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Seuss
Error: divide byzero



Registered: 04/27/01
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Computer randomly turns off after an hour or two
#16524052 - 07/13/12 04:21 AM (11 years, 6 months ago) |
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One of my clients asked me to take a look at their sons computer. It randomly turns off after a few hours of usage. My initial thought is a thermal problem... but when I open up the computer, it is spotless inside. No dust, fan spins, etc... I unplug everything that I can and boot from optical... let it sit on the install screen and sure enough, after a few hours it turns off. Strange... put in known good memory and test again... same thing... hmm... maybe something with the power supply. Test with a known good power supply... same thing... grrr...
At this point, I suspect a bad CPU. My guess is that the temperature sensor on the CPU die has gone bad and is telling the computer to shutdown at odd times. I pull the fan/heatsink to put in a known good CPU and... there is still a plastic cover with a "remove me" sticker between the heatsink and the CPU. WTF!?
The client didn't tell me the whole story. The computer had been turning off after a few minutes of up time. His son determined that the CPU fan wasn't working, so he replaced the CPU fan/heatsink assembly. Unfortunately, he forgot to remove the plastic cover over the TIM on the new heatsink before installing. The problem improved, with the computer staying on for a few hours rather than a few minutes, but was obviously not fixed.
They would have saved an hour of labor had they told me the heatsink had been replaced. The first thing I would have checked was the TIM on the new heatsink.
-------------------- Just another spore in the wind.
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Ythan
ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ


Registered: 08/08/97
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Re: Computer randomly turns off after an hour or two [Re: Seuss]
#16534151 - 07/15/12 10:06 AM (11 years, 6 months ago) |
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Talk about knowing just enough to be dangerous.
BTW, at least with Windows 7 and hardware that supports the ACPI platform error interface, you should get a "critical thermal event" in the event log if the BIOS forces a heat-related shutdown.
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5HTSynaptrip
Dopamine Enthusiast



Registered: 09/14/08
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Re: Computer randomly turns off after an hour or two [Re: Ythan]
#16534175 - 07/15/12 10:13 AM (11 years, 6 months ago) |
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What CPU was in the PC? I'm surprised the plastic didn't warp and get all over the place since the CPU wouldn't throttle until 90+C. Guessing it's a Sandy since it lasted hours before shutting down. Toss some Shin-Etsu on that bad boy and watch the temps never go over 50-60.
--------------------
Science is a way of thinking much more than it is a body of knowledge. - My hero, who will be forever remembered, Carl Sagan.
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Seuss
Error: divide byzero



Registered: 04/27/01
Posts: 23,480
Loc: Caribbean
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Re: Computer randomly turns off after an hour or two [Re: 5HTSynaptrip]
#16534444 - 07/15/12 11:21 AM (11 years, 6 months ago) |
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> What CPU was in the PC? ... Guessing it's a Sandy since
It was a lower end sandy bridge.
> I'm surprised the plastic didn't warp and get all over the place since the CPU wouldn't throttle until 90+C.
The plastic wasn't even yellowed from the heat. Go figure.
> Toss some Shin-Etsu on that bad boy and watch the temps never go over 50-60.
The new cooler the client put on had TIM already applied... hence the plastic "remove before use" protective cover.
-------------------- Just another spore in the wind.
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ManianFH
living in perverty


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Re: Computer randomly turns off after an hour or two [Re: Seuss]
#16534478 - 07/15/12 11:28 AM (11 years, 6 months ago) |
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Quote:
Seuss said:
> I'm surprised the plastic didn't warp and get all over the place since the CPU wouldn't throttle until 90+C.
The plastic wasn't even yellowed from the heat. Go figure.
doesnt surprise me, the plastic cover was probably designed to withstand heat for just that type of error. I am surprised the problem wasnt resolved. there shouldnt have been any damage.
-------------------- notapillow said: "you are going about this endeavor all wrong. clear your mind of useless fear and concern. buy the ticket, take the ride, and all that.... " ChrisWho said: "It's all about the journey, not the destination."
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Icepic
Enlightenment seeking


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Re: Computer randomly turns off after an hour or two [Re: Seuss]
#16534527 - 07/15/12 11:38 AM (11 years, 6 months ago) |
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Quote:
Seuss said: I pull the fan/heatsink to put in a known good CPU and... there is still a plastic cover with a "remove me" sticker between the heatsink and the CPU. WTF!?
Man Thats great. I own my own IT consulting company, and the shit people do with computers never fails to amaze although I must say this is a first.
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Shroomism
Space Travellin



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Re: Computer randomly turns off after an hour or two [Re: Seuss]
#16534655 - 07/15/12 12:08 PM (11 years, 6 months ago) |
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I've had calls where people have done that. Let me guess it was a Corsair H100 or similar.
You wouldn't believe some of retarded stuff I hear. I talk to people every single day, building $2,000-5,000 machines, that have absolutely NO business even being near PC hardware.
One guy told me he tried running the CPU without the heatsink on it, then touched it and burned his finger ...........Then was mad at me he burned his finger.
An old guy I talked to a few days ago, called up in a huff saying he had just talked to some guy in India before calling us and in the process of troubleshooting, broke his USB thumb drive, and was yelling at us saying we had to pay to replace it.
Another good one I've heard. "I stuck my finger in the video card fan while it was spinning, and it broke some fan blades because your product is defective and it cut my finger so you owe me hospital bills. " "then I read on some internet forums that this is a known defect with XXX model video card so I demand an upgrade"
People are just plain stupid. Just whenever I have some optimism about the intelligence of humans to follow basic logic, another ones reminds me.
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5HTSynaptrip
Dopamine Enthusiast



Registered: 09/14/08
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Re: Computer randomly turns off after an hour or two [Re: Seuss]
#16534936 - 07/15/12 01:24 PM (11 years, 6 months ago) |
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Quote:
Seuss said: The new cooler the client put on had TIM already applied... hence the plastic "remove before use" protective cover.
Right, but if they properly attached the heatsink to the motherboard, which requires quite a bit of force, the patch of TIM wasn't all stuck on the plastic and weird? A lot of people swear by the "grain of rice" sized bead down the center of the CPU. I still take my sweet ass time using a credit card to apply an even layer over about 80% of the CPU, with just the outside edges still clear so the pressure of the installed heatsink(and heat from the CPU) just let it flow evenly at the interface.
Shroomism is right though, that sounds exactly like an H80/H100. I'm not certain on the model but I know one of their closed liquid loop models actually has Shin-Etsu on it. People that removed the factory TIM typically got worse temps than those that didn't.
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Science is a way of thinking much more than it is a body of knowledge. - My hero, who will be forever remembered, Carl Sagan.
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Seuss
Error: divide byzero



Registered: 04/27/01
Posts: 23,480
Loc: Caribbean
Last seen: 2 months, 20 days
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Re: Computer randomly turns off after an hour or two [Re: 5HTSynaptrip]
#16540451 - 07/16/12 04:29 PM (11 years, 6 months ago) |
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> the patch of TIM wasn't all stuck on the plastic and weird?
Nope. I should have taken a picture. I would have expected what you do... TIM all over the plastic. Only a tiny corner was messed up. Crazy, I know.
-------------------- Just another spore in the wind.
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cokane
Stranger



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Re: Computer randomly turns off after an hour or two [Re: Seuss]
#16541181 - 07/16/12 07:08 PM (11 years, 6 months ago) |
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I dont have much valid input, but this was a good read, and is good look at what a dumb ass user can do.
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Fernis
Will provide



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Re: Computer randomly turns off after an hour or two [Re: Shroomism]
#16544474 - 07/17/12 12:44 PM (11 years, 6 months ago) |
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Quote:
Shroomism said: I've had calls where people have done that. Let me guess it was a Corsair H100 or similar.
You wouldn't believe some of retarded stuff I hear. I talk to people every single day, building $2,000-5,000 machines, that have absolutely NO business even being near PC hardware.
One guy told me he tried running the CPU without the heatsink on it, then touched it and burned his finger ...........Then was mad at me he burned his finger.
An old guy I talked to a few days ago, called up in a huff saying he had just talked to some guy in India before calling us and in the process of troubleshooting, broke his USB thumb drive, and was yelling at us saying we had to pay to replace it.
Another good one I've heard. "I stuck my finger in the video card fan while it was spinning, and it broke some fan blades because your product is defective and it cut my finger so you owe me hospital bills. " "then I read on some internet forums that this is a known defect with XXX model video card so I demand an upgrade"
People are just plain stupid. Just whenever I have some optimism about the intelligence of humans to follow basic logic, another ones reminds me.
Yeah, but without those people, we'd be out of work.
I say the more, the merrier
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ChuangTzu
starvingphysicist



Registered: 09/04/02
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Re: Computer randomly turns off after an hour or two [Re: Fernis]
#16546667 - 07/17/12 08:18 PM (11 years, 6 months ago) |
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Quote:
Fernis said: Yeah, but without those people, we'd be out of work.
I say the more, the merrier 
On the other hand, without those people, you'd be free to do something productive.
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Jwlst
Stranger

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Re: Computer randomly turns off after an hour or two [Re: ChuangTzu]
#16619217 - 07/30/12 09:32 PM (11 years, 5 months ago) |
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Thanks alot fellas, I just remembered why I left IT for engineering.
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GoodOlDave
Stranger
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Re: Computer randomly turns off after an hour or two [Re: Jwlst]
#16622134 - 07/31/12 12:40 PM (11 years, 5 months ago) |
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do you have a timer set to turn the computer off in the settings?
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Diploid
Cuban



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Re: Computer randomly turns off after an hour or two [Re: Seuss]
#16640313 - 08/03/12 02:35 PM (11 years, 5 months ago) |
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Back in another life a million years ago, I worked at IBM writing the OS/2 exception handlers. One day, I came into my office and had an email from a support VP that nobody could figure out. The issue had percolated up through support levels, eventually reaching a VP who assigned it to me.
The problem was that the machine would reboot then immediately shut off again. Nothing any of the support people did improved things and they were at a loss.
I spent about two hours going through things step-by-step. The system would dual-boot Windows and work fine. It was just OS/2 that kept shutting down.
In frustration I went back to first principles. I asked the guy to make sure the building circuit breaker was not tripping. It wasn't. Next I asked him if the machine was plugged into a power strip. He said no, but...
OK, quick detour. Are any of you old enough to remember The Clapper? It's a pre-remote control era contraption that you plugged into the wall, then you plugged your TV into the Clapper. When you wanted to go to sleep, instead of getting up out of bed, you just clapped your hands and the sound would trigger the clapper to shut off the TV. It was marketed to old people.
Well, the computer was plugged into a Clapper and every time the boot sequence started, it played the Tadaa! bootup sound which made the clapper shut off the power again.
True story! Grrrr!
-------------------- Republican Values: 1) You can't get married to your spouse who is the same sex as you. 2) You can't have an abortion no matter how much you don't want a child. 3) You can't have a certain plant in your possession or you'll get locked up with a rapist and a murderer. 4) We need a smaller, less-intrusive government.
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Sundrop


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Re: Computer randomly turns off after an hour or two [Re: Diploid]
#16658468 - 08/07/12 02:25 AM (11 years, 5 months ago) |
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Hahaha, that's a good one.
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EatingTheNight
Stranger


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Re: Computer randomly turns off after an hour or two [Re: Sundrop]
#16717582 - 08/17/12 09:28 PM (11 years, 5 months ago) |
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I was going to say I was having the same problem and formatting my drives has stopped the problem completely so not sure what was going on with that... then i read the end of your post . I work for a help desk at my school currently and i always find it funny how you get half the story until you spend 30 mins working on it then O YA! I forgot (add really important piece of information).
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