On Mon, 5 Feb 2001, Dave Fitch wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> What happens when a PC CPU overheats?
> (it's a Cyrix/IBM P200)
> I'm talking about what effects do you see on the PC?
snip
> The only hint I've got is that when I took the lid off,
> the CPU fan was hardly spinning at all, and laying the
> case on it's side stopped the fan altogether. I don't
> know how long it's been like that. This machine is
> usually left on all the time.
The symptoms of overheating vary, usually wierd random crashes errors
and lockups. If the fan is not spinning, that would definitely explain
the problem. I've had a cpu fan fail and was getting all sorts of wierd
symptoms, I don't remember exactly what. However, if the cpu has been
overheating for some time, it may be damaged, and it may have written a
fair bit of crap to the HD.
The best thing to do is to open the case, let it cool to room
temperature, blow a room fan into it, and start the machine. If you have
problems that don't appear hard disk related at that point (ie, in the
first minute or so) you've almost certainly cooked your cpu, and need to
replace it. Otherwise, replace the fan, check the hd and you may be
lucky.
cheers,
Martin
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