PCA Forums

I just got a new PC put together for a buddy and it's running a

P4 2.8
Soyo Dragon 2 SY-P4I865SPE Plus

and for whatever reason it does POST just fine and then it gets to the point where it's checkin for the CD to boot to and load the OS and then it just shuts off. I'm lookin at the CPU Temp and it seems really high 125-130 just sittin in the bios. I'm pretty sure I put the heat paste on right and everything, I put enough to cover most of the core. Is that too much, I've worked on many Athlons and u only put a lil bit in the center of those but I'm unsure about the P4, and it just shut off as well just sitting in the BIOS so I'm definately thinking it's over heating? Any suggestions?

Make sure the heatsink is seated correctly and making proper contact with the P4. 125-130 isnt really that high for a P4, so I'm not too sure that overheating is the problem. I would also check the case and the PSU cables for any shorts, IE exposed wires touching the sides of the case. Also, make sure all of your expansion cards are firmly and securely seated in their slots.

well the only reason I'm thinking over heating is because the shut off comes at random times. When doing a task like trying to pull the stuff off the CD for the OS to load or when I just leave it sit for like 10 minutes in the bios and it shut off. It's so random that's why I don't think it's any of the periphrials.

Could be your RAM...

Just for some closure, I truely am an idiot.. .. I finally got around to opening up the PC and checkin out the heatsink only to find that I was stupid enough to not clamp down one of the sides.... so yea it was sitting half on. Computer works like a charm now.

hehe good thing it was a P4.....amd woulda been a smoke bomb

true but AMD wouldn't of had 2 clamps either

just troubleshot a computer today over the phone with a similar problem with random shutdowns. It turned up to be their power supply. When he tried another one in the case it worked fine. He opened the old one up out of curiosity and found a coupld of burn marks on the board near the heatsinks.