[NatPortmanYUM]

Well yesterday I was playing the only game I do play on my pc, I seemed pretty laggy and thought to myself I have never cleaned the dust out from inside the case for my pc. I unhooked all the cords from the back, took off the side of the case. I used a hose from the vacum cleaner to get the dust on the bottom,top and sides. I used a damp cloth to wipe inside and around the fan. Was hoping this would help my game run smoother. But before I put the side of the case on, I tried to take the fan off to clean it better, it had 4 little handles around that were supposed to be turned to the right. After that was done I tried lifting it off, it came off like two inches, but didn't come all the way off. So I attached them back and hooked everything back up. Booted it up just to have it turn off 10 secs after, then it would keep turning on,off and so on until I turned off the power switch. I screwed around with the fan and tried to get the 4 switches in tighter. This time when I booted, everything went well but I noticed everything took alot longer to load up, it takes the game I play 1 minute longer to start up and it's unplayable due to the lag and I'm warping on the screen. Video on youtube or whatever are all choppy. I messed something up and now I'm kicking myself in the [bleep]. I hope it's something I can fix and not have to take it in to get repaired. Any suggestions?

PS: It also shuts down when I watch a movie that I have to download and playing fps games causes it to shut down after 10 mins or so.

Edited by NatPortmanYUM, 27 August 2007 - 12:14 PM.

[Advertisements]

Welcome to G2G, you've come to the right place!

It sounds to me the reason for the system shutting down like this & being generally slow, is because it's getting too hot.
Re. the fan with the 4 switches that you described - would this be the cpu fan by any chance? If so, which cpu (or cpu socket) do you have?

[Samm]

Welcome to G2G, you've come to the right place!

It sounds to me the reason for the system shutting down like this & being generally slow, is because it's getting too hot.
Re. the fan with the 4 switches that you described - would this be the cpu fan by any chance? If so, which cpu (or cpu socket) do you have?

[NatPortmanYUM]

Welcome to G2G, you've come to the right place!

It sounds to me the reason for the system shutting down like this & being generally slow, is because it's getting too hot.
Re. the fan with the 4 switches that you described - would this be the cpu fan by any chance? If so, which cpu (or cpu socket) do you have?

I bought it 2 years ago, it still ran my games pretty good up until I tried to clean it. About the cpu, it says I got 2.80 GHz 1.00 GB ram. I'm not sure if that was what you were asking for and the fan is below the little box where the power plug goes in the back.

[Dette]

Hmmm well if the fas is just in the case and below the power source then i doubt that would be the problem because that fan is just there to cool off your computer and stop it from over heating... is the fan working and still moving the air?

[Samm]

When you say the fan is below the little box (by which I assume you mean the power supply), is the fan fixed to the back of the case or is it attached to the large printed circuit board (motherboard)?
If you're still not sure what I mean, then think of it like this - do you have to open up the case in order to see the fan?

Can you download Aida32 please from the link below :
http://www.majorgeek...ownload181.html

The file that downloads will be a zip file. Double click on it to extract the contents. When extracted, double click the file called aida32.exe (it's file icon should look like a blue computer monitor).
When Aida opens, in the left pane of the window, go to the Computer->Sensor branch (click on the branch labelled 'sensor' to select it).
In the right hand pane, you should see some temperatures listed. Make a note of what each temperature is & let me know.

Next, select the branch called Motherboard -> CPU.
In the right pane, it should tell you exactly what processor you have. Let me know exactly what it says there. You can check the CPUID branch as well for any additional info on the cpu.

While you're at it - select the Motherboard -> Motherboard branch as well & let me know what it says for Motherboard ID & Name.

[NatPortmanYUM]

When you say the fan is below the little box (by which I assume you mean the power supply), is the fan fixed to the back of the case or is it attached to the large printed circuit board (motherboard)?
If you're still not sure what I mean, then think of it like this - do you have to open up the case in order to see the fan?

Can you download Aida32 please from the link below :
http://www.majorgeek...ownload181.html

The file that downloads will be a zip file. Double click on it to extract the contents. When extracted, double click the file called aida32.exe (it's file icon should look like a blue computer monitor).
When Aida opens, in the left pane of the window, go to the Computer->Sensor branch (click on the branch labelled 'sensor' to select it).
In the right hand pane, you should see some temperatures listed. Make a note of what each temperature is & let me know.

Next, select the branch called Motherboard -> CPU.
In the right pane, it should tell you exactly what processor you have. Let me know exactly what it says there. You can check the CPUID branch as well for any additional info on the cpu.

While you're at it - select the Motherboard -> Motherboard branch as well & let me know what it says for Motherboard ID & Name.

The temperatures are:
Motherboard-42'C
CPU-65'C
AUX-38'C

I took a screenshot for the cpu: http://i45.photobuck...81/AwE-/CPU.jpg

Motherboard ID % Name: http://i45.photobuck...motherboard.jpg

@Dette Yes, the fan is still working good,also the pc doesn't go off anymore but things have changed since I tried cleaning. Everything takes longer to load, can't play fps games like I could before.

[Samm]

OK, thanks for the screenshots. It took a while to figure out which board you have as the only info is a string of hexadecimal number for the board ID, but (for future reference) it seems you have a medion PC with an MSI motherboard + socket LGA775 pentium 4.

You say the fan in question is still working but you still haven't answered my earlier question re. whether or not the fan is attached directly to the rear of the case or the motherboard.
If it is the motherboard, then you will notice a metal heatsink directly underneath the fan. With the power turned off, you may want to check that the heatsink/fan assembly is securely connected to the motherboard. If there's any movement in it (without using excessive force), it would be causing the system to overheat.

Also, I would keep an eye on the cpu temperature (according to the aida32 screenshot, he temp at that time was 65C. This isn't dangerously hot for a P4 but if it goes up much above this it could be causing problems you described originally. I suggest you check the temperature at regular intervals & let me know what the max temp is it reaches, especially after putting the system under load by playing a game or similar.

Just to update, how any of the original symptoms are you still getting? i.e shutting down during some videos & games.

[NatPortmanYUM]

OK, thanks for the screenshots. It took a while to figure out which board you have as the only info is a string of hexadecimal number for the board ID, but (for future reference) it seems you have a medion PC with an MSI motherboard + socket LGA775 pentium 4.

You say the fan in question is still working but you still haven't answered my earlier question re. whether or not the fan is attached directly to the rear of the case or the motherboard.
If it is the motherboard, then you will notice a metal heatsink directly underneath the fan. With the power turned off, you may want to check that the heatsink/fan assembly is securely connected to the motherboard. If there's any movement in it (without using excessive force), it would be causing the system to overheat.

Also, I would keep an eye on the cpu temperature (according to the aida32 screenshot, he temp at that time was 65C. This isn't dangerously hot for a P4 but if it goes up much above this it could be causing problems you described originally. I suggest you check the temperature at regular intervals & let me know what the max temp is it reaches, especially after putting the system under load by playing a game or similar.

Just to update, how any of the original symptoms are you still getting? i.e shutting down during some videos & games.

I think the fan is attached to the motherboard. The pc doesn't shut down like the first time after I tried cleaning. Gaming, I'm not gonna bother until I get this fixed up. That's why I thought I messed up my graphics card ecasue I couldn't play the game lag free like I could before. Whenever I watch a video like on youtube, it doesn't run smooth, so I don't know what I did while cleaning that made all this happen!

[Samm]

Sounds like you may have disturbed the heatsink assembly while cleaning. Even if the heatsink is correctly attached & fan is working, you may have broken the seal on the thermal compound (between heatsink & cpu).

Just keep a close eye on the temperature for now & let me know what it peaks at

[NatPortmanYUM]

Do you think that it would be a wise idea to take it into a computer repair shop and get it fixed?

[Samm]

Hi

Apologies for the long delay but I've been really ill for last few days & have just re-surfaced now!

Re. your last question, I think you need to keep an eye on the temps - if the cpu temperature starts climbing too high, then yes, take it to a repair shop. Other than that, unless there are other problems, then I don't really see the point. The symptoms you described coupled with the fact that you cleaned inside the case & may have disturbed something, suggest that overheating may well be the problem here. Monitoring the temperatures will tell you if there really is a problem with heat, in which case, you need it looking at. If the symptoms are being caused by something else, then it's unlikely to be due to anything that you did while cleaning it.