Heat Sink Compound
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My husband's computer is overheating and shuting down when set at the maximum heat sink temp.?
Best buy suggested cleaning any dust blocking the fan and adding some adding some silver compound to cool, but that didn't work. We don't want to buy a new processor and motherboard if we don't have to, but we are having a hard time thinking about what else might be causing the overheating. We have 2 fans and it pulled out with pleanty of air flow. The only way he can keep it on is to turn off the security feature that cuts it off when the temp is too high! He is a computer programmer and built this computer himself 5 years ago which is still more powerful than most sold today, so I really want to help him figure out what the problem is! I appreciate any and all suggestions!
There's the possibility that the fan is wearing out/slowing down. This is uncommon - usually they just stop working suddenly - but it's possible.
My suggestions - it sounds like you've tried some of them:
1. Make sure that the overheating warning is coming from the CPU and not one of the other components. Overheating warnings/shutdown can come from the chipset as well. Make sure that the chipset fan (if any) is spinning when the system is on.
The chipset is usually a smaller square/rectanglular chip covered by a heatsink or a heatsink/fan. It looks like a mini version of the CPU, and it's usually "down and to the front of the front" of the motherboard when viewed in a desktop system standing up.
2. Make sure all of the fans in the case - including the case fans, power supply fan, CPU fan and chipset fan (if any) are all spinning when the system is powered up. Check that none of them have stopped working.
3. Get a bottle of compressed air (from Office Depot, etc). Unplug the computer and take it outside, take the cover off and then thoroughly clean out the power supply fan/heatsink, the CPU fan/heatsink, and the chipset fan/heastink on the computer as well as any other heatsink you can see.
4. Take the CPU heatsink off and apply an extremely thin layer of "Artic Silver" to it. You said that you did this, but I just mentioned it again for thoroughness and to mention that the layer needs to be ridiculously thin. I put it on, and then scrap nearly all of it off with the edge of a credit card when I apply it. Too much thermal paste can be worse than none at all.
5. Make sure the heatsink is "seated" correctly. By this I mean, make sure that the surface of the heatsink is completely flat and level with the surface of the CPU. Make sure all of the four connectors tying the heatsink down to the motherboard are all tight and actively holding the CPU down. If one were loose, then that corner would edge up and then only part of the CPU would be covered by the heatsink. The only really good way to check whether the heatsink is seated properly is to completely remove the motherboard out of the case and then look at it edge-on by holding it up in front of a light and looking for gaps. If this sounds too intimidating to do then at least check that the heatink is solidly on the CPU socket by wiggling it a little. It shouldn't move at all - not even a little bit - when you apply moderately strong twisting to it. If it moves then figure out why.
6. Replace the CPU heatsink/fan with a new one. You can buy one at any number of different online merchants, but one of the ones with a better reputation (and a "no questions asked" refund policy) is Newegg (www.newegg.com). To replace the heatsink/fan you will need to know what type of socket your CPU is. Make sure wherever you buy it has a good return policy.
If it's none of these, then I am stumped. There's the possibility that the thermal sensor has gone bad - very unlikely, but possible. In which case, I'd just turn it off and not worry about it unless the computer begins to act strangely.
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