Can this be right?

GargGarg Purveyor of Lincoln Nightmares Icrontian
edited July 2003 in Hardware
I just got a new computer set up for my mom at work, and of course I set it up to fold for me.

It's got a 1300 Duron and a cheap aluminum heatsink with a 60x60x10mm fan on it. The fan spins at 5500 rpm, according to MBM5. But, after being at full load for about 15 minutes, the temperature has stayed the same: 27C. I'd believe that for a Duron under no load, but full load?

I'm a little reluctant to leave this thing folding without being confident in the actual temperature it's running at, but I've got a 1000 Duron at my house with a much crappier heatsink folding and it's just fine, so I think this one will be ok. Is there another program that could read the temperature more accurately than MBM, or is the bad reading (if it's a bad reading) the fault of the motherboard?

BTW, hard choice on which forum to put the thread in. Almost put it in hardware or in the folding one. Mods can feel free to move this thread if they think it belongs elsewhere.

Comments

  • GHoosdumGHoosdum Icrontian
    edited July 2003
    I think that MBM is trying to read the on-chip diode. Durons don't have them. Set it to read from the motherboard's thermistor (if the motherboard even has one) and you should be golden.
    Another issue I've seen is that sometimes MBM mislabels the temperature readings... the case temp reading goes under processor temp heading, and the processor temp reading goes under the case temp heading.
  • TBonZTBonZ Ottawa, ON Icrontian
    edited July 2003
    I also side with GH, recheck your temp config.

    Can you give a screenie of mbm? Are you still with the comp?

    Those temps are very low and I would be a bit concerned as well to the reading not being realistic.
  • WuGgaRoOWuGgaRoO Not in the shower Icrontian
    edited July 2003
    worst come sto worst...set up a shut off tem....
  • SpinnerSpinner Birmingham, UK
    edited July 2003
    The simpliest way to find out, is to have a look at the CPU temp which the BIOS displays. My guess would be 40-45 degrees C would be about right for a 1300 duron with a stock fan running at full load. However if the BIOS reads the same as MBM is currently telling you, then I wouldn't worry about it. However 27 degrees C seems like more of a system temp than a CPU one, especially if it isn't moving that much.
  • GargGarg Purveyor of Lincoln Nightmares Icrontian
    edited July 2003
    The choices for the sensor are "Via686b-(1 though 3)." SiSoft wasn't any help, it shows it's at like 400C and the fan is spinning at 21k rpm.
    And this is one of the first Socket Athlon boards, and it doesn't have any temperature readings in the BIOS or an emergency shutoff when a high temp is reached.

    I've attached a pic of MBM. I think I'm gonna tell folding to use a little bit less CPU time, just in case. I'm a little nervous leaving it like this, and I probly won't see this comp again for weeks.

    But, it'll probly be fine. My 1000 Duron runs about 45 C, and this one is in a slightly hotter room so maybe turning the usage down to 80 or 90% will help a little. Of course, my other duron box doesn't even have an exhuast fan, and this one does. But that box is on top of a cabinet and this one is inside a desk. Oh well.

    Oops, it's a .bmp. Can't make a jpg here, so you guys will have to d/l it. Sorry.
  • SpinnerSpinner Birmingham, UK
    edited July 2003
    To be honest, I wouldn't worry about it. But another way you could try and confirm what exactly your CPU temp is, is by getting your hands on a copy of VIA Hardware Monitor. A copy might have been bundled with your motherboard, however, just in case: http://210.201.178.73/driver/kxhealth.zip

    Bare in mind though, that the Via Hardware Monitor I linked to above, may not be the correct version for your motherboard.
  • GargGarg Purveyor of Lincoln Nightmares Icrontian
    edited July 2003
    I'll give that a try next time I'm down there. I got this motherboard second-hand, so I don't have any software for it.
  • muddocktormuddocktor
    edited July 2003
    Garg, what brand and model # is that motherboard? You could see what kind of monitoring software that their site has for it.

    Also, you might try out Speedfan and see what it shows for temps. It's the only proggie I've found that works correctly on my Gigabyte P3 board.
  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited July 2003
    Also you could just see how hot the heatsink is getting... certainly not the most accurate by any stretch of the imagination, but it would be better than nothing; if the heatsink is really warm (say, 50*C+) the chip is probably too hot. If the heatsink is cool/lukewarm tho, it's probably fine.
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited July 2003
    Gargoyle said
    The choices for the sensor are "Via686b-(1 though 3)." SiSoft wasn't any help, it shows it's at like 400C and the fan is spinning at 21k rpm.
    And this is one of the first Socket Athlon boards, and it doesn't have any temperature readings in the BIOS or an emergency shutoff when a high temp is reached.

    I would take a look at the chipset itself and make sure it really is a Via686b - if it's one of the first Socket Athlon boards, could it really be the 686a?

    I did find this.
    > I want to install lm-sensor 2.6.3 on my system (ABIT-KT7 mobo) and i
    > couldn't get info about the via686a chip.
    > So I started to browse the code and I found a bug in the
    > prog/sensors-detect script.
    > when it detect a VT82C686 chip it set the procid => "VIA Technologies
    > VT82C686 Apollo ACPI" but in the sub via686a_isa_detect it try to
    > compare the procid with the "VIA Technologies VT 82C686 Apollo ACPI"
    > string and the result of the comparing is false because "VT 82C686" #
    > "VT82C686".
    > When I corrected this mistake the detecting become fine.

    Also, is there a bios update which might let you view the temps & fan speed?


    Prof
  • khankhan New
    edited July 2003
    1)Run folding for an hour
    2)Open case and hold hand near HS/F.
    3)If it is really hot, commece fretting. Otherwise, take chill pill and watch points roll in.
  • GargGarg Purveyor of Lincoln Nightmares Icrontian
    edited July 2003
    The board is an MSI 6340 version 1. MSI has revised their site and I can't find the version 1 anymore. The version 5 that is on their site is an updated version of the chipset and it supports several things that mine doesn't (like a 266 fsb). So it doesn't look like I can get an updated BIOS and I'm not sure that any utilities listed for the new version would work on mine (but I'll probly give them a shot next time I'm down).

    I thought about opening up the case and feeling the heatsink, but to be honest, I was just too lazy to mess with pulling the case out, since I'd been working on it for hours and was ready to get out of there :)

    Maybe if I updated the 4-in-1's it would help? Maybe the sensors I have to choose from in MBM would change? It's using the VIA drivers that came with WinME right now.
  • SpinnerSpinner Birmingham, UK
    edited July 2003
    I think this is your board:
    http://www.msi.com.tw/program/products/mainboard/mbd/pro_mbd_detail.php?UID=101&MODEL=MS-6340
    <img src="http://www.msi.com.tw/images/product_img/mbd_img/6340.jpg"&gt;

    I think this is the latest BIOS for your board:
    http://download.msi.com.tw/support/bos_exe/6340v47.exe

    Notice the below pic of an old BIOS revision which says it corrects a hardware monitor problem.

    Hope the above and below helps. I suggest you flash your BIOS to the latest version, as I linked to above, (I would though just double check it is the right one for your board), and then go from there.

    SPINNER
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