Having some computer issues! (fun stuff)

DirtyDirtyVagrant

I just finished a clean install of windows 7 in an effort to rid myself of a zero day infection. It seems to have worked, as my computer is booting and loading stuff at a much faster clip than it had been before, and subsequent virus scans have turned up nothing.

Initially, I was just on the Blizzard downloader trying to patch my game up, and I noticed that I had a download speed of ~50-100KBps. It would start at ten times that, and then steadily degrade to the point where it was going to take days to patch this fucking thing. When I went to go and check my firewall permissions, they were gone. The entire windows firewall had been destroyed. Attempting to do anything resulted in a nasty error message and a firmly toned system sound.

So I found the zero day thing and read about all the damage it causes and then did my best to nuke it from orbit with this clean install.

But NOW my CPU is behaving strangely (and my download speed is still fuck-all). As I type this it's at 43C, well within normal. If I jump into Minecraft, that temperature nearly doubles. It'll climb as high as 72C+ in mere minutes. That's highly alarming, but I don't notice any kind of symptoms accompanying this - no crashing, no lockups, no anything. And I don't feel any significant heat around the CPU itself. I can actually touch the copper coils on the heatsink for a moment before they get too warm to bear. What's going on? Is my HW Monitor fucked up somehow? Is the thermometer just shot?

And what is up with my download speed? I've got a 20Mb cable connection wired directly to my computer.

Shadowfire

Try pulling the heat sink off, wiping any thermal paste that's there off, and putting on some new?

In fact, just reseating the heat sink could solve some of the issues.

l3lasphemer69

First thing I would do would be to do a complete blowout of the case itself, especially any case fans and don't forget the power supply fan! Also get the fan on your video card, the video card is the 2nd hottest device in the computer nowadays. As far as your download speed, the Blizzard downloader works on a torrent based system, and your download speeds will vary depending on how many people are seeding or leeching the download.

BlindZenDriver

Is the fan running like it should? What temperatures does your BIOS report compared to your hardware monitoring software?

Also try downloading from somewhere else than Blizzard - perhaps your ISP has a speed test you can use or you could download some big patch from Microsoft (it doesn't need to be one you need).

Hahnsoo1

Different CPUs have different temperature tolerances, depending on the CPU, ranging from 60 to 90 Celsius. What's the specs on your computer? I'm assuming it's a desktop. The behavior that you describe sounds normal for GPU temperatures, so I would double check and see if the monitor is actually for your GPU and not the CPU.

DirtyDirtyVagrant

I've got a Phenom 2 QC 955 CPU.

I'll go out and get some thermal paste and some canned air and re-seat the heatsink tomorrow.

..Thermal paste is thermal paste, right? I mean, quality/price point, what would you recommend?

Hahnsoo1

A Quad Core Phenom II shouldn't go over 70 (according to this site). In fact, most motherboards would automatically shut down if you exceed the maximum critical temperature (which 72 most certainly would do). I would double check and make sure that monitor is actually checking the CPU temp, as it's looking like a GPU temp instead (what video are you running?).

Thermal Paste is Thermal Paste, IMO. There are slight performance benefits for higher end thermal paste, but nothing that would really help you on a normal Phenom II Quad Core that isn't overclocked.

TIFunkalicious

both too much and too little thermal paste will cause significant overheat so be extra careful with whatever instructions you're following

is minecraft the only program you're having cpu problems with? is this a brand new problem? it's an incredibly inefficient game due mostly to being coded in java and can tank some computers more powerful than you would think

DirtyDirtyVagrant

Nah, it started overheating during every game. I have a new heatsink and fan on order...is it at all likely that the processor itself came through this undamaged? Watch for crashing and lock-ups, yeah?

premium

Typically if the processor goes past a threshold the computer just shuts off to prevent damage. I would think it's likely that the processor itself made it through just fine.