Hi there, At the moment, I'm trying to troubleshoot a problem with a friend's computer (A Tiny 1.2Ghz Athlon based system). It keeps crashing/resetting/giving out blue screens of death all the time at random intervals (usually when it's been on for over an hour or so), and aparrantly runs fine when the case is off and a bloody great big house fan is aimed directly at the motherboard LOL. It's had the Motherboard replaced, along with the graphics card, and the fans seem to be working fine. My guess is the CPU might be overheating, as I can't think of anything else it could be. At the moment, Motherboard Monitor shows that two of the temperature sensors are reading 77 degrees. Is this normal for a 1.2Ghz Athlon chip? Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks, -Andy :-)

Hey .. not sure of "proper" temps but I have a 1.2 Athlon and my bios shows (cpu temp 51c - and 123f ......system temp 28c - and 82f) I have been up and running for several month now with no crashes.

Have you checked your memory settings in the BIOS? You may need to back them off a little... As for the temp...77c is high...but the max temp spec is 90c. Is it still running at 77c with the panels off & the house fan? Did you use thermal paste, a good heatsink/fan & at least one, preferrably two case fans? One case fan should go in the front, near the bottom...that fan should intake fresh air. Another fan should be in the rear, near the top...that fan should exhaust hot air. If you only run one case fan, it should be the rear exhaust fan. Make sure that all ribbon cables are secured out of the way so as not to impede air flow... Here's a site that someone else recently posted regarding max temps: http://www.heatsink-guide.com/maxtemp.htm

Thanks for your input, guys ..... but things keep getting odder It seems that, in MBM it shows both sensor 2 and sensor 3 as constant at 77 degrees C, no matter whether the machine's been on for 5 minutes or an hour. So I suspect that - unhelpfully enough - the motherboard doesn't even HAVE temperature sensors. Sensor 1, however, when I switched the machine on, shows 22 degrees C and then raises to around 25/26 degrees after a short time. I remember that the last time it crashed, it was showing 26 degrees on Sensor 1. However, I have no idea what in the hell Sensor 1 is connected to! Case temperature, perhaps? I can't even find a setting in the BIOS for checking temperatures, so it may well have none at all. But I'm still convinced that the problems are being cuased by the CPU temp somehow - after all, it seems to work fine with a large household fan blowing on the motherboard. It's odd. Also, what do you mean with regard to the memory settings in the BIOS? The memory timing (PC100, PC133, etc)? Thanks! -Andy :-)

Turn the computer off for 4 or more hours before doing this. Go into bios, the PC health section. Read directly what the motherboard sees. Leave it run for a hour while checking the temps. I got 23,31,38C for my temps after 5 hours. If one goes up more than 20C then go buy some thermal paste at radio shack or a computer store. If it goes up alot more, get a good fan with a copper cpu base which may have the paste with it. When you apply, have a paper towel handy-it loves to travel to the hands, table, clothes, etc. Make sure the fan is pretty snug too to the cpu. I've usually had to bend the fan hardware to get a better fit, some were too tight and some were too loose.

You haven't named your MOBO...but allowable BIOS settings vary from board to board & also vary by chipset. Many boards with VIA chipsets don't give an option to enable 4-way memory interleaving...but there is a downloadable program at VIAhardware.com that will...the program works on the VIA MVP3, MVP4, Apollo Pro 133/A, KX133, and KT133 chipset. And just because you slap in a stick of PC133, it doesn't necessarily mean that you're automatically running at 133Mhz...even if your FSB is 133Mhz. I have the option in my BIOS of setting the DRAM Clock at Host CLK (same as FSB), Host CLK +33, or Host CLK -33...that pretty much covers PC66, PC100, PC133 & even allows PC166. There's also DRAM Timing, CAS & other settings that can affect performance...& if set improperly, will cause the dreaded BSOD...

Good temps for that CPU are 40-50C. What MOBO are you using? What is your HSF? Is there thermal paste between the HSF and the CPU core?