[wellylug] cpu temperature reported incorrectly

[Brent Wood]

--- Gordon Paynter <lists at paynter.info> wrote:

> I have an Athlon XP, and I have overheating problems: I have a SFF Shuttle 
> (SK41G) I brought back from the states, which uses a funny heat-extractor 
> pipe, but which overheats if I leave the case on and run with a full CPU load
> for a few minutes. (My solution has been to leave the case off, I believe the

Umm... I'd have to say that is unusual. The Shuttle heat pipe is one of the
best engineered cpu cooling systems I've come across - except for the Creative
Labs Slix, which copied the Shuttle. The only overheating I've ever had in one
was with either a flaky cpu or a badly assembled unit. (I know the cpu ran too
hot coz I pulled it & swapped with a conventional m/b & cpu, the cpu still
stayed hot. The Shuttle box ran nice & cool with the other cpu.)

Is the copper shim installed correctly between the cpu & heat sink? I've had to
fix a couple where the person (supposedly a professional) didn't bother to
install it so the cpu's ran too hot.


Does the fan speed up before shutting down? How do you know it is a cpu temp
induced shutdown? (does the over temp LED come on?)

Also note, as the Shuttle heat pipe vents the cpu heat directly outside the
case, with minimal internal heat dissipation, taking the cover off should have
close to zero effect on core cpu temperature. It will probably reduce the
graphics card & power supply temperatures though.

In a PC case where the cpu heat is vented internally, with a conventional cpu
heatsink/fan, opening the case will often let the warm air escape more readily,
so opening the case will often cool all the components down. Quite different in
a Shuttle.

> 
> correct solution is to remove the heat sink, reapply the thermal gell, and 
> re-seat the heat sink.) 

Worth doing if it will stop the cpu overheating. Doesn't take long, but a bit
fiddly in those little cases.


Cheers

  Brent