Hdd Causing Cpu Overheating

[turbopowerdmaxsteel 0]

I just got a seagate 1 TB Hard Disk Drive to give the old 360 GB some company. It is causing my CPU to overheat or so the BIOS is reporting. The system abruptly shuts down and the next time I turn it on, I hear the overheat beeps. Its only when I remove the HDD that the system is able to boot. When I check the temperature through the Hardware Monitoring feature in the BIOS, it reports 80 degrees Celsius with the old disk and 104 when I re-connect the new HDD.Can the HDD cause the CPU to overheat or is the disk causing the CPU heat sensors to go bonkers? My hardware configuration is given below:-Motherboard > Intel D915GAGProcessor > Intel Pentium 4 3.0 HT RAM -> 2 x 512 MB PC400 DDRHDD -> 360 GB Seagate (Old), 1000 GB Seagate (New)CD/DVD-ROM Drives -> Samsung CD Writer & Samsung DVD RAM DriveSMPS -> 450 W

[Entheone 0]

I must admit that I'm quite amused to have lived long enough to see the day when hard-drives overheat CPUs. God help us all!

 

OK, I don't know for sure what's going on with your hardware, but I'd still like to try and offer some help with this. First of all, have you tried removing the older, 360 GB hard-disk and plugging the new 1TB one by itself and see what your BIOS reports? Give that a shot, it should give us a decent idea of the relative heating both hard-drives cause.

 

As for the rationale behind this overheating, well, this is the first time I've come across a problem like this so I can't be sure. But my assumption is that the new HDD is draining a lot of electrical power, which is putting a load on the power supply, which makes it unable to give the CPU fan(s) enough power to run at their usual speed. I know this sounds too far-fetched, but it's the only thing I can think of right now.

[yordan 10]

I would also try removing all the box doors. If the box is fully open, the overheat should be less active. You could even try blowing with something external (like a newspaper) when the box is open, refreshing the hard disk. If the problem still occurs, that would mean that the Entheone version is correct, you have an electrical power problem and not an overheating problem.

[turbopowerdmaxsteel 0]

The error happens even if I use the disk by itself (removing the other HDD and CD/DVD Drives). Ever since the chasis fan broke, the cabinet has been running without the side doors. This has helped maintain the system zone temperature at levels much lower than the fans ever could. Although, it didn't really effect the processor temperature.I have used two HDDs before without this kind of a problem. Also, the product specification states that it consumes less power than previous models.Surprisingly, the drive seems to be working fine after I exchanged the SATA & power cables of the two drives. So it could just have been a loose connection. In any case I am not going to touch the interiors of the cabinet for the next three months or so. I can only upgrade the system (Motherboard, Processor & RAM) by then. I think the board is nearing its end because there have been issues with other hardwares too.I also cleaned the CPU & its heatsink following which the CPU temperature has dropped to 58-60. One of the wires of the +5V power connector came off while I was trying to take it out. I found burn marks all around that pin. The system though, is working after I plugged it back in.

[wutske 0]

So from what I read, the overheating was caused by a defective cpu fan ? I think that was quite obvious because even the fastest P4 Prescott doesn't idle at 80°c .

[turbopowerdmaxsteel 0]

Yes the heatsink was dusty and caused the 80 °C temperature. But, there's something still fishy about the 104 °C being reported when the new HDD was connected. Like I mentioned before, it didn't occur once I exchanged the IDE & Power cables. I still think that if I were to touch the cables again, the temperature would go beyond 100 °C.

[faulty.lee 0]

Yes the heatsink was dusty and caused the 80 °C temperature. But, there's something still fishy about the 104 °C being reported when the new HDD was connected. Like I mentioned before, it didn't occur once I exchanged the IDE & Power cables. I still think that if I were to touch the cables again, the temperature would go beyond 100 °C.

How long does it take the CPU temperature to reach 104°C? If it's immediate it could have been faulty reading. I'm seen similar cases when a wrongly configured temperature reading software could get wrong reading, and sometime even negative.
Cases like this could have been cause by anything. Anyway, if it's 104°C inside, I bet you can feel the "warmth" nearby. Imagine standing near a pot of boiling water.

[wutske 0]

How long does it take the CPU temperature to reach 104°C? If it's immediate it could have been faulty reading. I'm seen similar cases when a wrongly configured temperature reading software could get wrong reading, and sometime even negative.
Cases like this could have been cause by anything. Anyway, if it's 104°C inside, I bet you can feel the "warmth" nearby. Imagine standing near a pot of boiling water.

That's not always true. If the heatsink has a bad or no contact, you'll hardly feel any heat comming from the cpu, it'll power of before it can heat up the environment.

@turbopowerdmaxsteel: if it ain't broke, don't fix it

[turbopowerdmaxsteel 0]

How long does it take the CPU temperature to reach 104°C? If it's immediate it could have been faulty reading. I'm seen similar cases when a wrongly configured temperature reading software could get wrong reading, and sometime even negative.
Cases like this could have been cause by anything. Anyway, if it's 104°C inside, I bet you can feel the "warmth" nearby. Imagine standing near a pot of boiling water.

It first happened 20 minutes into the installation of Windows. But, after that it seemed to occur in seconds, even after the PC had got a rest of 5 hrs or so.

That's not always true. If the heatsink has a bad or no contact, you'll hardly feel any heat comming from the cpu, it'll power of before it can heat up the environment.
@turbopowerdmaxsteel: if it ain't broke, don't fix it

You are correct. Without the thermal paste between the CPU and heatsink, the temperature goes very high. In any case, I am not touching it until something happens by itself.

Thank you all for your help!

[xboxrulz1405241485 0]

Try getting a chassis fan because I never heard of such issues before. It'll make sense for laptops, but for a desktop tower? Is this a Mini-ITX?Else, I don't see how it affects the CPU at all. It could also be a coincidence that your CPU Fan might be dud or there's just some problem with the thermal paste or just the heatsink?Then again, it has been known that the Pentium series, especially the later ones of the series had thermal issues where they overheat easily. If your system is a Socket P (LGA 775), I'd recommend bumping it to an Intel Core 2 Duo.xboxrulz

[turbopowerdmaxsteel 0]

I think its a Micro ATX (doesn't seem to be labelled anywhere). The cabinet is very spacious and there is no congestion whatsoever. Also, I have kept the sides open to allow the heat to flow out. The board does have the LGA 775 socket and it has been going well beyond the 68 °C warning limit during heavy CPU usage, even from the first day I purchased the board. I remember letting Norton Antivirus on to do a full system scan. When I came back, I saw the system turned off. On powering it back on, BIOS reported that the computer was shut down because of a thermal overheating event. I installed Intel's Desktop Utilities that came with the Motherboard's support disc and used it to monitor the temperature in Windows. 68 °C is the warning level set in this tool by Intel for the processor.I too am itching to dump this system and upgrade to a Core 2 Duo with DDR2 RAMs, but I can only do that after 3-4 months when I get a job (hopefully).

[xboxrulz1405241485 0]

I think you need to get an aftermarket cooler since I believe that your system has insufficient cooling in the first place. A CPU should never operate over 45C on idle and over 55C on load (unless the manufacturer specifies otherwise).

For a system that won't produce a lot of heat and still provide quite the punch, I would recommend you get an AMD Phenom X3 (or X4 is better).

I'm running an AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ overclocked to 2.78 GHz. It runs very stable at an average temperature of 45C and it doesn't ever peak 48C on full load. I have a Zalman CNPS-8700 heatsink. For more information of my build, check it out here: http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/

xboxrulz

[yordan 10]

but I can only do that after 3-4 months when I get a job (hopefully).

At least congrats for the job, this is an important milestone in real life.

[xboxrulz1405241485 0]

I think its a Micro ATX (doesn't seem to be labelled anywhere). The cabinet is very spacious and there is no congestion whatsoever. Also, I have kept the sides open to allow the heat to flow out. The board does have the LGA 775 socket and it has been going well beyond the 68 °C warning limit during heavy CPU usage, even from the first day I purchased the board. I remember letting Norton Antivirus on to do a full system scan. When I came back, I saw the system turned off. On powering it back on, BIOS reported that the computer was shut down because of a thermal overheating event. I installed Intel's Desktop Utilities that came with the Motherboard's support disc and used it to monitor the temperature in Windows. 68 °C is the warning level set in this tool by Intel for the processor.
I too am itching to dump this system and upgrade to a Core 2 Duo with DDR2 RAMs, but I can only do that after 3-4 months when I get a job (hopefully).

I think it may also just be because your ambient air temperature is just too hot. Like I'm looking at your physical location, it may just be ambient air temperature. Try to keep it between 18C - 25C in your room for your hardware to not go KFC.

At least congrats for the job, this is an important milestone in real life.

Yes, congrats indeed.


xboxrulz

[turbopowerdmaxsteel 0]

I think it may also just be because your ambient air temperature is just too hot. Like I'm looking at your physical location, it may just be ambient air temperature. Try to keep it between 18C - 25C in your room for your hardware to not go KFC.

It could be a factor. The room I am currently in, is a total mess and its not equiped with an AC. But, its the onset of winter and temperature's expected to drop by 5-8 degrees in the coming weeks.

At least congrats for the job, this is an important milestone in real life.

Yes, congrats indeed.xboxrulz

Thanks.

I think you need to get an aftermarket cooler since I believe that your system has insufficient cooling in the first place. A CPU should never operate over 45C on idle and over 55C on load (unless the manufacturer specifies otherwise).
For a system that won't produce a lot of heat and still provide quite the punch, I would recommend you get an AMD Phenom X3 (or X4 is better).

I'm running an AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ overclocked to 2.78 GHz. It runs very stable at an average temperature of 45C and it doesn't ever peak 48C on full load. I have a Zalman CNPS-8700 heatsink. For more information of my build, check it out here: http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/

xboxrulz

Mine barely goes below 55 °C when its low on usage. I think I'll stick to this for the time being considering that it has been able to surive 20+ hrs of daily onslaught for 3 years now.

I saw your machine. It appeared very pretty with that, LED heatsink, was it? I doubt those are available over here. I'll probably have to order those. Also, it was very clean & shiny (must tell you mine didn't look so even on the first day). I am curious to know if the current generation of AMD processors can beat/match the Intel dual core CPUs in performance. They are known to produce less heat and consume less power, aren't they? I've also heard that hardly any softwares of today can utilize the full power of Intel Core 2 Duos; and as such, going for a quad core would be a waste.
Edited November 22, 2008 by turbopowerdmaxsteel (see edit history)