My processor fan cooked. The fan was dead for a week plus. The processor got hot enough to cook the heat dissipating grease! It seems(?) to still work ok. Problem is that the clock (on the screen) slows about 5 or so minutes a day. If I reboot it comes back with the correct time. When it gets behind it starts to have problems. Like when clicking with the mouse and hearing the computer echo the action 30 times! It also slows down and becomes useless or freezes. I also noticed sites like Microsoft report it's performance as a 120Mhz and others have shown it as 116Mhz when it is an AMD K5 166, kind of a big difference.....Is the chip cooked? How do I test it for sure? How do I find out what will fit this motherboard? Any and all information is greatly appreciated!

Thanks
Ken

Well I'm certainly no expert here, but it's always been my understanding that electronics (including CPUs) have two states: working and broke http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif Ifyour system runs then the CPU isn't fried. The AMD K5 doesn't put out all that much heat, especially compared to the newest processors. If the heatsink is well-installed it could probably handle it -- which it did.

If you were running windows OK with the dead fan then it probably wasn't getting critically hot. Windows usually crashes at a temperature lower than what is critical for the CPU.

It's my understanding that 116MHz is in fact the correct speed for the K5 166. The "166" is some sort of AMD rating, meaning it compares in performance to an Intel 166MHz chip.

Simply test is of course to put the CPU into another similar machine and watch for the symptons you describe. Sorry I've never encounter the mouse wierdness.

In response to the mention of windows crashing- oh you betcha! It was shutting down to the point that I called Microsoft and used my free tech time from buying '98 second edition. That is how I found out that it was the fan-many hours of working on the software before it dawned on the tech it was hardware related! The fan died again about six months later (Radio Shack, such high quality!) This time it went fanless for about two days before I caught on (I'm getting better). Also, paying close attention to it today, it loses about 10 minutes every 8-12 hours, we've had to reboot twice today. If I had logged on with it like that I would get kicked off the web after about 5 minutes, then the computer would not respond, lock up and I would have to turn it off.

Any clues? Thanks for all the help & info!
Ken

This might be part of the problem?? The computer clock battery (or CMOS) preserves the computer setup information as well as the date and time shown by the system clock.
A total failure means that the user cannot use the PC until the information is restored. Computers turned on and off each day are more prone to failure.........a weak battery may fail completely after you turn off your system! One of the first warning signs is loss of time by the clock. Replace the battery.