covered by the warranty, but I still don't understand why it crashes. The only times it crashes is when i am working on video editing, namely adobe premiere, and when rendering it'll crash after about 5 or 10 minutes. Then when i play NFS underground2 I can't play at anything higher than 640x480 resolution for more than 15 minutes or the computer crashes. And these are not simple rebooting problems. Sometimes i can't restart it for hours, and in one case, until the next day. I can hear the fans really speed up whenever it is doing either of these tasks, and that warns me that if I keep on doing it, it'll crash. And it's not software related, which is where i'm stuck, since that's what i generally have to deal with. This is hardware based, but nobody has come up with a valid explanation as to why it does it, or how I can possibly prevent it.

First of all, you're not supposed to have side panels open. If the computer runs cooler with the panels open there is something seriously wrong with the cooling.

Do you monitor the temperatures? If so provide us some numbers, how hot the CPU and chipsets runs while idle and on stress.

If you do not have temeperature monitoring software (sometimes comes with the motherboard) you can download one here: http://mbm.livewiredev.com/


And could you describe how your case is cooled? How many fans are in the front, the read and on top. And does you power supply have fans ie. does it suck air from inside the case. If possible take few pics or provide link to the case manufacturer's page.

Also take pics or describe how the CPU is cooled. What material the cooler is (copper, aluminium?) and what kind of fan is on it. And if you know tell what kind of paste there is between the cooler and CPU core.

Sounds to me like your Video card is overheating, and crashing.
Is your video card hot to the touch? The Heatsink that is...

If so then that is likely your problem. Your video card could have
many reasons for overheating... It could be simply poor cooling,
or it could be an over voltage fault, a damaged cap, or resistor etc
etc, it could be overclocked, which will cause many many many
problems when done improperly.

I would deffinately look into your video card. Also as mentioned
before, if you do not have a way to monitor temps, get one now.
Get a fanbus with built in temp monitor. Then put a temp lead in
the fins of your cpy heatsink, near the middle, and in the fins of
your video card heatsink, near the center of the chip.

Then find out what those puppies are running at and fix it.

ViriiGuy

You may be running in the wrong Power Configuration on your power supply. If you're in North America, DO NOT SET IT TO 240V, set it to 110V, if you're in Europe, DO NOT SET IT TO 110V, SET IT TO 240v. In Asia, it's very dependent. To fix this, there's a read button, just move it side to side.

Maybe this is why everything is blowing up. This is very unusual.

xboxrulz

Not likely, I have seen this done before, and it almost ALWAYS leads to
immediate failure of the motherboard

But I would suspect that the video card is faulty, happens alot. And therefor
is overheating.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it 120V, now 110V? Idk though. Just a wild idea..

Also, as Herco said, you should keep your computer panels on if you're using a cooling system, because then it'd be cooling the computer less then it should be.

If it's the video card you should look ASAP else you might have it fused onto your motherboard (not good).

I don't think it'd be the power supply though, because then chances are you'd blow a fuse, or simply short-circuit your computer.

k, thanx, ppl. Tomorrow i'll post pics and temperature stats.

I had my laptop overheat and shut down for months now. I took it to where I bought it and they blew dust out of the heat sink with a can of air. It seems to be working fine now.

As a temporary solution, you can get a box fan and put it up against the side of the case (with the side panels off, obviously) and leave it on low when you are doing processor or graphics-intensive work. It worked well for me with my old video card (which only had a tiny passive heatsink - no fan!)

I tried the motherboard monitor. it doesn't support the 915 board from intel. --at least it didn't seem to find it. it won't give me any temperatures. all it gives on the sys report is this:

----MBM SYSTEM INFO-----


Info ChipInfo.ini : 18154 bytes 6/17/2004 4:37:54 PM
Info shdn.ini : 388 bytes 10/12/2000 6:47:06 PM
Info Voltage.ini : 38234 bytes 10/24/2005 9:18:08 PM
Info Language file : 22920 bytes 6/12/2004 9:43:20 AM

Up Time MBM session : 00:00:03:00
Up Time MBM total : 00:00:11:33

------Sensor Chip-------

Main Sensor Chip : SMSC EMC6D100/EMC6D101
SMB Address : $C800
Used Bus : SMB CHIP Intel ICH6
Chip Address : $2E

-Sensor Chip Selections-

Possible Temp Sensors[2] : SMSC EMC6D10x-1
Possible Temp Sensors[3] : SMSC EMC6D10x-2
Possible Temp Sensors[4] : SMSC EMC6D10x-3


Possible Voltage Sensors[2] : MBM Fixed

Selected Voltage Sensors[1] : MBM Fixed (2)
Selected Voltage Sensors[2] : MBM Fixed (2)
Selected Voltage Sensors[3] : MBM Fixed (2)
Selected Voltage Sensors[4] : MBM Fixed (2)
Selected Voltage Sensors[5] : MBM Fixed (2)
Selected Voltage Sensors[6] : MBM Fixed (2)
Selected Voltage Sensors[7] : MBM Fixed (2)

Possible Fan Sensors[2] : SMSC EMC6D10x-1
Possible Fan Sensors[3] : SMSC EMC6D10x-2
Possible Fan Sensors[4] : SMSC EMC6D10x-3
Possible Fan Sensors[5] : SMSC EMC6D10x-4


Possible Voltage Sub Types[0] : EMC6D100/101 Standard
Selected Voltage Sub Type : EMC6D100/101 Standard (0)

--Sensor Chip Readings--

Voltage Readout[1] : 1.36416
Voltage Readout[2] : 1.469
Voltage Readout[3] : 3.3712
Voltage Readout[4] : 5.122
Voltage Readout[5] : 12.0384

---------System---------

Operating System : Microsoft Windows XP (NT 5.1) (Build 2600) Service Pack 2
User : Terrence
Memory in use : 36%
Total Physical Memory : 1047272 KB
Available Physical Memory : 664112 KB

----------CPU-----------

CPU Speed : 3001 MHz
Nr of CPU's : 2

-------3rd Party--------

ShutDownNow :

----Advanced Settings---

Fan Temp : 0
Custom Temp Table : 0
Startup Delay : 0
2E 4E Enabled : 1
2E Forced : 0
4E Forced : 0
Do Not Reset : 1
SMB Scan Range : $10 - $7F
here are the pics of the inside:
<IMG SRC='http://usera.imagecave.com/styx/DSCN2876_resize.jpg'>
this one is a view of the whole thing
the next is a close-up of the graphics card and nearby
<IMG SRC='http://usera.imagecave.com/styx/DSCN2877_resize.jpg'>
so altogether it has two fans. one in the rear, and one over the cpu. there's no place to put one in the front. The rear fan sucks air from outside, and the cpu fan spits air out. Let me know if more detailed pix are needed.