Help...comp shutdowns 10 seconds after boot

[altcomphardware]

Hi guys. I have an AMD XP 2500+ Barton CPU on an Abit NF7 motherboard.

I recently cleared out some old thermal paste that I overapplied and
put a measured amount (about 1/3g or half the size of a pea) on the
CPU. I cleaned out the old paste using isopropyl alcohol and cotton
buds.

The BIOS reports the idle temperature to be about 44 Celcius. Not very
low, but not very high either. It is stable. For it to be shutting down
in 10 or so seconds at stock speeds it would have to be gaining a few
Celcius every second...which it isn't doing.

If I attempt to overclock it, the PC shuts down within 3 or so seconds.
The shutdown is accompanied by a two tone beep (like a police siren).
Leaving it for a minute or restarting does not change the shut down
time, which makes me suspect it might be a false alarm. I need to do a
BIOS reset via the jumpers to get back into the BIOS.

Now the PC shuts down after 10 or so seconds at stock speeds. I have
loaded the "Fail Safe" and "Optimal" defaults with no success.

Is there any reason why my computer is behaving this way?

The thermal compound I am using is this:
http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/72291

It was cheap stuff but I decided to give it a shot anyway as I could
discard it for Artic Silver if it didn't perform. The reviews seemed
alright too.

Is there some way I can force the motherboard to ignore the thermal
shutdown?

 

[Rod Speed]

Hi guys. I have an AMD XP 2500+ Barton CPU on an Abit NF7 motherboard.

I recently cleared out some old thermal paste that I overapplied and
put a measured amount (about 1/3g or half the size of a pea) on the
CPU. I cleaned out the old paste using isopropyl alcohol and cotton buds.

The BIOS reports the idle temperature to be about 44 Celcius.
Not very low, but not very high either. It is stable.

How are you measuring that ? In the bios or with something like Everest ?

For it to be shutting down in 10 or so seconds at stock speeds it would
have to be gaining a few Celcius every second...which it isn't doing.

Yeah, tho it could be warming up the remains of the
old paste in that time and its conducting or something.

If I attempt to overclock it, the PC shuts down within 3 or so
seconds. The shutdown is accompanied by a two tone beep (like a
police siren). Leaving it for a minute or restarting does not change
the shut down time, which makes me suspect it might be a false alarm.

Yeah, certainly suspicious.

I need to do a BIOS reset via the jumpers to get back into the BIOS.

Thats even more suspicious.

Now the PC shuts down after 10 or so seconds at stock speeds.
I have loaded the "Fail Safe" and "Optimal" defaults with no success.

Is there any reason why my computer is behaving this way?

Likely the remains of the original paste you didnt get out completely.

The thermal compound I am using is this:
http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/72291

It was cheap stuff but I decided to give it a shot anyway as I could
discard it for Artic Silver if it didn't perform. The reviews seemed alright too.

Yeah, you dont need the fancy expensive stuff.

Is there some way I can force the motherboard to ignore the thermal shutdown?

There should be a temperature setting in the bios to shut down at and
you can usually disable it there too. Bet it wont make any difference
tho because its likely not that thats shutting down so quickly.

 

[altcomphardware]

How are you measuring that ? In the bios or with something like Everest ?

Yes, I'm measuring it from the BIOS. The Abit NF7 mobo has a "PC Health
status" that reports temperatures, voltages and fan RPMs.

Yeah, tho it could be warming up the remains of the
old paste in that time and its conducting or something.

That was what I was thinking. I tried to get as much of the old thermal
goop off as possible, but some of it got worked in between the tiny
(~1mm) IC chip legs visible on the board around the CPU die. If the
thermal paste is only slightly conducting, it would short out the
connection.

Yeah, certainly suspicious.

Leaving it for a bit longer seems to help now though. I can get into
Windows. Same shut down once I run Prime95.

I am not sure if this is related but once I noticed the shut down
happened about half a second after a really noisy fan came on. There is
a fan on the motherboard itself that I am pretty sure is the culprit.

If it is not running as fast as it should, could this be responsible?
How can this fan be replaced?

Thats even more suspicious.



Likely the remains of the original paste you didnt get out completely.

OK, what about a malfunctioning motherboard fan (above the AGP slot -
Google for the manual nf7_series.pdf)?

Yeah, you dont need the fancy expensive stuff.


There should be a temperature setting in the bios to shut down at and
you can usually disable it there too. Bet it wont make any difference
tho because its likely not that thats shutting down so quickly.

Yup. The shutdowns still happen after I disable the CPU shutdown (but
leave the CPU warning at about 95 Celcius).

AIUI some people say their Bartons idle at 45 Celcius without any
thermal paste.

 

[Rod Speed]

Rod Speed wrote

Yes, I'm measuring it from the BIOS. The Abit NF7 mobo has a "PC
Health status" that reports temperatures, voltages and fan RPMs.

Yeah, but that is measuring the temp with the cpu doing bugger all.

See what Everest says.
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=4181

That was what I was thinking. I tried to get as much of the old thermal
goop off as possible, but some of it got worked in between the tiny
(~1mm) IC chip legs visible on the board around the CPU die. If the
thermal paste is only slightly conducting, it would short out the connection.

Leaving it for a bit longer seems to help now though. I can
get into Windows. Same shut down once I run Prime95.

I am not sure if this is related but once I noticed the shut down
happened about half a second after a really noisy fan came on. There
is a fan on the motherboard itself that I am pretty sure is the culprit.

If it is not running as fast as it should, could this be responsible?

Unlikely that it would shut down so quickly due to that.

How can this fan be replaced?

Just like any other fan.

OK, what about a malfunctioning motherboard fan (above
the AGP slot - Google for the manual nf7_series.pdf)?

See above.

Yup. The shutdowns still happen after I disable the CPU
shutdown (but leave the CPU warning at about 95 Celcius).

AIUI some people say their Bartons idle at 45 Celcius without any thermal paste.

Yeah, I doubt its the new paste, likely the remnants of the old paste.

I'd have another go at cleaning it better.

 

[Hachiroku]

How are you measuring that ? In the bios or with something like Everest ?


Yeah, tho it could be warming up the remains of the
old paste in that time and its conducting or something.


Yeah, certainly suspicious.


Thats even more suspicious.



Likely the remains of the original paste you didnt get out completely.



Yeah, you dont need the fancy expensive stuff.


There should be a temperature setting in the bios to shut down at and
you can usually disable it there too. Bet it wont make any difference
tho because its likely not that thats shutting down so quickly.

Hey, guys...

I went to Radio Shack and bought the absolute WORST stuff for $3.99, and
slathered it on, evenly and neatly, but used a fair amount.

I'm running 2.8 GHz on a 2.4 AMD core, and don't have too many problems...if
I try to go a bit faster Linux closes some background processes, and when I
check the BIOS I am running 38C/100F. This should not be a problem!

When I DO crash every 10 seconds, it's because my memory is running too
fast. So, I separate the mem speed from the clock speed, jack up the clock
speed a few more MHZ, and continue.

I would check the memory speed and see what's up there. If you have a SuSE
Linux boot disk (CD) you can boot to it and then run the Memory Test option.
It will give you an idea of what your memory is doing. I find I can run at
1974 MB/s, but when i clock it to 2009 (stock speed) it will run MEMTEST OK
but then crash Windows just like you're describing.

If you're crashing Linux, well, that's a different story. I'm running x86 64
and don't find it ANY better than x86.
Maybe I'll horse around with an old drive set to x86 this weekend and report
back!

If you don't have the SuSE Linux boot CD, you can download the ISO here:

http://www.novell.com/products/suselinux/downloads/ftp/int_mirrors.html

find a mirror near you, burn it and boot!

Good Luck!