Hoyt,

Take a look at this:

http://forumz.tomshardware.com/hardw...ict232955.html

Yeah..I wouldn't recommend using an industrial strength leaf blower to blow out the dust in a computer. I was into the early morning (bout 3am) of the next day trying to get the thing to stay running long enough to get windows reinstalled. I'd only taken a break long enough to run up to Best Buy to see how much a new system was going for these days. I only used the leaf blower cause I didn't have a stick of dynomite handy.
I have my best luck fixing things when I go to the extreme. I've fixed more stuff with hard slaps, knocks, drops and kicks than any other way...actually that's about the only way I've ever fixed anything.

Originally Posted by joeofeg

Thank you very much for providing the feedback. I must say I was very impressed with the creative way hyot ran his test, and thanks a lot to hyot for posting that response.

My recommendation is to please go ahead and take a clear picture of your CPU and post it hear. I am sure there are a few moderators/memebers who will be excited to give some advice. Again, thank you very much for your kind response.

Now, I have a question for hyot: The industerial grade leaf blower that you used (lol...), was it gasoline operated or electric?

(ignore the dust) between juggling a full time job and finishing up my degree in biology i hardly have time to remove all the dust in my computer. Well the motherboard is a Abit NF7-S, which are pretty damn good for overclocking. The CPU have is a AMD Ahtlong barton XP 3000. Hope this helps.

( Stop laughing at the dust, I CAN SEE YOU!)

Oh man, i used imageshack to upload the pictures, i have no idea why they came out so damn big. Sorry guys. Can any of the moderators resize ?

Beautiful picture.

It looks like the the mother board requires some careful cleaning (I do not recommend industerial grade leaf blower. lol). There are a lot of cloth dryer type debries on board that can act as insulator and help trap heat.

The yellow wire going to the CPU fan, is it fully connected? Can you turn the computer on with the cover removed and see if the CPU fan is working? It is not unusual for a DC fan to fail. Be careful not to touch any component due to electro static discharge.

Looks like the socket number is also needed to find a good match.

I found this (link below) at Radioshack. I went to Radioshack not because I care too much about it, but because there probably is a store near you. Unless somebody else on this Forum has a better answer, my thinking is:

Verify fan is not working (if it is working normal, there is no sence to replace it, unless you get something more powerful than what you have to get rid of the heat better).

Around fans fin and inside the fan needs to be cleaned. Debries and dust act like insulator and trap heat. That definatley can degerade performance. The best way to clean it is to get a dust-off canned-air made especially for computers (so that it is static free). Follow the instructions. You should not be too close when you blow.

If you want, you can very carefully remove the fan and take it to a store (such as Radioshack) to find a match. First have the computer pluged into the wall. Touch the case of the computer several times to discharge yourself of any static built up. Unplug the computer from the wall for safety . Now, do not move your body too much, and do not walk on carpet or anything like that. Remove the CPU fan without touching any components. And take it to a computer store,

Here is the Radioshack link:

http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...entPage=search

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...5&sku=ULT31402

Now, if anybody else on this Forum has a better solution, please provide your response.

Thanks

PS: Also, verify that other fans (such as power supply and any vault fan) are working properly

The fan was working so i got curious and decided to flash a flashlight at the Heatsink/Fan and i couldnt believe the amount of dust inside there-disgusting. I carefully removed the fan from the heatsink and carefully removed the dust from heatsink and fan. Its about 10pm right now so i cant really go out and buy one of those compressed air cans so ima have to leave that for the weekend. Hopefully removing all that dust helps airate it. If the problem continues i will be forced to get a more powerful fan. Thanks alot joeofeg, you rock.

Thanks for the update.

One thing that you may want to consider is the use of a thermal compound. I do not know if they used thermal compound between your CPU and the heat sink. If that have dried or worn out, the compound can actually does the opposite of what it is suppose to do and act like an insulator and help trap heat rather than help get rid of it. If they did not use any, tiny gaps might have created between CPU and the heat sink which results in inadequate heat transfer. In either case, effective heat transfer goes down the tube.

For the CPU to get rid of the heat properly 3 processes must take place:

First the heat has to be transferred from the CPU to the heat sink at maximum rate:

Second the heat sink needs to dissipate the heat quickly so that it is ready to receive fresh heat from the CPU. The heat sink heat-dissipation is aided by the CPU fan. This heat is transferred to the vault (CPU box).

Third the accumulated heat in the CPU box needs to be replaced with cool air by sucking fresh cool (er) air from outside to the inside of the computer and pushing the warm air out (this is how all the dog hair and other nice stuff gets in your computer). This cooling is done by the vault fan or aided by the power supply fan.

If there is degradation in any of the heat transfer processes above, then performance will suffer. That is:

If the heat from processor can not be adequacy be transferred to the heat sink;
or if the heat from the heat sink cans not adequetly be transferred to the box;
or if the accumulated heat in the box can not be replaced with cool air from outside;
Then the performance will suffer (your case).

That is why heat and cooling is now the number one issue when data centers are being designed.

Take a look a link below. Again, the number one issue when dealing with inside the computer is to fully follow the static electricity precautions, as described earlier. You have come a long way; you do not want to damage your computer so easily as a result of static discharge.

Please keep us informed on your endeavor. Meanwhile, we will be praying for you.


http://www.ocztechnology.com/product...ermal_compound

http://www.ocztechnology.com/display...a5instructions

Thanks again man, ima try this out. Ive changed my CPU before but when it gets to the step where i have to attach the heatsink i get kinda nervous since you have to put a slight pressure on it to attach it properly. I get scared that i might press down on it to much and break, bend, or damage a pin.