Re: How to fix crashing computer!

In the past my pentium4 computer crashed many times during 3d rendering with Blender. Now it also crashed during compiling.

How to solve this problem?

I’d run a program such as StressPrime (stress your CPU) and also run a temperature monitoring program such as Speedfan to see if there are some CPU issues. You might also try running Memtest 86 to see if you have any ram errors. You need to rule out your hardware and then start looking at software (IE…windoze)

Hello PhilBo,

I forgot to mention the it’s an Ubuntu pc.

I think StressPrime is windows only.

And I think Speedfan also.

These problems were already present when it was an XP PC.

I’m also convinced that it is an hardware problem.
I think the computer shuts down because of overheat protection.

kind regards,
Tony

lm-sensors can give you your system temperatures. Open a terminal and run the following command to install lm-sensors.

sudo apt-get install lm-sensors sensors-applet

Next, you need to configure lm-sensors by running:

sudo sensors-detect

Say yes to each of the prompt until configuration is complete. Then you will need to restart your computer. To monitor the temperatures, right click on the top panel/menu bar/whatever you want to call it and select “add to panel”. Scroll down to Hardware Sensors Monitor and add it. You should now be able to see the temperatures of the different components of your computer.

My guess is that there is something wrong with your CPU’s heatsink or fan. It could be something like faulty ram, but this sounds more like it is stress based. You should be able to find charts online saying what your ideal and maximum CPU temperatures are.

I hope this helps.

-Trevin

Many thanks Trevin,

I have installed the lm-sensors sensors-applet.
Now I have 4 temperatures available at the top panel:
CPU, temp1, temp2 and temp3
respectively 40, 46, 50 and 74 degr C.
What are temperatures 1, 2 and 3?
Temp 3 has a red color.

kind regards,
Tony

Not sure why you’d get 4 temps for your cpu, however the reason temp 3 is in the red is because 74 is a bit on the high side for your cpu during intesive computing, on the very high side if it’s at this temp at idle.

Intel recommends nothing higher than 62C for most of thier chips, though thru experience I can say that your cpu should operate normally under 70C…though the life expectancy will be degraded by this heat, but then again life expectancy is something you…expect…not something that is garunteed by design…which is why warrenties never last the for as long as the life expectancy does…unless you purchase extended warranties, but even these usually wont last as long as your cpu is “supposed” to last.

I’ve even seen my cpu (q6600) hit 98C on all 4 cores without shutting down, but that is with the G0 stepping which has higher heat tolerances than the other versions of this cpu. Did it work under this temp? Yes. Do I expect it to live as long as it normally would had I not hit these temps? I don’t expect it, but I assume I’ve only dropped the life expectancy maybe 4-6months because of this. However, this is something that noone can prove because 1. Ill never know how long it would have lasted had it not hit these temps, and 2. even had i not hit these temps if you take 2 of the same cpus and run them under completely identical circumstances for their life…one will die before the other will…its just teh way things work. The chances that they would die at the same exact time are…very improbable. Do I suggest running your comp at these temps continuosly? Nope, but should you decide to expect that computer you left running to be off when you get home.

The temperatures I mentioned represent a pretty idle situation.
No heavy stuff being done.

What should I do to fix the problem of the high temperature?

I suggest ensuring proper connection between heatsink and cpu. But…I dont suggest only reseating it.

  1. Take of the heatsink
  2. clean of the thermal compund on heat sink and cpu with a damp (not dripping) washcloth. It CANNOT be dripping, or even leave any little spots of water on the cpu or you may run a chance of blowing the cpu when you put it back into your computer.
    3 reapply thermal compound. for the best result, IMHO, apply 2 thin beads in the form of an x press the cpu and heatsink together as they would normally be then use the washcloth to remove the crap that’s leaked out the side.
  3. add a small amount of thermal compound to the heatsink. i say small because there will be some on it from step 3.
    5 put your cpu and heatsink back into your computer properly.

tada you should be done. Even without proper air cooling, this will keep your cpu at a good temp (as long as you dont live in the middle of the rain forest…cmon common sense…if your sweating so is your computer)

If you have proper air flow you’ll see your temp sit at around…meh id say no more than 35-45C at idle and should stay below 55C at full load. But this depends ALOT on your environment. If you live in a fridge (my room is typically around 60F) your idle could be at 20C or lower (mine sits at 22C currently) and all I have is a huge heatsink and proper airflow (antec 900 case with 11 fans lol) while at full load you may only hit 45C (this is my temp at full). If I take that computer into my family room (which is like a sauna at around 80F) the idle temp never gets below 35C and the full load temp hits about 55, at tleast thats what i can prove lol I’ve seen it get lower in that room but I didn’t record the temp. Keep in mind that my 2.4ghz chip is overclocked to 3.7Ghz currently and I’m trying to hit 4 soon lol. But I really need water cooling to get any faster, or move the comp from my room…the only reason I can get these temps at this frequency with my current cooling setup is because of the room temp.

Thank you very much HouseArrest,

I will try to remove the heatsink and apply thermal compound and so on.

If I remember well, me and a friend of mine once tried to remove the processor from the heatsink of this computer and failed. We could not unlock the damn thing.

We will give it a try again.

kind regards,
Tony

Antony41

I had a dual boot win xp/linux.

Rendering certain Maya scenes would crash Maya in Linux and Blue Screen the OS in Windows.

StressPrime diagnosed faulty memory and it was right.

Maybe there is a Linux equivalent of Stress Prime

New memory stick - heartache solved

Thanks fobsta,

For RAM test on Linux I was advised to use Memtest86+.
I will check that out soon.

Could a faulty RAM lead to a high CPU temperature?

kind regards,
Tony

I doubt that faulty ram would lead to high CPU temps. Generally, the cooling systems are entirely separate from everything else. I’m guessing that when your computer crashes, it just shuts off. If this is so, then it is most likely a heat issue. Faulty ram normally gives unpredictable behavior.

With my current computer, I’ve had both heat and ram issues. When the ram started to die, programs would just shut down, almost like I had a virus. Memtest86+ quickly reported that my ram wasn’t working correctly. The heat issues were a little bit different. In Windows, I noticed that games would start out okay, but then they would start to stutter. The driver for Windows would scale my CPU clockrate down when the temperatures got too high, so my 2.4GHz processor would suddenly run at 800MHz. In Linux, the computer would just shut down whenever I did something CPU intensive, like rendering or compiling, for an extended period of time. Modern CPUs have a safety feature where they can shut the system off if the temperature gets to high in order to protect the computer.

If it is a heat issue, your computer will most likely shut down before Memtest86+ completes.

-Trevin

Hello Trevin,

Your prediction became reality. The computer indeed crashed before Memtest86+ completed. So this is very likely an heat issue.

I’m convinced that the computer shuts off in order to protect the processor.

Do you think applying some new thermal compound will do the trick?

kind regards,
Tony

Do you think applying some new thermal compound will do the trick?

Its worth trying;)

You said that you tried to remove the heat sync before, bit failed. you could have easily damaged the thermal compound then.

Yes, hessiess is right. Reapplying the thermal compound is the next step. You will also want to make sure that there is no obstruction to airflow and check to see that the fan is working properly.

-Trevin

Thanks guys,

I will buy some thermal compound Saturday.

Problem fixed!

Both rendering and compiling is now ok.