MBM giving odd readings

tycho

Okay so i have this new system: 2500+ running @ 2.1GHz with an Abit NF7 mb. I had been using MBM5 just fine to monitor my cpu temp. I like to have it sit in the system tray for easy updates....
anyways, today was a fairly cool day and i noticed that the temp was reading around 53-55 C. I thought that this was a bit high because lately it had been running around 50 or so. So after i tried uninstall/reinstalling the program with no change, i uninstalled it and installed the Abit Hardware Doctor that came on the CD.
It says (as i suspected) that the proc is at 50C (full load obviously... folding ;-) ) So something appears to be wrong with MBM5. Has anyone had this problem lately? I'd much rather be using MBM5 because it can display the temp in the tray without having to click on it or anything... is there any way to fix this wierd issue?

Straight_Man

Um, the ABIT monitor is reading, just possibly, a different sensor than the MBM5, or the ABIT is dampening the output a few degrees. Five degrees different is a bit high, but 3 degrees is wthin accuracy range for the circuit. Use MBM5, subtract 3 C, and expect that MBM5 is more accurate than the ABIT routines for your box. Second, if you have a CPU fan that is speed controlled, it is likely that cooling showing up will lag behind fan trgiggering time, so a 2 C variance is not bad.

However, take a look in CPU heatsink fins for dust, and blow them out with an aircan, and while you are at it dust off whole mobo with aircan. blow dust to bottom of case, CAREFULLY suck dust up with a vacuum cleaner, or take case outside and then blow dust out of case also. Gradual consistent increase can be dust blocking airflow through air passages in heatsink. Clean out case fans also. Also, if adventurous, blow out PSU from inside vents outward with power off adn case grounded very well(another cause can be a misvoltage ehough to cause CPU to run hot, and overheated PSUs can go slightly out of range with voltages). Fall cleaning time.

John.

tycho

Hmm okay
I'm not totally sure whats going on here, but i read in a review or something that the Abit program always reads sensor 2 for CPU temps, which is the same as i had MBM set to.
Anyways, i tried reinstalling MBM again and this time it seems to be working okay, its reading 50C under full load. I don't know what its problem was, maybe the Abit program got the sensor back on the right track or something.
The dust thing isnt really an issue since i have a side panel off and just cleaned and rebuilt the system a week or so ago. Thanks for the help

Straight_Man

Ok, it has been known to happen from time to time that if you have a registry variable, not all the registry variables get reset UNLESS you reboot after UNINSTALLING if you are going to reinstall same program again-- this is an installer and XP registry handling issue, and is not unique to XP, as I have seen similar issues in 2000, 98, 98 SE, and ME. See, deletes can be handled as DYN_KEY change calls. Those are in fact not executed often until the system has enough dead time that it is done or is rebooted (restarted in Window's case). SO, if you uninstall, no reboot, reinstall, reboot, you can have the old values still in the old registry entries, but if you uninstall, reboot, reinstall, reboot, the registry entries get cleaned right-- with SOME programs. If I do not wnat to reboot, I uninstall, run Norton WinDoctor, reinstall and on average need to reboot less to figure out flakes.

Best of luck, but my case runs the CPU cooler by 2-4 C when closed tight as I slightly overfan things for air flow through case and closed it is not sucking air from all over, it is sucking front-to-back mostly. (comparison was several hours to several hours, same hardware, only change case side off or on). Stock Barton 2500+ in my case, different mobo.

John.