Re: A PC question.

In message <4fa116a533dave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, "Dave Plowman (News)" <dave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes
As I said I don't think it's actually a thermal issue as the heatsink
isn't even hot when it shuts down. And it can happen so quickly after
switching on from cold that the CPU wouldn't have time to overheat.
You'd be amazed how quickly a modern CPU heats up, don't forget these things are dissipating massive amounts of power given their size (some of the Athlon XP64 chips, 90 watts for a die that's smaller than your little fingernail), if the heatsink isn't on correctly or not making good contact you can have an overheating chip by the time it's started to display POST.

Interesting read;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CPU_power_dissipation

Having said that, one of my systems occasionally shuts down because the BIOS reports the CPU temperature as over 90C on the first power on of the day, it's lying.

Had I needed it at this time then that would have been my approach. And I
do have a new MB, CPU and memory standing buy - it arrived on Friday. But
it will need a complete re-install of everything so I'm putting it off
until forced. ;-)
Hmm, unless your software is locked to the current system for licensing reasons it's rarely necessary to do a full reinstall, you just need to know how to wave the magic chicken correctly and reactivate Windows once the new stuff is installed.
--
Clint Sharp
.