Time to format....

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Originally Posted by StuKeith

ITs an AMD 64, 3700. I have a gig of matched OCZ RAM, one 300GB SATA drive and a 80GB SATA drive just for the OS (I brought the 80gb to see if this speed matters up)

All my main drive has is windows, and the files programs install into the windows system dir.

All my games and apps are installed on a different drive. I have removed all bar my mouse software msn, and av/fw from the msconfig. but some files still reaprear. I have also disabled all of the apple services.

I do have 5 mapped network drives though! but even so. when loading two progs up at one the pc will hang.

and just recently it can take 2 boots to get the pc working.

Thus makes me think the CPU is cooked!

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Something is definitely not right with your system. One of my two Athlon 64 systems is a 3700+ and at idle it runs at 26 deg C, and when under load at about 30-37 Deg C. So if your CPU is running at 60 there is something not right at all. Either the motherboard isn't reporting the correct temperature, or the CPU is getting much too hot. My one is also using the stock cooler that came with the retail CPU so nothing special. I would definitely recommend removing the heatsink, cleaning it up and applying a very thin new layer of thermal compound, as it doesn't sound like the CPU cooling is being that effective.

The other problems that could be causing such issues include the motherboard, ram or PSU being faulty. Instabilities you are experiencing are common with ram related issues. Have you tested the ram? And have you also tested that there are no bad blocks or read errors on the HD?

The first thing I always check when I have an unstable PC is the System logs (right click my computer, select manage, go to System tools/Event Viewer/System) and look for any red X entries or yellow exclamation mark entries and look up the errors thay are giving in google.

ITs new RAM. I brought this ram as well to see if it helped, but no.

Idle is 65oc under load is 70+ I cleaned the mobo cpu and hs/fan and applied new grease!

Im going to get a new CPU soon. Unless I can try the cpu in one of yours H?

that way can deffo make sure that its that!

The Newcastle and especially the Clawhammer Athlon64's do run hot with the default cooler - about 45-50C idle and 55-60 full load. Those are perfectly acceptable temp ranges for an Athlon64 CPU and it'll be long obsolete before failing.

Venice and later models run a lot cooler and rarely go above 50C as they're built on a smaller process - 90nm vs 130nm of older Athlon64's.

Above 70C full load is hot, but remember that these are adjusted internal temps which read MUCH hotter than the external socket diode readings of old, so your motherboard may be either reporting unadjusted or inaccurate readings (a common issue with early Athlon64 bios versions). Touch the heatsink while it's been running full load for several minutes - if it really is 70C+ you won't be able to keep your finger on it for more than a brief second. If you can keep your finger there for several seconds, it's probably running cooler than reported.

Finally, if it's 100% stable running a program like prime95 after you've cleaned out the cooler and checked the heatsink greese/contact, then I wouldn't worry about the temp. It will fail prime95 LONG before hitting a temp that will damage the CPU or reduce it's life by any meaningful value to a home user.

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Originally Posted by Harrison

Next is programs loading during startup. Even if there is nothing in the startup folder in the start menu there could still be a lot loading. You need to look in the registry at the actual list of programs being run at startup and delete the entries for any you definitely don't need. Things like the Quicktime or Real Player files are definitely not needed. And any program that can easily be started from the start menu should have a quick launch icon loaded at startup as that is pointless and will just slow things down and eat up memory.

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How do I get into the registry?I cant remember! Also, what programs must you have running to keep the machine active?

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Originally Posted by Bloodwych

The Newcastle and especially the Clawhammer Athlon64's do run hot with the default cooler - about 45-50C idle and 55-60 full load. Those are perfectly acceptable temp ranges for an Athlon64 CPU and it'll be long obsolete before failing.

Venice and later models run a lot cooler and rarely go above 50C as they're built on a smaller process - 90nm vs 130nm of older Athlon64's.

Above 70C full load is hot, but remember that these are adjusted internal temps which read MUCH hotter than the external socket diode readings of old, so your motherboard may be either reporting unadjusted or inaccurate readings (a common issue with early Athlon64 bios versions). Touch the heatsink while it's been running full load for several minutes - if it really is 70C+ you won't be able to keep your finger on it for more than a brief second. If you can keep your finger there for several seconds, it's probably running cooler than reported.

Finally, if it's 100% stable running a program like prime95 after you've cleaned out the cooler and checked the heatsink greese/contact, then I wouldn't worry about the temp. It will fail prime95 LONG before hitting a temp that will damage the CPU or reduce it's life by any meaningful value to a home user.

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I'm sure all 3700+ chips use the San Diego core which runs much cooler than the older Newcastle.

It probably would be a useful thing to soak test the system over night and see what happens. And also to run a stress and memory test to also check everything is OK. The easiest way to do this is download the Ultimate boot CD from http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/ as it contains CPU Burn-In, Mersenne Prime Test and StressCPU, as well as Memory tests such as Memtest86. If you run these you will be sure the hardware is all OK.

You might be right Harrison - those mad ratings are so confusing at times. I seem to remember an early 2.4GHz Clawhammer with 1MB cache being rated at 3700+ on socket 759 and thought that was the only chip to be rated as such. What I didn't realize until now is socket 939 also had a later 3700+ release with a san diego core!

Like Harrison said, run tests to gauge performance against others with the same CPU and look for errors.

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Originally Posted by submeg

How do I get into the registry?I cant remember!

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Start -> Run: regedit

Rule of thumb when messing with the registry is backing it up first (File -> export), just in case you really mess things up!

And here's a useful step-by-step guide for removing startup programs as well.

Or download Codestuff Starter (freeware) if you don't fancy messing about in the registry.

Cool cheers ppl

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Originally Posted by Harrison;15761
It probably would be a useful thing to soak test the system over night and see what happens. And also to run a stress and memory test to also check everything is OK. The easiest way to do this is download the Ultimate boot CD from [url

http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/[/url] as it contains CPU Burn-In, Mersenne Prime Test and StressCPU, as well as Memory tests such as Memtest86. If you run these you will be sure the hardware is all OK.

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I left it on overnight with prime runing and it was hung on 40% or so. tried to load some over progs and told me didnt have permission to run anything, or file could not be found!