[NSteinmetz]

Hi, I got a 6 year old PC, it has no viruses or problems as far as i can tell softwarewise. The problem is that when i have been playing games something on my computer starts to beep/alarm whatever you want to call it. I was just wondering if its the graphics card that is going out or what the deal is. I cleaned out my whole tower multiple times with cans of air and swabbed out my graphics card so that it could get clean air to it but it just doesint seem to stop whatever problem is going on. The longer I let it go the worse the performance is, it will start to lag down, games will freeze ect. The problem is getting worse because even if i leave the computer running idle (not sleep mode) it will sometimes start to beep or if i have multiple programs running (Iexplorer + virus protector scan). Ive had the problem for about 1 year and a half just because i cant figure a solution to this and lack of money to upgrade.

specs: Intel® Pentium® 4 CPU 3.40GHz duel core, NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT, windows XP home

I have checked the temp on the graphics card and i can touch it when the computer is beeping so i dont think its over heating.

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How much total ram memory do you have?
Name brand system or custom built?
If name brand what make and model?

Download Speedfan (The download link is to the right), and install it. Once it's installed, run the program and post here the information it shows.
The information I want you to post is the stuff that is circled in the example picture I have attached.
To make sure we are getting all the correct information it would help us if you were to attach a screenshot like the one below of your Speedfan results.

To do a screenshot please have click on your Print Screen on your keyboard.

• It is normally the key above your number pad between the F12 key and the Scroll Lock key
• Now go to Start and then to All Programs
• Scroll to Accessories and then click on Paint
• In the Empty White Area click and hold the CTRL key and then click the V
• Go to the File option at the top and click on Save as
• Save as file type JPEG and save it to your Desktop
• Attach it to your next reply

Lets take a look at the hard drive and see what you have.

Go to
1: Start
2: My Computer
3: Right Click on "C" drive
4: Click on Properties
5: In this field it will tell you total drive space and also free space

Please include results in your next reply

[rshaffer61]

How much total ram memory do you have?
Name brand system or custom built?
If name brand what make and model?

Download Speedfan (The download link is to the right), and install it. Once it's installed, run the program and post here the information it shows.
The information I want you to post is the stuff that is circled in the example picture I have attached.
To make sure we are getting all the correct information it would help us if you were to attach a screenshot like the one below of your Speedfan results.

To do a screenshot please have click on your Print Screen on your keyboard.

• It is normally the key above your number pad between the F12 key and the Scroll Lock key
• Now go to Start and then to All Programs
• Scroll to Accessories and then click on Paint
• In the Empty White Area click and hold the CTRL key and then click the V
• Go to the File option at the top and click on Save as
• Save as file type JPEG and save it to your Desktop
• Attach it to your next reply

Lets take a look at the hard drive and see what you have.

Go to
1: Start
2: My Computer
3: Right Click on "C" drive
4: Click on Properties
5: In this field it will tell you total drive space and also free space

Please include results in your next reply

[NSteinmetz]

2 gb ram
Alienware Area 51 desktop
c drive: 232 gb capacity used: 125 gb, free 107 gb
d drive: 232 gb capacity used: 133 gb, free 99.5 gb

K i cant get the picture to save to mspaint for some reason but heres the info:

fan1: 0rpm gpu:40c
fan2: 0rpm temp1:-25c
fan3: 0rpm temp2:-26c
cpu 2040 rpm temp3:-26c
nb 33000 rpm hd0: 33c
sys: 0rpm hd1:29c
aux1 0rpm cpu:58c
aux2: 0rpm sys:27c
pwm2:52c

vcorea:3.26v -12v: 0.72v
vcoreb:3.26v -5v: 1.84v
+3.3v: 3.26v +5vsb: 5.64v
+5v: 5.08v vbat: 0.00v
+12v: 11.55v nb core: 1.55v

cpu core: 1.37 v
ddrvdd: 1.86v
3.3v: 3.37v
5v: 5.19v
12v: 12.18v

I dunno if this really matters but i also took off the side of the tower and have a desk fan blowing on the graphics card.

[rshaffer61]

Something is not right here. According to what you are showing you have 2 physical drives in your system.
Is this correct?
Neither drive is even half full so the problem is not space.
Download Autoruns from the link in my signature below:
1: Extract the Autoruns Zip file contents to a folder.
2: Double-click the "Autoruns.exe".
3: Click on the "Everything" tab
4: Remove any entries that mention "File Not Found" by right-clicking the entry and select Delete.
5: Go to File then to Export As or Save in some versions.
6: Save AutoRuns.txt file to known location like your Desktop.
7: Attach to your next reply.


After this please do the following.
Go to
Start and then to Run
Type in Chkdsk /r Note the space between k and /
Click Enter ...It will probably ask if you want to do this on the next reboot...click Y
If the window doesn't shutdown on its own then reboot the system manually. On reboot the system will start the chkdsk operation
This one will take longer then chkdsk /f

Note... there are 5 stages...
It may appear to hang at a certain percent for a hour or more or even back up and go over the same area...this is normal...
DO NOT SHUT YOUR COMPUTER DOWN WHILE CHKDSK IS RUNNING OR YOU CAN HAVE SEVERE PROBLEMS
This can take several hours to complete.
When completed it will boot the system back into windows.

Let me know if this fixes the problem

[NSteinmetz]

Yes I have 2 harddrives on the computer, sorry should of stated that before

Ill run the scancheck right now, I am pretty sure its not the drives its not acting funky from what i can tell though, although i cant tell where the darn beeping is coming from lol its kinda frustrating.

[NSteinmetz]

Yes I have 2 harddrives on the computer, sorry should of stated that before

Ill run the scancheck right now, I am pretty sure its not the drives its not acting funky from what i can tell though, although i cant tell where the darn beeping is coming from lol its kinda frustrating.

[NSteinmetz]

Also I ran the scan disk and it still started beeping after about 15 mins of play (the game was sc2beta that i tested on) but any high end game is making it beep.

[rshaffer61]

OK what i need you to do is get it to the beeping and then take a new speedfan results.
It sounds like a over heating issue but not sure if it is video or cpu.
The only way to tell is to take a reading when it is beeping.

[NSteinmetz]

gpu: 68c
temp1 -11c
temp2 -11c
temp3 -11c
hd0: 31
hd1: 27
cpu: 75
sys: 26
pwm2: 63

When it does start beeping the gpu icon (generally a green checkmark next to it) it changed to a fire icon. The cpu and pwm2 always have that fire icon next to it even if it is idoling. Is there any real way to keep it cool or to fix that?

[123Runner]

Based on what you gave us the GPU (graphics card) is 68 celsius = 154.4 F.
Its burning up.
If it has a fan, then its not working or the heat sink (if it has one) might need new thermal paste.

Try and get more air right on the GPU and see if things change.

[NSteinmetz]

K cool and should i be concerned with my cpu running that high or is it ok?

[rshaffer61]

That was my concern is the CPU temp looks a little high.
How old is the system and did you apply any thermal paste when building it?

Edited by rshaffer61, 22 April 2010 - 04:50 PM.

[123Runner]

Walked right by that 1.
CPU temp at 75 is quite high also.

[NSteinmetz]

I didint build it, it was dell (alienware) that created it. It is 6 years old or so probably the thermal paste is just erroded or the system is just getting too old?

[rshaffer61]

Possible the thermal is worn out . Might be worth a look to see and replace if so. Run the system for a few minutes to warm the paste up and the heatsink and fan should separate with no problem then. Clean the old paste off and apply about a pea size to the heatsink and spread it around. Reattach the fan and try it.
The GPU I'm not sure if the heatsink and fan can be separated.