Hi,

I've had my computer around 2-3 years and believe it's overheating. I intend to buy a new system but that won't be until around september.

Everytime i run quite intensive applications and programs, the monitor goes off aswell as the power light, however, the fan can still be heard spinning and the system doesn't appear to turn off. The time it takes for this to happen is anything between 5minutes and a couple of hours. It's being happening alot more recently of late, though whether the cause of this is the room temperature it is in or not i'm not too sure.

I have installed 'SpeedFan', when it's run it displays the following:

Temp1: -55
Temp2: -2
Temp3: 64 (on average, it fluctuates, it also displays a flame icon)
HD0: 42

Fan speeds are at

Fan1: 3245rpm
Fan2: 2377rpm

Though whether that helps or not i do not know.

My system spec's are as follows:


Windows XP with SP2
Intel Pentium 4 3ghz
1 gig of ram
230gb hdd


Thanks for the help, if you need more info let me know

Unplug everything and open up the case > there's probably tons of dust > you can either blow yourself (that's what she said) or go out and buy some compressed air (it's cheap and can be found at walmart, radioshack, bestbuy, anywhere that sells computers).

The Pentium 4 is a good processor but it gets REALLY hot.

Will definitely give that a try, by looking at the case, the holed area where the fans are do have visible dust build-up, however i wasn't too sure if that could cause such a problem? Another thing was why would speedfan display negative values for temperatures?

I never trusted speed fan. Temperature readings can only get so accurate without actually having a thermometer on the cpu.

And dust not only stops fans from working, but it is also an insulator which keeps the heat inside of the case.

Ooh thanks alot for the help, i'd not thought about it keeping the heat inside aswell (which i really should've done, considering the course i do lol).

I know you don't trust speedfan (i'm pretty skeptic too tbh), but what temperature's is the P4 supposed to run at usually? Or more importantly, what temperature does it become critical (and hence shut down the computer).

Thanks again

If I'm not mistaken it starts getting pretty hot when you get to the mid-high 60s and will start shutting down when you hit 70+.

There's a little thermal diode on the inside of your computer that reports the heat to the BIOS, but with the P4 it sometimes reports a lower temperature, so your cpu could actually be a bit hotter.

Also, don't use a vacuum to get the dust out. With debris hitting the sides of the vacuum (the metal part), it creates a static charge which, if touched to a metal part of your system on accident, can fry your system.

My computer overheated for over 2 years. BSOD every 15 minutes, anyone? What I ended up doing, was opening up the shell, and blowing the crapload of dust out of the fan. I'd use compressed air, if i were you. Either that or leave the shell open, all the time.

~Dark

Redmonke's advice is good; if the system looks dusty then it is almost certainly that causing the problem. Definitely don't use a vacuum cleaner Hold down the top of the fan(s) to stop it moving while you use the compressed air; otherwise it will spin faster than it is meant to, which could damage it. Be sure to clean out your computer in a well-ventilated area, try not to breathe in the dust, and wear long sleeves to stop the dust going on your skin. This may sound like extreme measures but as well as the dust, there will be chemicals inside your computer (particularly if it's quite old) that can be harmful. This Lifehacker guide walks you through the process of cleaning your computer if you need help - although in that guide they put oil on the fan axles; there are mixed opinions about doing this, so I recommend you don't.

And about the temperature your CPU is supposed to run at. According to this Intel support page, the maximum temperature your CPU should be without it being damaged is 70 C. And I'm not certain, but I'm pretty sure the recommended temperature is somewhere around 50 C. So (based on the Speed Fan readings - I'm going by Temp 3 as it seems the most realistic; I know Speed Fan can be a bit unreliable, but right now it's the best indication of CPU temperature we've got), your CPU is running dangerously close to being damaged by heat, so you need to sort this overheating problem out as soon as possible.

Hope I've helped