My puter go boom

It seems I can start it up fine, but if I do anything, like load a web page, the screen goes black & computer is unresponsive. After hitting the reset button, as soon as desktop loads I run speccy & its showing CPU temp at about 68 & coming down slowly. All fans ate working. Is it possible the paste between heatsink and processor needs more? New? Or is CPU on last leg with a cane.
Interestingly in CMOS the cpu temp is like 47 ish.

 

Dang Sir Dorham, I'm really sorry to hear that...

I've got no solution because I'm not comp savvy, but I can bump your post and hope someone that does know something about comps sees it...
Good Luck Sir Dorham!
~Time Lord~

 

Usually heat problems will cause auto-reboots rather than freezing. What happens if you let it start up and sit there for a while doing nothing? Are you getting anything in the event viewer (assuming you are using windows)? If it works just running idle then it is probably a software issue, as loading a webpage should not be resource intensive.

Unfortunately if you are not getting any errors it can be hard to track down. I would look for a Linux version on a usb stick and see if you can boot into that without issue: even a windows boot disk/stick. If you can do that and it appears stable I would zap your drive and reinstall the OS. If that still has problems then its probably hardware related and all you can do is start removing/replacing parts one at a time.

I have found that weird, unexplained problems are "usually" the power supply or the memory, so I normally start with those. The power supply is tricky because you need a known good one to replace it, but memory (if you have multiple sticks) can be tested by pulling one out at a time: Unless all of them are toast of course. Of course, you have to be comfortable doing this, which I assume is true if you are talking about thermal paste. Which BTW, might need to be reapplied but only usually after a long period of time. This would normally cause the CPU to heat up and the system will reboot or shutdown. If you really think it is heat related then it might be better to just clean everything out as best you can. Dust caught in the heatsink can become a problem.

In closing, without physical access to your equipment or some errors or logs not sure anyone can really help you. If you can't figure it out then you might want to take it up to Best Buy or some place that does computer repair. They at least have meters and extra parts to swap things out for debugging; although be careful as sometimes they are not trustworthy. We are in a world where people just landfill broken stuff and buy a new one.

I usually just buy some replacement parts and then RMA the old pieces if I can. That way I have spares.

 

It's entirely possible that the thermal paste needs to be replaced between the processor and the heatsink. That stuff dries out over time and cracks. The cracking lets air in. Air is an excellent insulator.

How old is your machine?

 

Its a quad core 2.33 running 6gb 800 MHz ram. I was going to upgrade in a few months, but not a week before my wifes birthday & say, sry hun, no money left for you....
I cleaned it out a week ago & then it ran great for a few days, temps dropped in windows to 50 & I could play the R8. I was thinking it might be software or memory, power supply is newer 700 watt master cool, I don't think that's the issue there. I'll try pulling memory sticks when I get home. & my son has Ubuntu on a stick or external hd somewhere, I'll try to track it down since he's not home for a few days yet.
Thanks for feedback, I still have laptop so not panicking till closer to R9

 

Even if it's not the thermal paste that's causing your problem, you should probably still consider reapplying. Get some compressed air and blow out the dust that's gathered in the heatsink, too. Also, consider replacing the CMOS battery.

The PSU (power supply unit) is a likely candidate, also, though I don't agree that RAM is. Issues with RAM would likely present differently, like through BSODs or failures to boot. It is possible for RAM to cause hanging, just not likely. Clean up your processor and test the PSU before worrying about RAM. The fact that your PSU is newish doesn't remove it from suspicion. Cooler Master has its duds. If you can get your mitts on a separate PSU, test it. It's easy. You don't even have to remove the old PSU from the case to do the test.

My money is still on heat, though, since you said that cleaning out the case improved stability for a time. If you're using an old graphics card, that could be causing your problems, too. (Overheating or faulty graphics cards can do all kinds of wonky stuff.) Same deal with sound cards if you have one. Bad PCI(e) cards can much up circuits quite nicely, so remove all unnecessary "addons" when doing your testing. Could just as easily be that your issue is being caused by something silly like a dying graphics card (which ties back into the PSU--a graphics card that's getting fluctuating voltages on the 12V rails or through the PCIe circuit will play tricks with whatever diagnostics steps you're trying to perform). If possible, remove the graphics card when you remove "all unnecessary addons".

1. Unplug everything with a cable except your keyboard. Try to start up. Launch a program using your keyboard (winkey, start typing "iexplore", enter). Alt+D will let you type in a web address without a mouse.

2. If that fails, remove all addon cards that are not required for you to run your computer. If you can, remove the graphics card. If you have a discrete sound card, remove that. Remove any other PCI(e) cards. If your motherboard is old enough that you have an AGP slot, remove that card, too. Repeat step 1 with all addon cards removed.

3. Grab some compressed air and a vacuum. Clean out the heatsink (the metal bit attached to your processor). You should be able to blow air either under the fan that is attached or through the blades of the fan to get dust out. With your case panel still off and the computer on its side, do step 1 again.

4. Detach your power supply from the motherboard. Attach a spare power supply. (Don't forget to connect it to the graphics card, too, if you need your graphics card to boot.) Try to boot using the spare power supply.

5. Test your RAM with a utility like MemTest86+. If your computer passed step 4, perform this test with your regular power supply.

6. Replace the CMOS battery. Check Google for help doing this. Be sure to look up instructions for your specific motherboard.

7. CAREFUL HERE. Remove the heatsink and fan from the processor. Prepare a solution of 50/50 high concentration rubbing alcohol (95%+) and distilled water. Dampen a clean microfiber cloth with the solution and use it to clean off the dried paste on both the heatsink and the fan. Be very thorough and do this in a place where no dust or pet fur is likely to get on either piece. Reapply thermal paste between the processor and the heatsink. If you don't know how to do this, consult Google. (It's not hard.)

 

On the bright side, your computer can now serve as a coffee maker!

But seriously, when I have had issues like this before the first thing to check is RAM. I see the response above, but don't skip the RAM because it is easy to check. If a RAM stick is loose because you moved the PC around, or if it is just bad for some reason, you could see black screens or blue screens or random rebooting. I have had exact issues like this due to RAM. Unless you are convinced it is overheating from the CPU or GPU, try taking one RAM stick out and rebooting. If that is not the issue, replace that stick, and remove another and reboot again and see. Then reseat both or multiple sticks and see how things go then. I have had to replace a RAM stick even on a high end Alienware PC in the past due to this kind of issue where the PC boots up, then stops responding. Replacing RAM is easy, and if that is the issue, it is a time saver compared to dealing with the CPU or GPU.

 

Could also be the Video card, that sounds like what my old computer was doing till I replaced the video card and then it ran perfectly

 

Beat me to it. An overheated card or a card going bad can just go down leaving the PC to seem dead or froze. I suggest you check to see if you have on board video as well. Plug the cord in that on board slot and start it up. Hopefully you do have on board video. Either way, if you can get your hands on any compatible video card for testing....

Hope you find out what's wrong

 

I pulled the oldest memory sim & things look good, thanks. Hopefully it'll stick & I'll replace with more memory
That CPU one was at 57-59 yesterday


*edit*
Meh, it did it again.

 

Not sure where everyone got the idea to start targeting CPU temp here but hey it's never a bad place to start.

I'd go with safe mode for your browser before I would worry about temps though. (200 f or 93 c is when things turn off)

 

Mem ok
Thermal paste replaced
realised that screen was going black at a mouse click, everything else was still on just black screen, ctrl/alt/del still black screen. unplug dvi from machine & plug into other slot, screen now at least goes to screen saving mode, plug back into other slot & screen goes back active but black. Changed mouse & still does it occasionally. So sounds like a software windows issue. Time to Re-install a Window :/. Cyas on the other side

 

Windows did apply an update earlier in the month that was causing a BSOD on some machines, and it was advised to uninstall it:

EDIT: After reading the Microsoft KB much more carefully and in line by line detail, the facts are that KB2970228 is for Windows 7 and Windows server 2008 ONLY and the same update is included in the Windows 8/Win8.1 roll up update KB2975719 for W 8.1 or KB2975331 for w8. That is why We advise ( and Microsoft do ) to uninstall those updates.

http://myonlinesecurity.co.uk/probl...2014-kb2982791-kb2970228-kb2975719-kb2975331/

But sounds like same problem I had a few years ago and it was the Graphics Card, just get a cheap one to slip in and see if it runs ok.

 

Is what I said!

 

I know you did, but I don't think that the ECS P43T-A2 motherboard as onboard graphics so he would need to get hold of a suitable card.

 

If you unplugged DVI from the tower and plugged it into a different "slot" on the tower, you were either switching DVI outputs on your graphics card or switching from your graphics card to onboard video. That would be a good indicator your graphics card is at fault.

 

Sounds like it was still blanking out with the other input: just triggering a standby instead of blanking. I would remove the video card and try going completely with the onboard video. If is stays stable then buy a new video card that should fix it. If its not stable then there is probably something else going on.

 

I re-installed Windows. So far Computer happy. It may of had an issue talking to video card correctly.

 

Glad its working!

 

Looks like im late to the party.. Well if im not to late.

Isolate first if its harware or software before doing anything!! Dont waste time trouble shooting until then.

Boot up in windows safe mode. If that works you know its not hardware!! Restore a restore point you know was good and boot into it... All working? Then it was software. Just go back to using it from the good restore point and add your software installs, and driver updates one at a time until you hit the issue.. And youll know what it was!!

Oh.. Dont forget virus checks? If your using nortons or mcafee.. You might want to get something better. I recommend NOD32.

If you do find it was hardware:

You checked fans, but did you check the power supply fan also? Ive had that go out and didnt think to check it right away

Other odd things to check:
Very rare.. But ive had it happen. Cable gone bad out of nowhere.. Very very rare, but possible.

This doesnt sound lije a hard drive error but if all else fails.. Check it. Get the mfgs software and do an extended test. I had a system file once, sitting on a hard drive in just the right way, that it corrupted just a tiny bit of it, so it caused weird errors and the rest of the time stuff was fine.. Including using the drive. You just never know. One of the last things to check but dont ignore it either

You can download memtest86 for free to test your ram.. Hmm assuming they still make it. I havent needed to check in a couple years. But it is the go to for ram testing.

All your other hardware.. Not a good way to test it other then testing with spares

Im certified as an IT pro, and ive had to take systems into somewhere before simply because i didnt have a spare or a way to test something. Chip testers and the like cost an arm and a leg.