[ The PC Guide | Systems and Components Reference Guide | The Processor | Processor Physical Characteristics | Processor Cooling ]

Processor Cooling Problems

Processors, like all electronic equipment, have a specified safe temperature range that represents their limits for normal operation. If the processor overheats, problems are usually the result. These problems can take many different forms, and can be extremely difficult to diagnose because they often appear to implicate other parts of the system. Since the processor is at the center of everything that happens in your PC, if it is malfunctioning then essentially "all bets are off".

The most common symptoms of an overheating processor are system crashes, lockups and random reboots. Of course other problems can cause this behavior as well. An overheating processor can also manifest itself through memory errors, application errors, disk problems, or a host of other things. A severely overheated processor can also be permanently damaged, although this happens rarely. See this section of the Troubleshooting Expert for more help if you are having system problems related to cooling.

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