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Author Topic: Extremely shoddy work by computer repair shop  (Read 10957 times)

roseway

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Re: Extremely shoddy work by computer repair shop
« Reply #15 on: March 21, 2013, 06:39:35 PM »

Your theory sounds plausible to me. I agree that overheating would normally take longer (so long as any fans are running normally).
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sheddyian

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Re: Extremely shoddy work by computer repair shop
« Reply #16 on: March 22, 2013, 05:45:25 PM »

Just a little update, and a link to some software that's useful (and free).

With the computer on it's side, and the other side panel removed, and an extra fan stood inside the case to stir the air around a bit, I left it running overnight.

I also installed CPUID Hardware Monitor http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/hwmonitor.html which I left running.

This is a great little free program that will display various sensors that your motherboard makes available, and with this I was able to see the CPU temperature, hard disk temperature etc.

It also tracks minimum and maximum values for each sensor, as well as current readings.

So, overnight, the CPU was running at 40C, with a peak at 41C.  Not bad.  And it didn't crash!

Just now, I tried putting the side of the case back on, but leaving the additional fan inside, and leaving the computer sitting on it's side.  Within 15 minutes the CPU temperature had crept up to 50C, at which point I removed the lid again, and it slowly dropped once more to 40C.

I'm assuming then that there are two problems, as I can't see why it crashes so quickly when it's upright if its a temperature problem alone.  It takes less than a minute to boot from cold, yet you can't log in when it's upright - it blue screens on you as it's loading the desktop!

Just thought I'd share this in case it's of interest really!

Ian
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asbokid

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Re: Extremely shoddy work by computer repair shop
« Reply #17 on: March 22, 2013, 06:01:38 PM »

One way to assuredly send the CPU temperature soaring, with or without the case lid screwed down, is to use the Prime95 tool.

Prime95 (or alternatively MPrime for Linux) was originally a tool for finding Mersenne prime numbers.  Nowadays, however, it is a standard tools for stress-testing a processor, and memory, etc.

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime95#Use_for_stress_testing

cheers, a
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sheddyian

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Re: Extremely shoddy work by computer repair shop
« Reply #18 on: March 22, 2013, 06:06:45 PM »

Ooh, thanks for that Asbokid

I had wondered about setting it to run something to keep it at 100%, but it was late and I didn't want to faff about.  I ended up opening Chrome and logging in to Twitter, which wil (kind of) auto refresh, so it was doing something.

On the computer I'm typing this on, I found that using ffmpeg to convert video would send the CPU temperature soaring, to the point where the motherboard overheat alarm would go off!  Tried several larger heatsinks and fans before I found one that worked well.

Ian
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asbokid

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Re: Extremely shoddy work by computer repair shop
« Reply #19 on: March 22, 2013, 06:20:16 PM »

mprime/prime95 certainly works!  It sent this quad core i7 from 60degC to 90degC in seconds, according to gkrellm, a Linux equivalent to hwmonitor.



cheers, a
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sheddyian

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Re: Extremely shoddy work by computer repair shop
« Reply #20 on: March 22, 2013, 07:44:49 PM »

wow!

I ran it on the rogue PC, with CPUID Hardware monitor providing the temperature readings.  After 30 minutes it had crept up to 48C, but didn't seem to be going any higher.  So, wit the lid off, the computer seems to manage itself ok.

It's only a single core AMD Athlon 64 XP 2800+ (clock speed 2.1Ghz) running Windows XP

Also tried it on my Dual Core Athlon 64 XP 4200+ (clock 2.2Ghz) running Windows XP, both cores went up to 58C but then it steadied itself.

Thanks for the info on that - I'd heard of it some years back, but never looked into it.

Might leave it running on the single core machine overnight to see if it is nice and stable now.

Ian
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