Pc acting strange after Holiday

[PimpinPenguin]

I recently went on holiday but when i came back my pc was acting very slow and sluggish it takes over 10 min to start windows then usually after 15min the task bar and everything else messes up.

I then noticed then my processor temp was idling at 67C is that the problem cause it used to be a lot lower, it is a pentium 4 so can any tell me what might be up with it.

 

[Link]

First thing is to open it up and make sure the heat sink is on properly and the fan is spinning

 

[PimpinPenguin]

The fan is spinning fine and the heat sink seems ok.

 

[Asus]

Are both the hard drive and CD drive responsive once you are in windows? Have you tried switching the powersupply off on the back for 20+ seconds?

 

[PimpinPenguin]

yeah the hard drive workin bit slower than normal and my dvd drive fine. I unplugged my pc all night then when i switched it on the temp goes up to 73C then down to 68C and stays there till windows crashes.

 

[B_MAN]

sounds like a heat issue to me... 67C idle is really high

 

[Asus]

Do you know if your CPU automatically downclocks when it hits a certain temp? Like 70C or something. The Pentium 4's that came out later did that because they did get pretty warm.

Try running CPU-Z if you can get online and grab that program. It would tell you exactly what speed your CPU is running at when you run it.

Try very very quickly to touch the heatsink (shouldn't be worse than touching a hot seatbelt in a car in Arizona lol). It should be pretty warm if the CPU is reading 60+ for temp. If it isn't then that tells you the heatsink needs to be taken off and put back on correctly because it isn't transferring heat off the CPU very well.

 

[PimpinPenguin]

I tried that CPU-z and it said the processor is running at 2793.mhz Core speed so i think it's downclocked cause it's a 3.2ghz processor. I touched the heat sink and it's does feel hot. So is my processor dyeing then? cause right now it's running at 71C as i type this.

 

[Asus]

I don't think it is dying. But it's just over heating and crashing. Have you ever put a heatsink on a CPU with thermal compound? If you think you can then scrape off what is on there now, clean it off, put new compound on and attach the heatsink flat and snug against the CPU. Thermal compound drys up as it gets old and crusty so it doesn't do it's job. See if that helps with a new coat.