# [SOLVED] CPU suddenly showing very high temperatures



## Megadanxzero (Oct 11, 2010)

I restarted my computer yesterday and got a loud beeping and a message saying "CPU Temperature over error" so I turned it off straight away. I left it for a few minutes and tried again and it started up fine, but when I checked the CPU temperature it was at 60+ when completely idle, and rose to 80 or 90 when I tried running anything CPU intensive like a game.

It has been pretty hot here the last few days and my room turns into an oven in the evening due to the position of the sun, so I thought maybe that's all it was, but when I checked again this morning (much cooler outside) I'm getting the same temps.

I've had the computer for almost 2 years now I think, and have an Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev.2 CPU fan, which usually keeps my CPU temperature in the low 30s when idle and low 50s when under load. I don't think I've ever seen my CPU temp get as high as 60 even when it was under load and now it's like that constantly!

I don't think it could be that the thermal paste needs replacing, because my CPU fan broke about a month ago and I had to replace it (Ended up getting the same fan anyway) so that should be nice and fresh, and of course I checked the temperature for the next few days after installing the new fan and it was as normal, low 30s when idle. The fan itself seems to be working perfectly and is blowing at full blast most of the time. I also opened it up to check that the fan was firmly secured to the CPU and there's no give on it at all, all the screws are in as tight as they go so it should have full contact with the CPU... I've run out of ideas!

Core Temp, Speed Fan and the BIOS all show the temperature as being around 60 when idle, though I noticed that Speed Fan shows the motherboard temperature as 34-38 which is a lot lower and makes me a little suspicious that the CPU temp might be lower than it thinks (Though I have no idea if it's normal for the MB to be cooler than the CPU anyway). The only thing I can think of is that maybe the temperature sensor isn't working properly, but I don't know how I could be sure of that, since I don't really want to just assume that's the case and let my CPU run really hot (Especially if it really is going up to 80/90 under load).

Any help would be greatly appreciated :<


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

*Re: CPU suddenly showing very high temperatures*

Are those Temps in Celsius?
Are you absolutely certain you applied the thermal paste properly?
PC Specs?
Pre- Built Brand & Model Number
Custom Built- Brand & Model of Mobo-CPU-RAM-Graphics-PSU.


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## Megadanxzero (Oct 11, 2010)

*Re: CPU suddenly showing very high temperatures*

Yeah sorry the temps are in Celsius. The thermal paste was pre-applied on the CPU fan so I didn't touch that at all. My specs/parts are as follows:

Asus P6X58D-E X58 Motherboard
2.8GHz Intel i7 930 (Not overclocked or anything)
4GB Corsair (2x2GB) DDR3 1600MHz RAM
Palit GTX 460 GPU
CM Storm Scout + Coolermaster Silent Pro 700W Case/PSU
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro rev 2 CPU fan

The only other thing that's now occured to me is that maybe I didn't clean off the old thermal paste fully before putting on the new fan, but I was pretty thorough since it was the first time I'd ever done it, and double and triple checked that there was nothing left on there. Unfortunately I also don't have any thermal paste to reapply to it if I take it off to have a look, or any other CPU fans I can try to see if it's a problem with the fan/heatsink.


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## wkw427 (Nov 9, 2008)

*Re: CPU suddenly showing very high temperatures*

You always need to clean off the old stuff before you put on any new stuff. Paste that is 6-9+ months old gets crusty and doesn't transfer heat as well. You'd probably be better off with no paste then old crusty paste.

Remove the heatsink, rub the bottom with rubbing alcohol and a tissue. Same for the cpu die. No need to take the die out.
Then, reapply the paste on only the cpu die. I like to put a pea sized drop and rub it around with my finger via a plastic bagie.
Put the heat sink back on and report back


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

*Re: CPU suddenly showing very high temperatures*

If the old paste was not thoroughly removed, I believe we have found your problem.
Old thermal paste must be thoroughly cleaned from both contacting surfaces (heatsink and CPU) using 90% alcohol and a soft dry cloth (100% cotton T0Shirt material works well).


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## Megadanxzero (Oct 11, 2010)

*Re: CPU suddenly showing very high temperatures*

Yeah I did clean it pretty thoroughly though... Like I said the temperature was fine when I first replaced the fan so I would assume there wasn't an issue with the paste. I guess I'll have to get some thermal paste and see if replacing that helps before I try anything else. Thanks for the help.


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

*Re: CPU suddenly showing very high temperatures*

Try using the OEM heatsink/fan when you reapply the paste.


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## Megadanxzero (Oct 11, 2010)

*Re: CPU suddenly showing very high temperatures*

Just thought I'd give an update for anyone who's interested/has the same problem. As I was about to put the heatsink back in with the new thermal paste I noticed that the plastic frame that holds the heatsink to the motherboard had a crack going straight through one side of it! So I'm guessing that was probably making the heatsink loose and stopping the heat getting out of the CPU.

I had to put the stock cooler back on since I don't have anything else to use, and I'm now getting low 40s idle and around 60 under load, which is a bit higher than I'm used to, but that's probably normal for the stock one. Most importantly it's not going up to 80/90 under load anymore 

So yeah I guess I'd recommend checking all parts of your cooler thoroughly for any damage if you start having temperature problems, since I missed it 'cause I was only looking at the heatsink/fan before! Also probably won't be getting another of these coolers since it's the second one that's broken on me... (Different problems)


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

*Re: CPU suddenly showing very high temperatures*

Glad you found the problem and corrected it. OEM heatsink/fans are very capable if no OC is applied.


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