(Preface: I work in IT, network specialist but today I had to handle a ton of downed servers and PCs... it was a long day...)

I come home to install the new stupid little card reader I got with a gift card for Christmas. I open up my PC just to take a poke at the motherboard to find the USB leads I'm plugging into... When I start to notice something, my bottom-mounted case fan isn't spinning.

At first I thought "ok, no big deal, I can live without the bottom fan." Then I look at the two top mounted fans (same model fans) not spinning either. Then I take a peek at the little LCD screen on my actual board which shows me the temps... says 98c, and I go "HOLY SHEET". I usually run in the high 20's to lower 30's. Something clearly isn't right.

I grab my flashlight and start poking around in the case a bit more while the PC is on. I notice that between the massive metal parts of my V8 heatsink, the fan for the cooling power on the CPU isn't spinning either.

Four (actually five...) fans down, in one day. So glad I bought this card reader and opened my PC, I've been playing MASSIVE amounts of COD lately and I'm shocked it hasn't blown up yet hahaha.

I had to go out and drop a ton of money on new hardwdare, and a new V8 (pretty darn expensive... but I plan on returning the broken one in the new one's box, shhhhh) and about 7 hours later I'm back up and running and I notice my rear case fan is only spinning at about 1/4 of the RPMs it should, and it's locking up too awesome! (This is the five comes from earlier.)

What happened to Fridays being awesome nights out? Blargh.

TL;DR my PC almost died, I saved it, wasn't what I wanted to do today. [/rant]

13 years ago*

Comment has been collapsed.

Cool story bro.

I love you CJD.

13 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

bro love. natty ice.

13 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I got the Gamecube.

13 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I got the big black dildos

13 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I got the Jack Johnson CDs

13 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

playing COD

13 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Started playing Skyrim again too, but whatever, I'm a COD fanboy, at least I can admit to it ;)

13 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Thinks admitting to being a COD fanboy means something.

13 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

2012
Caring about what others play for fun

13 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

You're lucky that no permanent damage was done (well, maybe some psychological). Your story reminds me of this - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxSqCdT7xPY

13 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Haha yeah I thought of that video too. Luckily the V8 heatsink portion is just MASSIVE as all hell. Pretty sure that's the only thing that saved my CPU. Over-the-top coolers FTW.

13 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I would've gotten a freaking heart attack, good to know it actually managed to hold out with those temps.

13 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Possibly your power supply is failing and not sending enough power to the fans?

13 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Nah, the fans draw so little power compared to the rest of the components (GTX 460 SE, Core i7, X58 mobo) there's no way the fans wouldn't power but the rest would, they totally locked up, it was odd.

13 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Glad to hear you caught the issue before anything major occurred.

13 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

First thing that came to mind was something funny i read earlier in a game

Sympton: Temperature of laser unit continues to increase even after usage

Cause: The cooling unit may be malfunctioning and may require repair.(WARNING: If laser unit exceeds normal temperature seek cover immediately as device may explode)

13 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

If your fans are plugged into your motherboard, it might be better to plug them directly into your power supply.

Many CPUs underclock themselves to stay within safe temps. I saw an i7 system running with only one of the heatsink pins properly. When the guy checked on it after seeing the temps, the thermal paste wasn't even touching much of the CPU.

13 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

They're all powered fully right from the PSU. :)

Good tip though, I feel the same way bout the mobo leads, I'd rather just have them always on all the time.

13 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

What processor do you you have? 98°C might've lowered its life-span

13 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Intel Core i7 920

13 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Interesting article about processor temperatures (and more):

http://www.pugetsystems.com/blog/2009/02/26/intel-core-i7-temperatures/

Apparently 80°C should be the recommended maximum, even though intel decided to make the official info a "trade secret"... go figure :S

13 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Never saw a computer dying from overheating... wasn't it suppose to power off at temperatures like that? o_o"

13 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

CJD good that you saved it :), i wanna be a IT guy to btw :D

13 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

2012

not having watercooling

ISHYGDDT

13 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Tell me, how would you run water-cooling through a laptop?

13 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

13 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

There's no need for water cooling to me... Last thing I need is a failed RAD/pump system, then my chip would really be fried, at least the massive V8 heatsink without the fan still kept the chip alive.

13 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

If you were running the Alpha chips from the 90's you'd be running cold! But hey 10 GHz in 1998 was nothing the sneeze at.

13 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

I guess you were just so grateful for some peace and quiet you didn't think to question the source of it. :)

13 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Well your lucky, at 90 celcius most nvidia cards die. And when I heard my neighbour saying how his CPU fan wasn't running and it instantly died after 10 secs I think your pretty lucky still having your gear.

13 years ago
Permalink

Comment has been collapsed.

Closed 13 years ago by CorneliousJD.