This Scared Me! Plz Help!

[Centropolis]

Last night, I was playing Command & Conquer Generals. All of a sudden, I got kicked out of the game and into Windows XP. It had a windows saying something like....

Your system has just experienced a serious fault/problem related to over-heat or virus....or something.....

I didn't get to read everything and I'm so used to closing popups that i closed it before reading everything. But it had something about overheating.

I do not overclock......i only have one harddrive. My computer is pretty new....about 3 months old. After this error....I felt the machine and it did feel very hot but I had nothing to compare to to decide if it was normal or higher than normal.

I immediately turned off my computer for an hour before I turned it on again.

I am quite worried that my PC is over-heating for some reason.

Anyone have experienced that error before??

 

[Cappy]

Was that a Windows OS pop up ? Write down the error code .
Are you running XP ? .
Have you did a complete updated Virus scan ? What are the specs on your Sytem ? Have you changed any hardware recently?
How old is the system ? You havent given us much to go on .

 

[fyyer]

Windows XP as far as I know doesnt give a damn if your computer overheats or not (meaning it doesnt have any detection capabilities I dont think) The most that would happen if your cpu started to overheat is it would shut itself off.

Do you have Microsoft Messenger installed and running? Spam bots will send you random messages about something or other and it pops up as if its an alert window.

 

[preet2u]

Centropolis : Firstly ...list ur system specs...

fyyer : If by any change he has an intel motherboard ..which has the active monitor ..that normally does this kinda thing ...

It could also be from some other monitoring software..

 

[Centropolis]

Was that a Windows OS pop up ? Write down the error code .
Are you running XP ? .
Have you did a complete updated Virus scan ? What are the specs on your Sytem ? Have you changed any hardware recently?
How old is the system ? You havent given us much to go on .

Sorry guys. I really didn't consider putting specs in my message! So here they are:

AMD 2600+ XP (Barton core)
Asus A7V8X-X motherboard
WD 80Gb HDD
512MB RAM
MSI FX5200 128Mb videocard
LG DVD-CDRW combo

I bought it about 3 months ago. It was a windows popup looks like. It was within windows.

BTW, one important thing I thought of this morning.....I noticed when I was playing C&C that the graphics were really slow. I had it set at 1024x768 and with high details. EVerything was very slow.....and I assume it took a lot of processing out of the video card. Will video cards heat up more if I have more intense graphics running?

 

[Shrapnill]

Well, windows doest track temps or virii so thats in your imagination. The message was most likely "Windows XP is recovering from a serious error." This message comes up when you screw something up and windows has to reboot. The message likely had nothing to do with gaming you probably crashed to desktop because you had a popup.

And to answer your second question, yes a video card runs marginally hotter under load, however the real heat comes from long hours of load.

Your motherboard shoulda come with a disc, and on that disc should be a copy of ASUS PC Probe. That will monitor everything on your mobo including temps. If you dont have it on disc, get it right here. If that doesnt cut it, try seeing if MBM works with that motherboard. In fact here Ill check myself... yea the A7V8X-X is supported. So grab MBM and check your temps. Anything above 60 degrees Celcius is hazardous. I keep my temps below 40 at all times, but 50-55 isnt terrible, just not ideal.

 

[Centropolis]

Well, windows doest track temps or virii so thats in your imagination. The message was most likely "Windows XP is recovering from a serious error." This message comes up when you screw something up and windows has to reboot. The message likely had nothing to do with gaming you probably crashed to desktop because you had a popup.

And to answer your second question, yes a video card runs marginally hotter under load, however the real heat comes from long hours of load.

Your motherboard shoulda come with a disc, and on that disc should be a copy of ASUS PC Probe. That will monitor everything on your mobo including temps. If you dont have it on disc, get it right here. If that doesnt cut it, try seeing if MBM works with that motherboard. In fact here Ill check myself... yea the A7V8X-X is supported. So grab MBM and check your temps. Anything above 60 degrees Celcius is hazardous. I keep my temps below 40 at all times, but 50-55 isnt terrible, just not ideal.

Ok. I've installed Probe on my machine. My CPU temp right now is 67C and motherboard temp is 35C. Is this all normal? Or should I try and lower them by installing a case fan? I mean it's only $10.

Also, the program says the nominal CPU fan rpm should be at 6000 and baseline is 600. Probe says I have around 3400. Could this be a potential problem? Should I install a better CPU fan as well?

 

[preet2u]

Centropolis....Now u nailed ur problem ... Ur CPU temps are really pretty high ... I would defiantely suggest u change ur CPU heatsink ....

As an immediate solution .. what u do is to clear up the tangled cables inside the system..to provide better airflow ...n' leave the case side panels open ...

 

[ekÆsine]

if you are using a thermal pad instead of paste that is the source of your overheat problem.

 

[Shrapnill]

Whoa yea Cent, we need to know your cooling layout as it stands right now. Describe your case and how the fans inside are organized. As i- one front intake, two rear intake and whatever heatsink you currently have (and if you know what kinda compound you have on it that helps also).

With this info we can decide if you need a better heatsink/fan or more fans in the case or what. As Preet pointed out, a temporary solution is cleaning up cables and/or removing side panels from the case.

The cases ambient temperature (35C) isnt abnormal so to me its your heatsink/fan on your processor. Theres great solutions out there for under $50 USD. So once we get that info we can help you decide an action.