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General discussion (archive)Does anybody know what might cause this?(29 posts)(29 posts)
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Posted June 09, 2011
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SaraB123: Aliasalpha, thanks for that info. One question: how does one play with the CPU heatsink? Or maybe the question should be: what and where is the CPU heatsink?
When you open the computer up, the fan for the power supply will be on a big aluminium block, just grip it and twist it gently, it should have almost no movement, if it moves a fair bit it may just need to have a screw tightened

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SaraB123: I don't know who made the power supply and am at work right now (things are sloooow here) so I can't check, but it's a pre-packaged Dell machine about 3 years old.
Heh well I'm going to by cynical here and guess that dell used the cheapest power supply they could get away with so the chances of it being a power supply problem are failry high


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SaraB123: This is probably ANOTHER dumb question, but could this be caused by, say, a dusty machine? Could excessive cat hair cause these problems... because I have inherited a cat that likes to sit next to me while I play. Maybe I should try cleaning the thing out first... *waiting to be slapped upside the head*
Nah thats a good thought, it does make a lot of difference. Before using the can of compressed air that elisstar suggested, a paintbrush would be a simple way to get a fair bit of dust out.

One thing I can suggest, don't use a vaccuum cleaner on it whent he machine is on. I did that once thinking I'd brush the dust off the fan, the motion of the fan and the suction from the vaccuum would drag all the dust in and I'd actually get rid of it rather than just have it settle elsewhere in the room. Then I got the hard plastic hose of the vaccuum a wee bit too close to the surprisingly delicate fan blade on the cpu heatsink and one snapped off and the fan started to sound like an aircraft engine. It wasn't expensive to replace but did feel like a bit of a waste considering the computer died 6 months later
Posted June 09, 2011
Hey, thanks everyone! I will open up the case tonight (while wearing a surgical mask, I think) and clean the thing out. If it happens again, I'll buy a new power supply. Since the computer is only 3 years old, I am HOPING that it isn't the CPU yet. If it doesn't happen again, I will put it down to just an electrical glitch on a hot June night.
Posted June 09, 2011
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SaraB123: This is probably ANOTHER dumb question, but could this be caused by, say, a dusty machine? Could excessive cat hair cause these problems... because I have inherited a cat that likes to sit next to me while I play. Maybe I should try cleaning the thing out first... *waiting to be slapped upside the head*
It's a good question actually, yes on both accounts. Dust and hair can collect inside the machine so it's definitely something you should check into.

(I was a PC technician for a retailer years ago, and it was shocking how bad some people's computers were inside. Literally piles of dust and hair and junk.)
Post edited June 09, 2011 by elisstar
Posted June 09, 2011
I seriously doubt it is a problem with the cpu overheating. They will shut the computer down but normally they will throttle themselves in order to keep heat down, if it were throttling then it would cause bad framerate in the game and probably result in angry quitting of the game followed by complaints in the forum.

PSU is the most likely cause. Never buy a cheap psu as they are garbage and a danger to the computer, they never survive stress tests and most can't even run at their own rating. If you have to buy another, an indication of quality is how heavy the device is. A PSU shouldn't be overly light otherwise they have gone cheap and don't have necessary components.

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elisstar: (I was a PC technician for a retailer years ago, and it was shocking how bad some people's computers were inside. Literally piles of dust and hair and junk.)
Not at all shocking really. Most people wont ever open up their case so they have no way of knowing how bad it gets inside. This reminds me that a couple of months ago I opened my case up and thought it needed a clean but never got around to getting some compressed air, gotta get onto that.
Post edited June 09, 2011 by sera
Posted June 09, 2011
Dell machines have proprietary power supplies which have a different pin-out than what you'd get on other units. If it is the PSU, you'll need to look at getting a replacement from Dell.
Posted June 09, 2011
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SaraB123: This is probably ANOTHER dumb question, but could this be caused by, say, a dusty machine? Could excessive cat hair cause these problems... because I have inherited a cat that likes to sit next to me while I play. Maybe I should try cleaning the thing out first... *waiting to be slapped upside the head*
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elisstar: It's a good question actually, yes on both accounts. Dust and hair can collect inside the machine so it's definitely something you should check into.

(I was a PC technician for a retailer years ago, and it was shocking how bad some people's computers were inside. Literally piles of dust and hair and junk.)
Smokers are the worst. Just seeing the inside of that will turn you off of smoking for life.....unfortunately that doesn't work for the owner of the computer. :(
Posted June 09, 2011
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sera: I seriously doubt it is a problem with the cpu overheating. They will shut the computer down but normally they will throttle themselves in order to keep heat down, if it were throttling then it would cause bad framerate in the game and probably result in angry quitting of the game followed by complaints in the forum.

PSU is the most likely cause. Never buy a cheap psu as they are garbage and a danger to the computer, they never survive stress tests and most can't even run at their own rating. If you have to buy another, an indication of quality is how heavy the device is. A PSU shouldn't be overly light otherwise they have gone cheap and don't have necessary components.
I had a case with my computer about a month ago where it would shut down because something was overheating. Upon further investigation the problem was a CPU fan clogged up with dust, so these things do happen.
Posted June 09, 2011
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Coelocanth: Dell machines have proprietary power supplies which have a different pin-out than what you'd get on other units. If it is the PSU, you'll need to look at getting a replacement from Dell.
Actually, the machine that I changed the PSU on was a Dell, and the pins were the same, although I did have to rip a hole in the back of the case to fit the fan box now that I think of it. But thanks for reminding me - it probably would be best to buy it from them, just to be sure it will fit.
Posted June 09, 2011
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Coelocanth: Dell machines have proprietary power supplies which have a different pin-out than what you'd get on other units. If it is the PSU, you'll need to look at getting a replacement from Dell.
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SaraB123: Actually, the machine that I changed the PSU on was a Dell, and the pins were the same, although I did have to rip a hole in the back of the case to fit the fan box now that I think of it. But thanks for reminding me - it probably would be best to buy it from them, just to be sure it will fit.
Perhaps they changed their design. I haven't owned or opened up a Dell in quite some time, but I know it used to be that you either had to get a new PSU from Dell or you had to change the pin-outs on a brand name PSU.
Posted June 09, 2011
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DosFreak: Smokers are the worst. Just seeing the inside of that will turn you off of smoking for life.....unfortunately that doesn't work for the owner of the computer. :(
Ohh yeah. Everything...even the piles of dust get yellowish and kinda sticky. I had a few bad ones like that. Yuck!
Posted June 09, 2011
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SaraB123: Actually, the machine that I changed the PSU on was a Dell, and the pins were the same, although I did have to rip a hole in the back of the case to fit the fan box now that I think of it. But thanks for reminding me - it probably would be best to buy it from them, just to be sure it will fit.
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Coelocanth: Perhaps they changed their design. I haven't owned or opened up a Dell in quite some time, but I know it used to be that you either had to get a new PSU from Dell or you had to change the pin-outs on a brand name PSU.
If I'm recalling correctly, this was about 4 years ago. I had to upgrade my graphics card and therefore the power supply to play Oblivion on my old machine.
Posted June 09, 2011
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SaraB123: Actually, the machine that I changed the PSU on was a Dell, and the pins were the same, although I did have to rip a hole in the back of the case to fit the fan box now that I think of it. But thanks for reminding me - it probably would be best to buy it from them, just to be sure it will fit.
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Coelocanth: Perhaps they changed their design. I haven't owned or opened up a Dell in quite some time, but I know it used to be that you either had to get a new PSU from Dell or you had to change the pin-outs on a brand name PSU.
That was true many, many years ago, but has not been so for any generation of Dell since the 1990's. And the only thing those are good for is a doorstop or a space heater, anyway.

All Dells that are anywhere close to current, if they take an ATX form factor supply, use the standard pinout.

Some Dells, principally the big-box XPS and Precision units, have power supplies that are nothing like ATX style. You can recognize these instantly, because the power supply will be some big elaborate thing that is obviously not ATX.
Posted June 09, 2011
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cjrgreen: That was true many, many years ago, but has not been so for any generation of Dell since the 1990's. And the only thing those are good for is a doorstop or a space heater, anyway.

All Dells that are anywhere close to current, if they take an ATX form factor supply, use the standard pinout.
Thanks for the heads up. As I noted, it's been a long time since I opened one up. Didn't think it had been that long, but thinking back on it now, I guess it was 10 or more years ago. Where does the time go?
Posted June 09, 2011
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sera: I seriously doubt it is a problem with the cpu overheating. They will shut the computer down but normally they will throttle themselves in order to keep heat down, if it were throttling then it would cause bad framerate in the game and probably result in angry quitting of the game followed by complaints in the forum.

PSU is the most likely cause. Never buy a cheap psu as they are garbage and a danger to the computer, they never survive stress tests and most can't even run at their own rating. If you have to buy another, an indication of quality is how heavy the device is. A PSU shouldn't be overly light otherwise they have gone cheap and don't have necessary components.
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Whiteblade999: I had a case with my computer about a month ago where it would shut down because something was overheating. Upon further investigation the problem was a CPU fan clogged up with dust, so these things do happen.
I did say it could happen. A modern cpu under normal conditions should throttle itself at unsafe temperatures, throttling obviously means the cpu doesn't work as hard and therefore cools down quite quickly. If for some reason it didn't throttle or the heat was still building up then it will shut down (you hope, or very bad things will happen).

I had the cpu throttling on me a couple of years back and took me ages to figure out what was going on. One game just periodically went into a bad framerate for a minute or two, since it was only that game I thought it was an issue with it. Turns out that game really worked the cpu and the dust buildup was just a little much for long sessions of high cpu usage. When I figured that out I just used a paintbrush as a quickfix to clean the heatsink and fan, I was preparing to remove the heatsink, give it a complete clean and reapply thermal paste but it turned out I didn't need to do anything further.
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Community
General discussion (archive)Does anybody know what might cause this?(29 posts)(29 posts)
(29 posts)