Funny sound from processor!

[r00ster]

Heya. I am having this interesting issue.

Every time I start loading big applications or open a lot of tabs in Firefox my computer starts making funny noises almost as if my hard drive is failing and then my computer crashes. I thought it was my hard drive until I tested another hard drive and still the noise came up.

I opened my case and heard it came from the processor area. As far as I know the processor doesn't make any noise so it must be the fan that is failing when big processes are running. Or am I mistaken?

Please help
Thanks

 

[tastegw]

sounds like the fan to me, can you check what rpm's its running in bios?

bios-->hardware monitoring

also it shows idle temp there, post that aswell.

 

[r00ster]

Heya, thanks for the quick reply.

I have a Pentium 4, 3.0ghz Prescott 1mb cache processor. The bios gave these readings:

4000 RPM (averagely)
CPU TEMP: 81 C (I bet this is the idle temp right?)
SYS TEMP: 73 C

Thanks

 

[Da Viksta]

:S:S:S 81C on idle? thats ridiculously high even for a P4, check that your fan/heatsink is seated firmly on the board, sounds like a loose connection maybe...

 

[tastegw]

Heya, thanks for the quick reply.

I have a Pentium 4, 3.0ghz Prescott 1mb cache processor. The bios gave these readings:

4000 RPM (averagely)
CPU TEMP: 81 C (I bet this is the idle temp right?)
SYS TEMP: 73 C

Thanks

oh my, 81 is high

i would try taking off the heatsink and re-applying some thermal paste.

but if you dont have any, go buy some first.

be sure you know how much to put on before attempting to do so.

usually, put the size of a grain of rice on the center of the cpu, and then sit the heatsink on it, then fasten the heatsink down.

rpms on the fan seem ok. have you moved your computer lately? perhaps the heatsink became loose or something.

 

[r00ster]

I actually thought it could be the conductive gel. When I took of the heatsink earlier today I saw the gel looked like it might need some touching up. So thanks, I will try again and get back to you!

Thanks

 

[Nick]

By some new thermal paste, clean the old stuff off using a credit card and some Isopropyl alcohol to get the old stuff off, then apply a thin layer too off the new thermal paste to the cpu.

 

[C0RR0SIVE]

One thing that can cause this noise, is the PSU, you said under heavy loads and the such, yes the CPU is getting abnormaly hot, but if this is a prebuilt machine or a lower end custom machine chances are the PSU is supposed to be the exhaust also, well once it gets hot enough or full of dust, it wont evacuate the air aroudn the processor sufficiently thus causing the processor to heat up a lot. And most of the time the CPU is right beside the PSU... So check the PSU, see if it is dusty and needs a good cleaning with canned air, and make sure that the fan on the back is working properly.

 

[Baez]

Get the dust out of the heatsink too. Noisy fans are usually caused by dust in the bearing.

 

[philbar71]

or the fan on the heat sink could be failing, might want to get a new heatsink.