Dell thermal event

[Southern Belle]

I have a Dell Dimension 3000 desktop with Intel Celeron processor. I shut it down before I went on vacation and everything was fine. I tried to boot it up when I got home. It started up, got to the windows page, beeped twice, went to a black screen that said something about a thermal event, then shut itself down.
I read lots of tutorials about this Dell issue yesterday and most suggested checking the motherboard for bulging or leaking capacitors which I didn't find.
Also that the heat sink may not have good contact so I took it off and now I'll have to get some of that "grease" that goes under it.
I cleaned everthing inside including the fans neither of which seemed to be running as fast as they should be.
Does anybody have any suggestions?

[Jezter]

Im not much of a hardware expert really. All I can think of is to clean the heatsink+processor well before adding new coolingpaste aka grease and fastening the heatsink well. Also make sure the fans really run and if they make awful noise or run too slow, you could always replace them with new ones...
Or maybe some little detector has broken down somewhere and is giving false heat alarm.

[Southern Belle]

But trial and error can be expensive. I might bring it to work and get my home girl in the electronic lab to test it.

[Jezter]

Or you could do that, yes.

[Hal-9000]

I think you know what's up Belle

It's a heat issue most likely referencing your processor.Most times it's called Thermal paste and
it's the shit under your heatsink/processor/fan setup depending on what configuration you have.

If you know how to access the bios on your trusty Dell, that may give you a more concise area to check.
If you've googled the error message, maybe a last ditch effort before taking it to your gadget girl would be to hit a Dell site and ask some questions.

[tollboothwilly]

Originally Posted by Jezter

fastening the heatsink well.

yes I can tell youre not a hardware expert just by these four words. every heatsink Ive come across, the only way to fasten it is fastening well. and if you dont put it on square, you just might fuck up the processer.

and sb, just so you know, if you put to much paste on the proc that will defeat the purpose.

[Elviswind]

Figure anything out on this, SB?

[Hal-9000]

I've got some thermal paste for Belle..

heh heh heh

[Harpoon]

Did you go meet with that British fella?

[Southern Belle]

Originally Posted by Hal-9000

I think you know what's up Belle

It's a heat issue most likely referencing your processor.Most times it's called Thermal paste and
it's the shit under your heatsink/processor/fan setup depending on what configuration you have.

If you know how to access the bios on your trusty Dell, that may give you a more concise area to check.
If you've googled the error message, maybe a last ditch effort before taking it to your gadget girl would be to hit a Dell site and ask some questions.

Thanks, I did some of all that but couldn't keep the computer running long enough to access the bios.

Originally Posted by tollboothwilly

yes I can tell youre not a hardware expert just by these four words. every heatsink Ive come across, the only way to fasten it is fastening well. and if you dont put it on square, you just might fuck up the processer.

and sb, just so you know, if you put to much paste on the proc that will defeat the purpose.

That's why I ordered a motherboard with the processor already installed.

Originally Posted by Elviswind

Figure anything out on this, SB?

Not really but I've got parts coming. I just hope they're the right ones.

Originally Posted by Hal-9000

I've got some thermal paste for Belle..

heh heh heh

Originally Posted by Harpoon

Did you go meet with that British fella?

Yes I did! He arrived the 26th. He met my family on the 27th at a big family cookout. We visited my son on the 28th then drove down to Myrtle Beach for a couple of days, on to Charleston, then Savannah and back home on the 3rd. Rode 4 wheelers and explored my neighborhood on the 4th. He had to leave to fly back on the 5th. Pics are posted in the basement.