CPU Overheating

Question: Lately, anytime I am playing a graphics intensive game, or running a long program like Norton Anti-virus, my computer shuts down after about 10 minutes. When it has cooled off and is restarted, I get a message saying I have a “thermal” problem” and need to have it looked at immediately. I am sure I need to replace something, but I don’t know what. Fan? Graphics card? What??? I would rather replace something than but a new CPU. Any suggestions? Thanks a million for any help.

There’s a good chance that your CPU fan has bound. A lot of the more inexpensive and older heatsinks have bushing fans on them, and bushing fans tend to bind up over time. You don’t need a new CPU, you only need a new heatsink/fan combo. Figure out what type of processor that you have, go to your local computer store (better yet, amazon.com) and purchase a new heatsink for your CPU. Attaching it is quite easy, although the exact method depends on the type of processor you have.

It is also possible that your heatsink is just filled up with dust and gunk. Pull the side off of your case, and blow out the stuff that is caught within the fins. If you’ve never before opened your case then you’ll likely be surprised at the amount of stuff that you’ll have to blow out.

Once you have it cleaned out and have verified that the fan is actually spinning the way that it should, try to run one of your CPU intensive programs and see if it stays stable.

Also, if you have a modern graphics card with a heatsink and fan onboard then you will want to see how it’s fan is holding up. If that happens to be bound then it’s going to be more difficult to replace than the CPU one simply because the setup tends to be specific to the model of card.