Lessons Learned

  • Thread starter Thread starter BeeJ
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BeeJ

I installed the Media Center IR dongle to allow use of the remote
control. A few days later my PC just turned off. I hit the power
switch on the front panel and it started up and ran for days. Then
again it shut off. So I removed the only new thing, the IR dongle and
hit the front panel power switch and up it came. It ran for several
days, then the power went off again.

I looked inside and saw no lights anywhere. I saw a little dust here
and there but nothing significant, or so it seemed.

Then I got out my trusty LED flashlight and took a longer look.
Under the CPU fan I saw some gray something that looked like felt where
I expected to see the heatsink fins.
I poked at it with a stick and it wiggled.

I got out my miniature vacuum attachments and maneuvered it between the
fan blades and sucked the heck out of the thing. Now I can see
heatsink fins. After getting all that I could with the vacuum I then
applied a blast of air to get the remaining dust out of the CPU
heatsink under the fan. I did the same for the graphic adapter
heatsink and fan.

Now all is well. And dust free. Well at least for a little while.

Looking back:
The power went off when I asked the CPU to do some heavy lifting,
copying files and other stuff at the same time. That cause the CPU to
heat up and with no place for the heat to go. The CPU said it wanted
to take a break and shut down everything.

Wonder if they couldn't pop up an over temp message.
Could not find anything in the event log either.
Now I will have to write some code to monitor the temperature if I can
get at the readings seen in the BIOS.
Oh well, something new every day.
 
BeeJ said:
I installed the Media Center IR dongle to allow use of the remote
control. A few days later my PC just turned off. I hit the power
switch on the front panel and it started up and ran for days. Then
again it shut off. So I removed the only new thing, the IR dongle and
hit the front panel power switch and up it came. It ran for several
days, then the power went off again.

I looked inside and saw no lights anywhere. I saw a little dust here
and there but nothing significant, or so it seemed.

Then I got out my trusty LED flashlight and took a longer look.
Under the CPU fan I saw some gray something that looked like felt where
I expected to see the heatsink fins.
I poked at it with a stick and it wiggled.

I got out my miniature vacuum attachments and maneuvered it between the
fan blades and sucked the heck out of the thing. Now I can see heatsink
fins. After getting all that I could with the vacuum I then applied a
blast of air to get the remaining dust out of the CPU heatsink under the
fan. I did the same for the graphic adapter heatsink and fan.

Now all is well. And dust free. Well at least for a little while.

Looking back:
The power went off when I asked the CPU to do some heavy lifting,
copying files and other stuff at the same time. That cause the CPU to
heat up and with no place for the heat to go. The CPU said it wanted to
take a break and shut down everything.

Wonder if they couldn't pop up an over temp message.
Could not find anything in the event log either.
Now I will have to write some code to monitor the temperature if I can
get at the readings seen in the BIOS.
Oh well, something new every day.
Click to expand...

There are already utilities that can read out temperature.

http://www.almico.com/speedfan447.exe

Give that a try and see if the features are of any use.
In this screenshot, I can see "log" and "events", as well as "Mail".

http://www.almico.com/images/fancontrol3-l.png

Paul
 
I installed the Media Center IR dongle to allow use of the remote
control. A few days later my PC just turned off. I hit the power switch
on the front panel and it started up and ran for days. Then again it
shut off. So I removed the only new thing, the IR dongle and hit the
front panel power switch and up it came. It ran for several days, then
the power went off again.

I looked inside and saw no lights anywhere. I saw a little dust here and
there but nothing significant, or so it seemed.

Then I got out my trusty LED flashlight and took a longer look.
Under the CPU fan I saw some gray something that looked like felt where
I expected to see the heatsink fins.
I poked at it with a stick and it wiggled.

I got out my miniature vacuum attachments and maneuvered it between the
fan blades and sucked the heck out of the thing. Now I can see heatsink
fins. After getting all that I could with the vacuum I then applied a
blast of air to get the remaining dust out of the CPU heatsink under the
fan. I did the same for the graphic adapter heatsink and fan.

Now all is well. And dust free. Well at least for a little while.

Looking back:
The power went off when I asked the CPU to do some heavy lifting,
copying files and other stuff at the same time. That cause the CPU to
heat up and with no place for the heat to go. The CPU said it wanted to
take a break and shut down everything.

Wonder if they couldn't pop up an over temp message.
Could not find anything in the event log either.
Now I will have to write some code to monitor the temperature if I can
get at the readings seen in the BIOS.
Oh well, something new every day.
Click to expand...

Check whether your motherboard came bundled with an application to
monitor temperatures, fan speeds, power supply voltages, etc. Many do.
You may find that you've already got something which just needs
installing. Many have configurable limits for each parameter, and warn
you when these are exceeded.
--
Cheers,
Roger
____________
Please reply to Newsgroup. Whilst email address is valid, it is seldom
checked.
 
I installed the Media Center IR dongle to allow use of the remote
control. A few days later my PC just turned off. I hit the power
switch on the front panel and it started up and ran for days. Then
again it shut off. So I removed the only new thing, the IR dongle and
hit the front panel power switch and up it came. It ran for several
days, then the power went off again.

I looked inside and saw no lights anywhere. I saw a little dust here
and there but nothing significant, or so it seemed.

Then I got out my trusty LED flashlight and took a longer look.
Under the CPU fan I saw some gray something that looked like felt where
I expected to see the heatsink fins.
I poked at it with a stick and it wiggled.

I got out my miniature vacuum attachments and maneuvered it between the
fan blades and sucked the heck out of the thing. Now I can see heatsink
fins. After getting all that I could with the vacuum I then applied a
blast of air to get the remaining dust out of the CPU heatsink under the
fan. I did the same for the graphic adapter heatsink and fan.

Now all is well. And dust free. Well at least for a little while.

Looking back:
The power went off when I asked the CPU to do some heavy lifting,
copying files and other stuff at the same time. That cause the CPU to
heat up and with no place for the heat to go. The CPU said it wanted to
take a break and shut down everything.

Wonder if they couldn't pop up an over temp message.
Could not find anything in the event log either.
Now I will have to write some code to monitor the temperature if I can
get at the readings seen in the BIOS.
Oh well, something new every day.
Click to expand...

Try Sensorsview. It works well. I use it for many years now. You'll get
all the data you need.
And it's not too expensive. It's worth while the money.

Fokke
 
Check whether your motherboard came bundled with an application to
monitor temperatures, fan speeds, power supply voltages, etc. Many do.
You may find that you've already got something which just needs
installing. Many have configurable limits for each parameter, and warn
you when these are exceeded.
Click to expand...

If you don't, download Speedfan. That monitors all of the temperatures
it can detect.
 
Roger Mills said:
I installed the Media Center IR dongle to allow use of the remote []
Under the CPU fan I saw some gray something that looked like felt where
I expected to see the heatsink fins.
I poked at it with a stick and it wiggled.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...

I thought you were going to tell us you'd found something living inside
your PC!
[]
Check whether your motherboard came bundled with an application to
monitor temperatures, fan speeds, power supply voltages, etc. Many do.
You may find that you've already got something which just needs
installing. Many have configurable limits for each parameter, and warn
you when these are exceeded.
Click to expand...

Yes, that'd be a Windows something, probably on the motherboard CD, if
you built the PC yourself. Or one of the others recommended by those
here.

You may also find that the BIOS has something independent of Windows:
certainly that used to be common a few years ago, I don't know if it
still is on modern motherboards. If it is, it's usually thresholds
(sometimes that you can change), and if turned on, makes beeps from the
internal speaker/beeper (rather than via the sound output, in case you
have the external speakers muted or turned off) when the temperature
exceeds one of the thresholds - and does so regardless of operating
system. Assuming you actually have the internal speaker connected, that
is. (I say thresholds plural because there's usually a second threshold
temperature you can set above which it shuts down altogether rather than
just beeping.)
 
SpeedFan blue screened my XP Pro laptop twice so I gave up on that one.
Did not bother to try on my Win 7 machine.
 
I have written some code that looks good.
Get CPU temp, HDD Temp. CPU load.
Will polish it up and send it out later.

Where can I find recommended limit values to pop up and alarm at?
 
Roger Mills said:
I installed the Media Center IR dongle to allow use of the remote []
Under the CPU fan I saw some gray something that looked like felt where
I expected to see the heatsink fins.
I poked at it with a stick and it wiggled.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...

I thought you were going to tell us you'd found something living inside
your PC!
[]
Click to expand...

I did too. I was disappointed that it was only a dust bunny :-)
Yes, that'd be a Windows something, probably on the motherboard CD, if
you built the PC yourself. Or one of the others recommended by those
here.

You may also find that the BIOS has something independent of Windows:
certainly that used to be common a few years ago, I don't know if it
still is on modern motherboards. If it is, it's usually thresholds
(sometimes that you can change), and if turned on, makes beeps from the
internal speaker/beeper (rather than via the sound output, in case you
have the external speakers muted or turned off) when the temperature
exceeds one of the thresholds - and does so regardless of operating
system. Assuming you actually have the internal speaker connected, that
is. (I say thresholds plural because there's usually a second threshold
temperature you can set above which it shuts down altogether rather than
just beeping.)
Click to expand...

My Asus motherboard comes with a utility set that shows temperatures of
the CPU and a thing or two besides, and the driver set of the nVidia
video card has similar capabilities. Maybe BeeJ's equipment has
something similar available. There's also third party stuff, sometimes
free, but I haven't looked at that in years, so I have no relevant info
anymore.

I hardly ever look at those utilities lately, since it became clear
early on that everything is running under ~40 C.

Right now my GPU is at 32 C, the CPU is at 33 C, and the motherboard is
at 15 C. Looks like I better start doing some more demanding computing
:-)
 
I have written some code that looks good.
Get CPU temp, HDD Temp. CPU load.
Will polish it up and send it out later.

Where can I find recommended limit values to pop up and alarm at?
Click to expand...

Did you get any answers yet?

Fokke
 
BeeJ <[email protected]> said:
I have written some code that looks good.
Get CPU temp, HDD Temp. CPU load.
Will polish it up and send it out later.

Where can I find recommended limit values to pop up and alarm at?
Click to expand...
In your motherboard handbook, I suspect; this will show the defaults for
the BIOS-based (OS-independent) beeping mechanism. If you don't have
such a handbook, it might be downloadable from the mobo manufacturer.
 
I have written some code that looks good.
Get CPU temp, HDD Temp. CPU load.
Will polish it up and send it out later.

Where can I find recommended limit values to pop up and alarm at?
Click to expand...

As a last resort, you can copy the defaults from some of the other
programs that essentially do the same thing as what you're doing.
 
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