reason for shutdown (overheat)

Yesterday, my pc (Athlon1800+ ECS) which I built 2 yrs ago started shutting
down (pc goes off instantly with no warning) in less than 5 minutes after
startup.
It sounds like overheating mostly. I smell little something when it shuts
down. The fan is moving. Cleaning the fan did not help; putting a large room
fan in front of computer prolonges it . I find no shutdown reason in system
logs. What makes sense to do? just replace mother board and cpu? look into
any other logs?
thanks

Thats a rather vague way of looking for the problem(s)...Try unplugging the
pc right after it quits,after checking against static shock (touch the
case),feel
the components,which are overheated....Cleaning "a fan" doesnt really cut it,
remove all of em along with the heat sinks,clean them out...Remove the
video card,clean its connecting tabs to the mb,the list goes on and
on........

"elburze" wrote:

Yesterday, my pc (Athlon1800+ ECS) which I built 2 yrs ago started shutting
down (pc goes off instantly with no warning) in less than 5 minutes after
startup.
It sounds like overheating mostly. I smell little something when it shuts
down. The fan is moving. Cleaning the fan did not help; putting a large room
fan in front of computer prolonges it . I find no shutdown reason in system
logs. What makes sense to do? just replace mother board and cpu? look into
any other logs?
thanks

Always do the least expensive first!

The heatsink fins on the CPU cooler may be clogged with dust or dirt,
especially if you smoke around the computer. The fan may be spinning but the
air flow across the fins becomes obstructed. If you don't feel comfortable
disassembling and cleaning yourself, have a technician do it for you.

--
Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!



"elburze" wrote in message
...
Yesterday, my pc (Athlon1800+ ECS) which I built 2 yrs ago started
shutting
down (pc goes off instantly with no warning) in less than 5 minutes after
startup.
It sounds like overheating mostly. I smell little something when it shuts
down. The fan is moving. Cleaning the fan did not help; putting a large
room
fan in front of computer prolonges it . I find no shutdown reason in
system
logs. What makes sense to do? just replace mother board and cpu? look into
any other logs?
thanks

elburze wrote:
Yesterday, my pc (Athlon1800+ ECS) which I built 2 yrs ago started shutting
down (pc goes off instantly with no warning) in less than 5 minutes after
startup.
It sounds like overheating mostly. I smell little something when it shuts
down. The fan is moving. Cleaning the fan did not help; putting a large room
fan in front of computer prolonges it . I find no shutdown reason in system
logs. What makes sense to do? just replace mother board and cpu? look into
any other logs?
thanks

ECS is an El Cheapo motherboard maker. They're notorious for failures,
and have been since day 1. So check the capitiors. If any are bulging
or leaking (even a little teensy bit), They're bad. That means new
motherboard.

A power supply issue is also likely. Replaceing your current unit with
a high quality unit may help a lot.

Another thing to check is the heahsink itself. Is it seated firmly? You
may want to dedo the connection and apply new thermal paste. Remove the
old goop with alchohol. Purer is better.

wrote in message
oups.com...

elburze wrote:
Yesterday, my pc (Athlon1800+ ECS) which I built 2 yrs ago started
shutting
down (pc goes off instantly with no warning) in less than 5 minutes after
startup.
It sounds like overheating mostly. I smell little something when it shuts
down. The fan is moving. Cleaning the fan did not help; putting a large
room
fan in front of computer prolonges it . I find no shutdown reason in
system
logs. What makes sense to do? just replace mother board and cpu? look
into
any other logs?
thanks

ECS is an El Cheapo motherboard maker. They're notorious for failures,
and have been since day 1. So check the capitiors. If any are bulging
or leaking (even a little teensy bit), They're bad. That means new
motherboard.

A power supply issue is also likely. Replaceing your current unit with
a high quality unit may help a lot.

Another thing to check is the heahsink itself. Is it seated firmly? You
may want to dedo the connection and apply new thermal paste. Remove the
old goop with alchohol. Purer is better.


It is also possible that the thermal paste or thermal pad between the
processor and cooler has degraded. I have seen this cause the exact problem
you are describing, and fortunately it is easy to fix. Remove the cooler,
clean the proc and cooler with denatured alcohol until all traces of the old
thermal paste or pad are gone, and apply a good quality paste such as artic
silver or ceramique. Be sure to follow the application instructions
carefully; it is human nature to want to apply too much thermal paste, which
is not a good thing.

Bobby