Overheating from the start

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Squaggleboggin

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So I just completed my first build yesterday, and got my brother's old monitor today. I went to turn on the computer and nothing happened. Well, I put the pwr sw into different pins and voila it started up. All went well at first: it detected my master and slave hdds, my dvd rom, my usb ports, etc., and then when I tried to use my HP recovery disc from a different computer, it didn't work (I was more hoping that it would than anything). So I tried my IBM Windows 2000 recovery disc (which I know can install 2000), and my computer shut off. It shut off a couple more times after I tried a couple different things to get it to boot from the disc. I then opened up the case, and felt the air; all seemed normal. I put my hand in farther. Ouch! My CPU was overheating a LOT and the computer must have shut itself off to keep from getting burned. I'm not sure if the heatsink even turned on while the computer was on, but the strange part is that it was on for about ten minutes at a maximum. How could it overheat so much when I wasn't even doing anything? Has anyone had problems with a brand new computer overheating after just a few minutes? I'm not really sure what to do, but it's rather annoying not being able to use the first computer you ever built. :(
 
Some fans need a power supple feed. Check your fan to make sure it's plugged in. And you said that your Heat sink wasn't turned on... I don't think it ever can be off.
 
check the heat sink to make sure it is securely attached to the mobo and firmly seated on the processor.

Also make sure the fan on the heat sink is going/ plugged in.

I'm assuming you put thermal compund between the processor and the heat sink... :)
 
What kind of connection does your fan for your heatsink use? Molex or does it connect to the motherboard?
 
What I meant was that sometimes the heatsinks only kick in when the CPU is at a certain temperature, and if that's the case, mine never did that. Yes, I did plug it into power, and the 120mm case fan works as well. There was already some thermal compound on the heatsink. I also made sure the heatsink was locked into the mobo, so I don't think it's that either (the CPU was also locked in). Thanks for the quick replies. Any other ideas as to why it would overheat like that?
 
PSU...check the PSU/switch out the PSU. The PSU dumps heat into the case, for fans to blow it out.
 
So the PSU is heating up the CPU? I mean it's actually really really hot between the blades of the heatsink fan, and on the metal clasp to attach it to the motherboard as well.
 
Squaggleboggin said:
What I meant was that sometimes the heatsinks only kick in when the CPU is at a certain temperature...

I think your fan on the CPU heatsink should be on all the time. If it is not, you need to try a new heatsink or a new fan on the heatsink.

(that's if i'm understanding your post correctly.)
 
Well it might have been on, but if it was, it wasn't doing its job very well. I just thought that sometimes heatsink fans turned on when the CPU was at a certain temperature (just speculation) and that if my heatsink did that, it never kicked in. Perhaps it's just a bad heatsink. Maybe it's even blocking the heat from escaping the CPU's immediate area and actually causing it to overheat (?).
 
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