[CentOS] died again

[m.roth at 5-cent.us]

Michael Hennebry wrote:
> On Wed, 27 Nov 2013, m.roth at 5-cent.us wrote:
>
>> Michael Hennebry wrote:
>>> Fan rpms (approximately, two of them changed):
>>> Processor region: 3000
>>> Rear:             1500
>>> Front:               0
>
> This is ok?

I have no idea if a) you have a front fan, or b) if it has a separate sensor.
>
>>> On boot I got a message saying that the CPU was being
>>> throttled because it was over the temperature threshold.
>>> IIRC the BIOS said that the CPU area temperature was about 80 C.
>>>
>> BING! BING! BING!
>>
>> You said you'd opened the case - did you clean the heat sink on the CPU?
>
> Not lately I haven't, but it seems that I will soon.
>
>> Can you turn the system on with the case cover off, and see if the fan
>> on the CPU is running?
>
> Yes.
>
>> One thing I've never done, or thought of until now, was whether the
>> thermal grease between the CPU and the heat sink had dried out. If it's
>> running hot, that's a possibility, so you might clean that off and put
>> on some new (a buck or so at any computer parts store). Doesn't need
much -
>> the force of tightening the heat sink will spread it much farther than
>> you expect it to, and you don't want it coming out the sides.
>
> "the force of tightening the heat sink" frightens me silly,
> but I suppose that would be better than a dead CPU fan.
> My recollection is that that does not come off.

Not to worry. It will probably be a lever that you push down and it
catches. I doubt it's like in some servers, where you screw it on... and
even in that case, you screw it till you feel it stop turning.

It *really* isn't a Big Deal. These days, nothing's like it was back in
the eighties, when taking a system apart was a *lot* of screws, and you
could place things the wrong way. For a long time now, they expect people
to upgrade or replace parts (cheaper parts, more failures), and if no one
else, the zillions of tech support companies leaned on the manufacturers,
because they wanted their techs to spend less time per repair.

       mark