Hardware Monitor Error

[NikUk]

Ok, so like I booted up HL2 this morning and got stuck in. Had lots of fun until I got inside the compound, (where the ant lions are backing you up). Then I realised that stupid me, I hadn't swapped my ZBoard over to the gaming board. So I did. And HL2 just got stuck, because I couldnt swap in the middle of the game. But then It wouldnt work when I swapped it back, or plugged in an old keyboard, so I couldnt access the menu's to quit. So I hit the power button, which initiated a system shut down, but when the machine booted up again, I got a Hardware Monitor Error, hit del to enter bios, or F1 to skip. So my Zboard being usb dont work for this, so I plug my old Keyboard in and go and have a look in the relevant bit in the bios. The fan was in the red, but nothing else seemed to be a problem. So I restart and get the same message. So I skip. When i reboot HL2 guess what, within seconds the game is jerking about and stuttering and its become unplayable, no matter if I reduce the settings.
I have a pentium 4, 1.8G, 1G of ram, 256K Graphics ATI Radeon.
The machine is like 4 years old... and I guess that the CPU fan has gone kaput. I have tried to clean it to no avail.... any ideas anyone? Cheers!

*edited to remove minor spelling error*

 

[NikUk]

Bump...

 

[Phisionary]

what to say?

first off, CPU's from 4 years ago had no thermal protection. So if you run your system with no working fan it could fry it. I dunno, starting from off, just going to BIOS? Probably be ok.

Second. Fan in the red? More detail please. Fan RPM was what? CPU Temperature was what? Just want to make sure we know the problem. Have you opened the case to make sure the fan isn't running?

wait.. wait. It's not 4 years old if it's a P4 ...
um... :|


if your fan has died... buy a new one. They run from $15 - $50, depending on how cool they keep your CPU and how quiet they are. Buy cheap or quiet, your preference.

Edit: I supposed you'd need some thermal interface too. Artic Silver or whatever. If you don't overclock, the stuff that may (or may not) be shipped with the cooler would be sufficient... It's inferior, but should work ok.

 

[NikUk]

Ok thanks for getting back to me. The machine was bought about 4 years ago. I'm sure of that because I met my wife 4 and half years back, and we bought the machine some time in the next year. So maybe 3 and a half years.

Not sure what the rpm count was, i didnt see that detail, but the CPU temperature was about 75c.

I have taken the cover off, and the fan is spinning, but it seems slower than the one at the back of the machine, and it makes some funny noises if I boot up from cold.

I am going to buy a new fan asap, but I just wanted to see if anyone had thought it may be something else...

Cheers...

 

[Phisionary]

sometimes the bearings can go out on fans. they still spin, but the bearing doesn't work they way it should.

well, I'm assuming that it's the fan from what you've told me. If you wan't to check, boot up, go immediately to the BIOS, and go the the hardware monitor page. It should have a fan RPM field. For a regular stock fan, I can't imagine it would be under 2000 RPM if it's working right (more likely 5500 or so).
Don't boot up. The p4 should have automatic throttling and thermal protection circuit, so it wont burn out, but it can't be good to run it at 75C either, IMHO.

You can probably pick one up at a local place for maybe 7 dollars. Computer repair places almost always jack up prices on things like that. The prices at a mainstream computer/electronics place (IF they carry what you need) would have better prices I'd think. Make sure you get the right size, It's probably 60mm, but might be 80. You need to get one that connects to the same kind of plug (The little quarter-inch wide motherboard-fan-header plug, I'd guess). I think they all are nowadays, but you wan't a ball-bearing fan. Some can be noisy, some are quiet. I dunno what brands to look for and such.

GL.

 

[NikUk]

Phisionary,

Many thanks for your response again. I think it must be the fan, and plan to replace it at my earliest convinience. I will keep you updated to my progress, thank you...

Best wishes,

Nik

 

[gweedodogg69]

most CPUs are designed to run up to around....180 F. I don't know what that is Celcius, but so far my brand new system is at 31C

*edit 180F is about 82C so...yea