Big heat causes big problems

Herr Voigt · Post by **Herr Voigt** » Sun Aug 03, 2003 4:39 pm

Hi all,

now I've moved to another town, and in my new flat I receive the big heat that we have at these days in Europe. That means, in my studio room there are over 30 °C!
My DAW had always problems with heat cos of the Athlon 1,4-CPU. But when I setted the system clock from 266 to 200, it worked fine.
But now the computer sometimes doesn't recognise the MIDI-interface (a Portman 2x4), sometimes it does. In the afternoon it shooted down completely. After 1 hour cooling it was possible to boot again.I digged out my old serial interface (KEY electronics MS 124), but it made trouble (hanging notes with Cubase 5.1 etc.), so I removed it. I don't want to buy new USB-Interfaces cos of the well-known troubles with audio and USB in win98se.
I'll continue working tomorrow. Let's see ...
Does anybody have similar experiences in hot rooms?
Specs: AMD 1,4, 512 RAM, 2 x 40 GB HD IBM 7200 rpm, Pulsar 1, Luna 2.

Suggestions welcome, Thomas

Micha · Post by **Micha** » Mon Aug 04, 2003 2:26 am

For USB: did you install the patch at
http://support.microsoft.com/default.as ... ;de;240075

King of Snake · Post by **King of Snake** » Mon Aug 04, 2003 6:59 am

How hot exactly are we talking about? You should be able to see the temp. of the mobo and the CPU in the BIOS or some kind of monitoring program. I've experienced that AMD's do run quite hot indeed so make sure you have decent cooling for your case. Also a good powersupply will probably generate less heat than an el-cheapo one.
It's very hot here too now, about 28 degrees celcius! But my CPU is at 53 degrees (idle) and my mobo at 38. If your CPU gets over 60 degrees, start worrying.

Herr Voigt · Post by **Herr Voigt** » Mon Aug 04, 2003 12:09 pm

Thanks for your replies. So: After a few hours I started the computer once more and ALL worked fine.

There are existing some programs to see the actual temperature, but I didn't want to install them cos my DAW should be clean of programs running in the background. Maybe I should try this and after this hot period deinstall again.
Micha, I will try the USB-patch.

Greetz, Thomas

Stubbe · Post by **Stubbe** » Mon Aug 04, 2003 1:36 pm

...or you could keep your machine clean, get it warmed up, reboot and check the temperature in BIOS ?
There is most likely a page showing the temperature in a couple of locations.

Just an idea

Good luck

Stubbe

Herr Voigt · Post by **Herr Voigt** » Mon Aug 04, 2003 2:07 pm

Thank you, Stubbe, I'll try it.

decimator · Post by **decimator** » Mon Aug 04, 2003 3:08 pm

I have a big alu server case : Lian-li PC71 ( 230 euros )
Athlon 2.6 Ghz
30°C in room
40°C idle
46°C at 80% use ... enough said !

I have Motherboard Monitor with a 1 second " sampling rate " of CPU use and temps ( board & CPU )

Herr Voigt · Post by **Herr Voigt** » Mon Aug 04, 2003 4:46 pm

Well, decimator, I have a big tower, too, and good fans and an Enermax power supply.
Maybe I made a mistake when I bought damping mats to minimize the noises ...
And my Athlon 1,4 GHz is the last in this family. All faster CPUs are shrinked finer - if I had more time, I would give my DAW to a computer shop and test a Thunderbird 2000+ or so. Maybe it doesn't grow so hot.

decimator · Post by **decimator** » Mon Aug 04, 2003 5:12 pm

Okay ... maybe the damping pads indeed ...

Anyway you should really check the temps, what are you dealing with ?

Frankly install Motherboard Monitor : http://mbm.livewiredev.com/

It eats 0% CPU and it has user defined alarms

It saved me when I had fans troubles !

In case of overheat I had some odd troubles too.

Kenf · Post by **Kenf** » Tue Aug 05, 2003 2:43 am

Hi
Don't forget cooling is about getting heat away from CPU and other ICs. You must have air flow in and out of your case. As Stubbe said you must keep the inside clean from dust. Your case will not act as much of a heat-sink so the damping panels will make little effect on the cooling of yor system. Think of your case like a tube you pull cooler air in one end, blow it over the hot devices inside, then blow the hot air out the other end.
My system will over heat if I leave the side panel off because the air flow is reduced.
Have you got your hard-drive in a sleeve? If so it could be this over-heating.
Regards
Kenf

Herr Voigt · Post by **Herr Voigt** » Tue Aug 05, 2003 3:52 pm

Kenf, your reply comforts me. The damping pads make a good effect to noises, and it would be a hard piece of work to get them off.
My computer is always closed, but it was a very good tip from you to avoid opening during heat problems. Seems to be logical for me.
My HDs are not especially boxed.
So I didn't make the mistake, but the weather does. Today I had a talk with a friend about heat and computers, and he told me the same. When he writes a text, he saves every 3rd sentence cos he isn't sure when his computer crashes down.
Decimator, seems, the link doesn't work !?
Well, let's hope on the next winter ...

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Herr Voigt on 2003-08-05 16:55 ]</font>

aMo · Post by **aMo** » Tue Aug 05, 2003 3:56 pm

I solved this issue, I bought an air-conditioner

King of Snake · Post by **King of Snake** » Tue Aug 05, 2003 6:40 pm

So I didn't make the mistake, but the weather does. Today I had a talk with a friend about heat and computers, and he told me the same. When he writes a text, he saves every 3rd sentence cos he isn't sure when his computer crashes down.
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Herr Voigt on 2003-08-05 16:55 ]</font>

well you will really have to check the actual temperatures of you CPU and mobo in the BIOS otherwise you'll never know if it's your computer or the weather that is to blame. I don't think the weather makes that much of a difference if you have decent airflow in your case, since modern day CPU's tend to give of so much heat alreay by themselves.

valis · Post by **valis** » Wed Aug 06, 2003 12:39 am

On 2003-08-05 16:56, aMo wrote:
I solved this issue, I bought an air-conditioner

I've had to do the same thing in my studio room, the house doesn't have central air. Now I spend almost ALL my free time in the studio

Kenf · Post by **Kenf** » Wed Aug 06, 2003 1:52 am

Hi
The air conditioning sounds great!! It is worth mentioning that a good airflow through your studio room will help. If you put your computer in a sealed room eventually the whole room would reach the temperature of your CPU (well almost). We are expecting 35C to 36C today in Cambridge UK and really humid, it gets unbearable in my studio room.
King of Snake is right in what he says, if you have enough airflow you shouldn't have any problems.
Regards
Kenf

Herr Voigt · Post by **Herr Voigt** » Wed Aug 06, 2003 4:55 am

Suddenly all air conditioners are sold out ...

King of Snake · Post by **King of Snake** » Wed Aug 06, 2003 8:48 am

If you put your computer in a sealed room eventually the whole room would reach the temperature of your CPU (well almost).

most people don't live in perfectly thermally insulated enclosures you know