This thread could go in 3 or 4 places, couldn't decide which is best. Is there one call Frustration Central? I don't know hardly where to start, but I need help, that I am sure of. :)

Trying to get a bottom line to shorten this post up is really hard, it's a long series of events I've been through to troubleshoot. The machine is currently on it's side, ready for the doctor....

It is running really hot and it hangs on shutdown.

It's a 2 yr old HP microATX; AthlonXP2800+ going through conversion. Now in a brand new (and hot :D ) big case; brand new 500W double fan PSU (was 250); with 5 additional fans (only one B4). Original board and drives.

It had all sorts of problems, hangs on shutdown for past few weeks, has messed up OS issues created mostly from me and a friend not knowing what we're doing. The other day it beeped nonstop twice in one day until I shut down. The windows were opening by themselves, then one time they constantly closed by themselves. But the processor temps were in the low 30s C.

Even though I may have installed the cooler slightly less than the best (didn't remove the old tape on the processor, only cleaned it with alcohol and put more artic silver on top of that) I got it on good without damaging the board; and it ran real cool. Had Motherboard Monitor on it.

Been going around in circles doing all sorts of troubleshooting. Got tired of that and decided to just reformat off the Windows2000 and put the original XP Home back on it with all the massive garbage from HP they give you. Yuk. Anyway, did that today. I've reformated and installed a few times and THIS TIME I was determined to do it right!!

I took it very slow with putting stuff on. Before getting online, I installed ZoneAlarm and AVG behind a router. It finally shut down correctly. Yeah!! :) I am so happy now to get my new machine going right. :)

Then I installed Spybot and Firefox. Then got online, updated the 3 programs, ran them and then installed MBM. Somewhere after installing ZA and AVG it stopped shutting down as it should. :confused: Then I saw the temp rising like crazy from the 50s to the low 60s C.

So I went offline and one by one uninstalled Spybot, stopped AVG, stopped Zone Alarm, stopped a dozen services (using blackvipers great website), disconnected the drives, took the panel door off - anything to cool it down and reduce power needs. Nothing did any good at all.

I learned that possibly the board is damaged or getting damaged as it is not absolutely solid without any movement in the case (if you press on it a little). When I installed it in the new case it was really hard to get in because of the IO plate that wouldn't go in all the way. I had to really push on the board to get the holes to line up.

Does that sound like I could have damaged the board?
Thing is, it ran good for several weeks and it still runs with the new OS. All the drives work now too.

Any ideas why it is running so hot? I've heard that the very low 50s is about the highest it should go for very long.

Thank you so much for your help. :)

I may have installed the cooler slightly less than the best (didn't remove the old tape on the processor, only cleaned it with alcohol and put more artic silver on top of that)

If reinstalling the CPU cooler, the old tape/compound MUST be removed, from both the heatsink and the CPU. Scrape most of it off using a piece of plastic, (NOT metal!) then clean with 90% or better alcohol. For best results the heatsink should be lapped to correct any curvature. ( search these forums for a how to)

I suggest that you do this as a first step. If the computer boots at all, it is probable that the CPU and motherboard are OK, but refit that cooler soonest!

Hi.
I lapped the heatsink with up to 1200 grid sandpaper. That was the highest I could find, so it will have to do. :) It is a lot shinier than it was, so hopefully that's ok. I cleaned the chip very carefully. It was a reddish purplish color. Does that sound right?

The temps are now a little better, but still not good enough to be safe. Its running 52 - 55 C mostly, with ZoneAlarm, AVG, MBM, Firefox running. 34 services. CPU usage at 2 to 7%.

It still hangs on shutdown.
But when I reformatted and installed XP Home it did shutdown correctly a couple of times. And the DVD and CDROM drives now work when they didn't before.

When it had W2K on it, the temps were super low - 30 to 35 C. But it was hanging on shutdown.

It is a very clean case, as it is brand new. The heatsink and power supply (500 Watt and 2 fans) is brand new and I also just installed 1 GB of brand new memory. It also has 5 brand new fans.

I tried it with the side panel off and it immediately gets hotter.

Is there something with the BIOS maybe that I should do?
I don't know very much about computers yet.

I really appreciate any help that you can give me.
It seems like a big mystery to me. :confused:

Thank you very much.
:) :) :) :) :) :) :)

It sucks to try to rebuild your first computer, spend a bunch of money and time, and then have it be in danger of burning up. :(
......just felt like saying that. sorry. guess I am moaning.

You certainly have enough fans, but where are they fitted, and in which direction are they blowing air? The usual path is in at the bottom front of the case, and out at upper back. Actually, 52-55 is not too bad for that processor, with a "stock" heatsink.

The fact that temperatures rise when a cover is removed suggests that the airflow is pretty good.

David: The fans were prei-installed with the new case I just bought.
The front one at the HD definitely goes towards the HD.
The power supply fan nearest the outside goes towards the outside.
It is hard to tell with the other ones. The air feels really cold from the exterior of the other fans.

In fact the fan on the side panel (120 mm) is so freaking cold that I had to move the computer further away from me because I start to get freezing after awhile! :D

There seems to be a lot of air going in both directions. Is there an easy way to determine for sure which direction? I guess I shouldn't assume that the case seller did it right.

I found the problem with shutdown. It was MotherboardMonitor. I took it off and it now shuts down fine every time.

Do you know of any other temperature monitors that are good and less likely to cause problems?

Thanks very much. :)

Glad you got the shutdown problem solved. The motherboard I have came with PCalert but I don't know if that can be downloaded for free. Speedfan (http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php) is another program that does a similar job. It may work OK for you.

As you say the temperatures rise with the cover open, it looks as if the fans are OK.