HELP! E8400, boots at ~50C, rises quickly and levels out at ~88C! In Windows can top 100C and show negative reading!

[neothe0ne]

So, I have a huge problem.

I was transporting my PC to a party on Friday night, and when I got there my computer would keep shorting out after 20-60 seconds. When I opened my case to check my psu connections (they were fine), I discovered that one of the four pushpins for my Cooler Master Hyper-TX2 hsf had popped out and the hsf was loose on my CPU.

I reseated the hsf (after 40 minutes of pain) and booted into Windows, this time without getting the power cut, and my temperatures seemed normal (idling at ~45C). However, apparently the thermal paste that came with the Hyper-TX2 hsf was useless because when I tried to play Left 4 Dead, my E8400 hit 90C after only a few minutes of play. (Same happened when I tried to compile a program in Visual Studio 2008).

On Saturday morning, I went to Fry's and bought Arctic Silver 5. I cleaned the CPU + hsf with rubbing alcohol (70% isopropyl alcohol I think) and applied a thin line of paste as shown in http://www.arcticsilver.com/pd...s5_intel_dual_wcap.pdf. However, after booting again and going into the H/W Monitor in my bios, I found that I had booted at 52C and the temperature would keep jumping every second, reaching 86C before I shut the PC down and tried again, this time booting into Windows. SpeedFan and CoreTemp both reported the same absurdly high temperatures, so I shut down and started taking off the hsf to try to reapply the AS5. To my surprise, the CPU really did feel hot, but the base of the hsf didn't. I made another attempt but I still have hot temperatures.

Now that I've nearly broken the plastic pushpins on that damned Hyper-TX2, I must ask for help.

Is this a known problem with Arctic Silver 5 and the E8400? (I tried googling but none of the results showed the same continuously rising temperatures)
Could the CPU possibly have been damaged?
Could the motherboard socket possibly have been damaged?

Any help would be appreciated!

 

[Rike]

I'll wager that the only problem you have is a mechanical one; you don't have good contact between the CPU and the heatsink. If the push pins are having any difficultly, you won't have good contact. The push pins are fine for one or two mounts, but can get highly suspect after that. I'd suggest an alternate method of mounting the heat sink (bolt through possibly, just make sure you insulate the bolts and nuts with nonconductive washers on either side of the mobo to be safe.

P.S. There's no problem with AS5, there's likely no damage to your CPU (yet), and I'd doubt there was any damage to the mobo or it probably would even POST.

 

[dbcooper1]

Save yourself a lot of agravation and order one of these: http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/lgbowiscsp.html

 

[Rike]

Good call. Nice little kit. :thumbsup:

 

[xCxStylex]

Let me know if that kit works out for you.

I'm definitely not an expert, but is there a chance your CPU could have fried already? 86 and 90 Celsius seem hot as hell. Aren't the default temperature monitors supposed to shut off your system before that?

 

[Rio Rebel]

I've got the Hyper TX2, and it's a good cooler. I also had some heat problems with mine recently, because I wasn't getting it mounted well. That is almost certainly your problem.

Here's a tip: To remove the Hyper TCX, as you know, you have to turn the plastic mounting pushpins (counterclockwise, if I remember). To make it easier to remount, and to help it seat well, go ahead and turn the pushpins back 1/4 turn the opposite way (clockwise?) BEFORE you try to remount it. That way, once you get the pushpins lines up, you have the tension when you push the pushpin and it has a better chance of getting a good grip.

I struggled with mine a long time because I forgot this, and kept trying to mount the Hyper TX and THEN turn the pushpins to grip. It doesn't work well that way.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

sounds like you did some damage to your cpu, hate to break it to ya

 

[dbcooper1]

Originally posted by: BTRY B 529th FA BN
sounds like you did some damage to your cpu, hate to break it to ya

Doubtful, he should be ok unless he turned off thermal monitoring in the BIOS.

 

[VirtualLarry]

OP, if you've nearly broken the pushpins on your cooler, then they won't hold it down properly, and your temps will rise. Either get a fresh set of push-pins, or order a bolt-through kit, or get a new cooler.

I have the HyperTX2 on a few of my rigs, and it does just fine for overclocked dual-cores. I haven't tried it on quad-cores. But your temps are definately way too high, something isn't making proper contact. (Did you remember to connect the fan wire?)

Temps of 80-90C are too high for normal usage, but they shouldn't damage the CPU. Assuming that's core temps. If that's BIOS temps, then I agree, why didn't the mobo shut down the machine. BIOS temps shouldn't get above 75C or so. Intel limit on Tcase temps is around 73C.

 

[dbcooper1]

The spring loaded screw/pins with the backing plate also won't be prone to coming loose during transport. I have them on a couple Xigmatek S2183s and as big and bulky as those things are, they stay put during bouncing around in the car so far. I have much more confidence in them than anything with the pushpins.

 

[neothe0ne]

Well, I've confirmed it was indeed a contact issue. The continuously increasing temperature made me wonder if it was as if there wasn't a hsf at all, but on one of my several attempts I did confirm that AS5 was on the heatsink as well. I guess the Hyper-TX2 I used is simply "broken" now since another Hyper-TX2 I had on hand from a year or 2 back is working fine atm. I took advice and ordered a backplate for eventual installation, since I'm sick of pushpins and want something that can guarantee a more secure mount.

Moving on a bit, I've been hearing that SpeedFan is notoriously inaccurate at reading CPU temperatures and that one should use Core Temp instead. I've found that SpeedFan generally reports temperatures 5C higher than Core Temp for both cores. Does anyone know about this matter?

 

[dbcooper1]

A recent version of Realtemp seems to work besfor the 45 nm chips.

 

[neothe0ne]

Well, thanks everyone for their tips! Currently my 100% load temperatures are approximately the same or lower than my former IDLE temps before my pushpin popped out (current RealTemp readings adjusted by 10C for my former use of SpeedFan). I'm quite pleased with the bolt kit (though no one told me how hard it would be to take the pushpins apart or actually place the bracket under the motherboard =\)

 

[eternalone]

The secret with the Intel heat sink is to leave the pins in the same position that they originally came in, only turn the plastic screws when removing the heat sink from the motherboard. Now that the plastic pins are in the original position you push down on both the 1 and 3 pins at the same time, then proceed with the 2 and 4 always diagonally. So you dont even have to mess the plastic pins at all unless your removing. It took me along time to figure that out because the intel heatsink goes against your fist logic well at least my first logic. LOL

 

[neothe0ne]

Originally posted by: eternalone
The secret with the Intel heat sink is to leave the pins in the same position that they originally came in, only turn the plastic screws when removing the heat sink from the motherboard. Now that the plastic pins are in the original position you push down on both the 1 and 3 pins at the same time, then proceed with the 2 and 4 always diagonally. So you dont even have to mess the plastic pins at all unless your removing. It took me along time to figure that out because the intel heatsink goes against your fist logic well at least my first logic. LOL

That's irrelevant because my secured pushpin(s) popped out long after it was first installed, as I indicated in my first post...

 

[dbcooper1]

Originally posted by: neothe0ne
Well, thanks everyone for their tips! Currently my 100% load temperatures are approximately the same or lower than my former IDLE temps before my pushpin popped out (current RealTemp readings adjusted by 10C for my former use of SpeedFan). I'm quite pleased with the bolt kit (though no one told me how hard it would be to take the pushpins apart or actually place the bracket under the motherboard =\)

Hopefully only the FIRST one was a challenge. What kind of problems did you have installing the baseplate under the board?

 

[neothe0ne]

Originally posted by: dbcooper1

Originally posted by: neothe0ne
Well, thanks everyone for their tips! Currently my 100% load temperatures are approximately the same or lower than my former IDLE temps before my pushpin popped out (current RealTemp readings adjusted by 10C for my former use of SpeedFan). I'm quite pleased with the bolt kit (though no one told me how hard it would be to take the pushpins apart or actually place the bracket under the motherboard =\)

Hopefully only the FIRST one was a challenge. What kind of problems did you have installing the baseplate under the board?

Just what I said.. placing it under the motherboard so it would line up with the four holes =\ I didn't want to take out my motherboard because I'd have to reconnect my 9 Azalia/HD audio pins for the front jack which would have been a pain, so I simply unscrewed the motherboard and tried to get the bracket lined up with the holes.

 

[dbcooper1]

Didn't catch that; yeah, it's a lot easier with the board out. Glad you got it goiong- nice system.