Greetings! for the last one month, the cpu has been making a loud noise as soon as a game that uses the graphics card is turned on (ati Radeon 5700) and then a week later , after every hour of using the graphics card related program, ups beeped and then everything including the ups got shut off. on switching it on again after about 5-10 min. it again shut down after using the graphics card related program for about 10 min. cpu continued making a loud noise. and then yesterday, as soon as the graphics card related program was turned on, the monitor went into the power save mode (turned off) and the orange light kept blinking… then after a few more reboots, the monitor kept going to the power save mode even when the graphics related program was not being used. and today, even if i disconnect the Graphics card from the motherboard, the computer starts and the monitor goes to the power save mode immediately; that is, the monitor is off as soon as the computer boots… does that mean it’s time to change the CPU? it’s a Pentium D processor, and is about 5 years old…
can anyone help or confirm if this is the case? 
thanks
to me it sounds like you have a heat problem…probably need to clean
the dust and chicken bones/feathers out of the case…
and, i’d guess you also need to replace the thermal grease between the
CPU cooler (fan) and the CPU itself…
at least that is where i would start…
if you don’t know how to do those things ask…better take a look at
https://www.google.com/search?q=site:tomshardware.com+heat+CPU+grease+OR+paste
on the other hand, it could be that your system’s software is so royally
messed up that it is commanding fan over speed (the “CPU noise” you are
hearing) and/or commanding power savings actions…
but i have zero idea about how your UPS is affected as you describe…
oh, maybe you have a weak or dying power supply unit (PSU)…could
also be a cracked motherboard, loose connections, bad grounding…lot of
things could result in the symptoms you describe…
your question: “does that mean it’s time to change the CPU?” maybe, but
probably not…more likely heat, dying PSU or faulty connections/cables…
replacing the CPU would be one of the last things i tried.
by the way: i guess your machine has been out of warranty for two years,
at least–it may be too far gone to keep…but, i’d start with a good
cleaning and re-paste…
good luck, let us know how you get on…
–
dd
The noise you heard may have been the CPU cooler fan having difficulties. If it
is not turning after you clean out the garbage, then you should replace it as well.
On Wed, 11 Jul 2012 16:36:03 +0000, feb8born wrote:
> Greetings! for the last one month, the cpu has been making a loud noise
> as soon as a game that uses the graphics card is turned on (ati Radeon
> 5700) and then a week later , after every hour of using the graphics
> card related program, ups beeped and then everything including the ups
> got shut off.
I agree with the others, it sounds like a heating/cooling issue, but the
fact that the UPS also shut down tells me that it’s not limited just to
your PC - your UPS also sounds like it’s possibly croaked. I’ve got two
APC UPSes myself, and one of them has a dead battery in it that needs to
be replaced - when the UPS beeps and shuts off, that typically means that
the UPS itself is either overloaded or that it’s experiencing a problem -
or the power went out momentarily and with no battery capacity, it just
dropped power to the connected devices.
So in addition to the machine issues, you should also check out the UPS.
Jim
–
Jim Henderson
openSUSE Forums Administrator
Forum Use Terms & Conditions at http://tinyurl.com/openSUSE-T-C
Thanks everyone. Been able to switch on the computer somehow. The UPS is new, but it turning off probably meant, the load was too much for it to handle, with too much heat being generated… could it be that a higher capacity PS is needed? This happened only when any program using the graphics card was on. And yes, i noticed the heat issue too, and connected the CPU directly to the power supply, so at that point, the UPS didn’t beep, though the computer still turned off after some time (and whatever was connected to the UPS remained as it is). The cleaning up part is done. It still didn’t help though, the same problem continued. Then I connected the display to the onboard one to test what happens with this. Now the system is on, though everything goes well until the booting process (it asks me to select a new video mode which i did) but then, the KDM doesn’t load, instead, i just notice a blank screen. The only option that works is the failsafe mode (desktop), and that too with the display not showing as it should. And in this mode, graphics programs don’t even start so can’t test them.
So, maybe i can start with changing the CPU cooler fan and the thermal grease?
(everything in the system is relatively new, except the CPU, it’s an assembled machine).
On 07/12/2012 10:56 AM, feb8born wrote:
> maybe i can start with changing the CPU cooler fan?
>
> (everything in the system is relatively new, except the CPU, it’s an
> assembled machine).
is the cooler fan turning?
at a high enough speed?
if so, i’d do the new thermal grease/paste thing next…
–
dd
On Thu, 12 Jul 2012 08:56:03 +0000, feb8born wrote:
> The UPS is new, but it probably meant, the load was too much for it to
> handle, with too too much heat being generated.
Heat being generated by an attached device generally won’t cause a larger
draw of wattage - what’s the UPS’ rating and what’s the PSU rating in the
PC?
If they’re too close then the UPS is really being just a line conditioner
for you if the battery can’t keep the system running for any appreciable
time - and that would indicate a fault with the UPS. Even close to the
load limit on the UPS, you should get a few minutes’ use, and an overload
generally shouldn’t shut the UPS off, you should just get an alert (my
1100VA UPS at one time had too much stuff plugged into it and it did
report an overload).
> So, maybe i can start with changing the CPU cooler fan?
That’s a good starting point, but I would still encourage you to have the
UPS checked out, because what you describe isn’t normal in my experience.
Jim
Jim Henderson
openSUSE Forums Administrator
Forum Use Terms & Conditions at http://tinyurl.com/openSUSE-T-C
On 2012-07-13 00:05, Jim Henderson wrote:
> On Thu, 12 Jul 2012 08:56:03 +0000, feb8born wrote:
>
>> The UPS is new, but it probably meant, the load was too much for it to
>> handle, with too too much heat being generated.
>
> Heat being generated by an attached device generally won’t cause a larger
> draw of wattage - what’s the UPS’ rating and what’s the PSU rating in the
> PC?
Actually, it does
It all matches. He runs a program that needs a lot of computational power
and heavy graphical use. That means that the CPU draws more electrical
power, and the GPU does the same. More electrical power means more heat
that has to be dissipated - if the cooling system is not sufficient →
crash. At the same time, more electrical power drawn from the PSU means
that if this unit can not cope, it will shut down immediately as well (if
it is good quality) or burn in flames (if it is bad quality). Plus if the
UPS is of the active type and not rated to handle that electricity demand,
it will also collapse and shutdown to protect itself from burning.
More computational power → more electrical power → more heat.
So, the OP needs to recalculate the electrical power demand of the system
and buy ew parts accordingly
–
Cheers / Saludos,
Carlos E. R.
(from 11.4 x86_64 “Celadon” at Telcontar)
On Thu, 12 Jul 2012 22:33:07 +0000, Carlos E. R. wrote:
>> Heat being generated by an attached device generally won’t cause a
>> larger draw of wattage - what’s the UPS’ rating and what’s the PSU
>> rating in the PC?
>
> Actually, it does
What I meant by this was that if the PSU is rated to draw 500W of power,
then it’s not going to draw more than 500W of power unless something’s
wrong.
So assuming the UPS is rated to handle all the equipment that’s plugged
into it, there is something wrong with the UPS and that should be
checked. In any case, if the UPS is overloading with the devices plugged
into it, then it’s undersized for the purpose it’s intended for anyways.
Jim
–
Jim Henderson
openSUSE Forums Administrator
Forum Use Terms & Conditions at http://tinyurl.com/openSUSE-T-C
On 2012-07-13 00:58, Jim Henderson wrote:
> On Thu, 12 Jul 2012 22:33:07 +0000, Carlos E. R. wrote:
>
>>> Heat being generated by an attached device generally won’t cause a
>>> larger draw of wattage - what’s the UPS’ rating and what’s the PSU
>>> rating in the PC?
>>
>> Actually, it does
>
> What I meant by this was that if the PSU is rated to draw 500W of power,
> then it’s not going to draw more than 500W of power unless something’s
> wrong.
Ah, absolutely.
I misunderstood your explanation, then.
Unless that PSU has a gross safety margin :-?
> So assuming the UPS is rated to handle all the equipment that’s plugged
> into it, there is something wrong with the UPS and that should be
> checked. In any case, if the UPS is overloading with the devices plugged
> into it, then it’s undersized for the purpose it’s intended for anyways.
Right, of course.
But unless you have some training in electricity, it is easy to calculate
wrong. People easily confuse V·A and Wats, etc.
Me, I easily overdesign.
–
Cheers / Saludos,
Carlos E. R.
(from 11.4 x86_64 “Celadon” at Telcontar)
Seems like everything is working guys! thanks a lot! on opening the cooler fan, found that the thermal paste was almost negligible… so installed it… and some oil for the fan… and for the last 2-3 hours of intensive testing, the system seems to be running fine, and not much noise too
P.S. PSU is 500W and UPS 650… KVA/W (which one is it?). Earlier, UPS kept on beeping (warning) for almost 2 minutes or so (with the graphics intensive program on, and almost 10 minutes without it) and if i couldn’t shut it down within that time, it couldn’t take it any further and shut itself off… though i feel, the next stop would be to have a better PSU… maybe 600W should be sufficient?
On 07/13/2012 12:56 PM, feb8born wrote:
> found that the thermal paste was almost negligible… so
> installed it
the thermal paste is supposed to be “almost negligible”!
the best (only correct?) way to apply a new coat would be to:
-
remove all the old paste completely (carefully…do not scratch the CPU
case or cooler surface) -
clean both surfaces with denatured alcohol
-
carefully squeeze new paste on to one surface about the size of ONE
grain of uncooked rice -
carefully spread that small amount across the entire surface…i use
something like a playing card, a credit card with a nice straight edge
to spread the paste as thinly and evenly as possible
because the purpose of the paste/grease is to fill the microscopic pits
and craters in the two surfaces in order to maximize contact surface and
thereby promote heat movement from the CPU to the heatsink…
too much paste acts as an insulation layer between the two surfaces…
additionally, too much paste will initially not be noticed as a problems
BUT it will dry out much faster than a nice thin layer…and, as it
dries it will become more and more insulating and heat transfer blocking…
read all about it at “tom’s hardware” and thousands of other spots…
–
dd
On Fri, 13 Jul 2012 10:56:02 +0000, feb8born wrote:
> P.S. PSU is 500W and UPS 650… KVA/W (which one is it?). Earlier, UPS
> kept on beeping (warning) for almost 2 minutes or so (with the graphics
> intensive program on, and almost 10 minutes without it) and if i
> couldn’t shut it down within that time, it couldn’t take it any further
> and shut itself off… though i feel, the next stop would be to have a
> better PSU…
> maybe 600W should be sufficient?
That’s relatively close - I’d probably go with a 1100 KVA UPS with a PSU
like that. Anything else (like the monitor, perhaps) also plugged into
the UPS?
Jim
–
Jim Henderson
openSUSE Forums Administrator
Forum Use Terms & Conditions at http://tinyurl.com/openSUSE-T-C
thanks! UPS working fine since then, I attached CPU separately. The same configuration has been running fine for the last 2 years… though, the thermal paste did the trick then, but then, just the next day, when the computer was on for 5-6 hours with most time in standby, and no graphics used… the monitor again went into the power save mode… and the computer didn’t switch on… then, i went to a repair shop and got an alternate PS tested… and it came to life again! so got it replaced today, and it seems to work fine until now… (though 2-3 times in the recent times, i noticed the HDD doesn’t get detected by the BIOS, double checked all the connections… and the only thing that seems to work is to swap the SATA cables… though since i did it the last time, no problem happened)…
well… it seems the trouble hasn’t ended now that the UPS and power supply is taken care of… i still notice that the CPU usage is usually between 95-100%, when graphics is being used, and the graphics keeps freezing for a few seconds every now and then when the usage shows 100%… now the system doesn’t turn off… but in one or two instances, i notice it restarts when the usage stays close to 100% for about an hour or so. does that mean it is the CPU which can’t take the load of graphics and which in turn is also responsible, and should be replaced?
On 07/24/2012 06:46 PM, feb8born wrote:
>
> well… it seems the trouble hasn’t ended now that the UPS and power
> supply is taken care of… i still notice that the CPU usage is usually
> between 95-100%, when graphics is being used, and the graphics freeze
> for a few seconds too when the usage shows 100%… now the system
> doesn’t turn off… but in one or two instances, i notice it restarts
> when the usage stays close to 100% for about an hour or so. does that
> mean it is the CPU which can’t take the load of graphics and which in
> turn is also responsible?
>
>
sure sounds like a heat problem being caused by expecting more than is
available from your CPU and GPU can provide
(i’m not going to go back and read the entire thread again, so) i don’t
remember if you have the ability to monitor your CPU or GPU temp…if
you do i guess the restart “when the usage stays close to 100% for about
an hour or so” is the CPU shutting down automatically for an overtemp
situation…if that is the case you have your choice:
-install a more powerful CPU which can run at a lower temp AND do the
work you demand
-more cooling for the CPU; more cooling for the GPU; more cooling for
everything in the case…
-reduce demands (don’t play that game! or don’t play it in 3D!, or not
full screen! or go into the setup for the game and reduce the effects in
use or or or or or turn off desktop effects or or or)
-wait until winter to play that game
it is simple: you can’t carry 10 gallons of water in a 5 gallon can.
–
dd