Uhhh.. hey. I've been having "overheating" problems for the last week or so now.. and I have no idea as to what is causing it, since my computer overheats at normal temperatures. I'm pretty sure my computer is lying to me and my fans are fine (since I used motherboard monitor 5 and my computer shut down at 45 degrees). There is also the fact that if I turn the computer on RIGHT after I get an 'overheating/thermal event' error... it works for another few hours.

Since my computer supposedly overheated, I've been progressively having trouble turning the computer on. I press the power button, and the processing and power lights come on.. but nothing happens with the screen. Sometimes my CD writer's light stays on (you know how it blinks and stuff when you turn the computer on) and if I press the power button again... it wont do anything. (it turns it off if I hold it). The Reset button also works randomly... I have noooo idea what's going on, but I know that it's not my fans and temperature. If I am lucky I will get the computer to turn on (with an overheating error) or it will start up normally.

My computer is about... 2 and a half years old. 2.53ghz pentium 4, with 512mb of ram... Intel 845PEBT2 motherboard, windows xp Pro, ATI Radeon 9000 (pro?), and an SB Audigy sound card. I think it is custom built. The computer seems to shut off whenever it feels like it.. and I have yet to see any logic to it's behaviour.

Could I be in need of a new power source? Or is there more to this mystery? :(

thx in advance

Make sure the fan on your heatsink is working properly. Check the temps in the BIOS, don't rely on software...& while your in the BIOS, check to see if there's a shutdowm temp setting.

Next time it shuts down, open the case & feel the heatsink to see how hot it really is. It should only be slightly warm to the touch...if it's hot, check that the heatsink is installed properly.

See if there's a newer BIOS available for your board. Temperature reporting issues are usually fixed with a BIOS update. Or try searching google to see if others are having the same problem with this board.

ASUS A7N8X-X
Athlon XP 1800+
8.5 x 200MHz
1024MB PC3200 2.5-3-3-7
Asus A9550GE/TD 128MB
WinME/WinXP Pro SP1

Thanks for the input Jam.

I'm sure my fans are all working properly, when i touched the back of the powersource after it shuts down.... the thing is actually pretty cool. The BIOS says my temp is around 37c .. (and there is no way to check my temp while i'm running windows is there? well... without the software stuff..) I'm pretty sure the temperature is not the problem.

For the 2 and a half years I've had this computer.... I've had no problems with it. Only a 2 or 3 crashes in all that time, but now my computer just shuts down for no reason and blames it on overheating.

I couldn't see any temperature threshold in my BIOS, so there is no luck there :( I doubt it'd change without me touching anything though... My computer has been a lot hotter in the past, so things should be fine.

Can't see anyone else with overheating problems and my motherboard :( Oh well. I will try the bios update thingy now.... (I hope it doesn't "overheat" while i'm installing!)

... Still no luck so far... infact the problems keep getting worse. My computer has a lot of trouble starting up, and now it can't even start windows. When I press the power button, the computer turns on for a second.. and then it turns back off... That would mean I need a new powersource..... right?

Also, the BIOS update is giving me keyboard errors now... so I can't go look in the BIOS if my computer is lucky enough to start up. I might have to switch keyboards with someone else here.

(haha... and my computer shut off right after I updated the bios... that was scary!)

Ack... I still have this problem going on. I am starting to wonder if it is the video card that is doing stuff to me? :o I heard radeons sometimes do some overheating things to computers.. but hm... I have had this card for 2 and a half years (Radeon 9000 pro).

Altho the times when the power blinks on for a second leads me to believe that the powersource is faulty.. it wouldn't really explain why the computer conveniently shuts off when I start a game, or when the computer starts up windows..... unless that makes the powersource take more power... it could also be because the video card has to do some work :( But what about the times when I am watching something on my computer in full screen and it turns off 15 minutes through it or something? :| The computer can't need to get more power 15 minutes into the video.. it's already been going for 15 minutes.

This whole thing is still confusing me :( Oh well.