http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835100007&cm_re=arctic_silver_5-_-35-100-007-_-Product

This is the stuff I always use/recommend. First clean off all the old stuff with rubbing alcohol, it should be 100% clean. Then put a tiny dab of the new paste on the heat sink. Get an old credit card or gift card or something and spread the little dab out as thin as possible (think like bondo) across the entire contact area. Less is more in this case, the thinner the better.

__________________
TC
Current stable:
- 2004 Mazda RALLYWANKEL
- 2007 Saturn sky redline
- 2004 Explorer...under surgery.

Past: 135i, GTI, 300E, 300SD, 300SD, Stealth

Something isn't right. My macbook pro 4,1 regularly hits 140*F and if I push it I can hit 160. It's the GPU that pumps the heat up.

Go to the event viewer under administrative tools in the control panel and paste in the error message.

I also run a fan control application that runs my fans at the max speed. For whatever reason Apple wanted a quiet laptop instead of a comfortable to use one.

But get us the error message first. You may have some bad fans. Compressed air in a can is an easy way to dust out computers. Just spray it lightly back and forth to avoid condensation from hitting the components.

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-Typos courtesy of my mobile phone.

Im betting on a bad unit fan. Power supply fans not only cool the supply but also do alot in the way of air exchange throughout the unit.

I havent checked laptop ones but just got a desktop 600w unit from ebay cheeep.

__________________
1985 300D 198K sold
1982 300D 202K
1989 300E 125K
1992 940T

"If you dont have time to do it safely, you dont have time to do it"

"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not."

I've been facing this problem lately as well- My possessed Compaq tower got wiped clean and I installed Ubuntu on it, only to have it continue to lock up. The thing I notice with it is that during startup and "power save" mode, the fans kick on to high speed, but run slow all other times. I tried the CPU temp monitoring program in Ubuntu, and the sensor must be bad as it has never varied from 40c. In the BIOS settings I don't have an option to run the fans full speed although I can see their rpm and the CPU temp.

ALSO...be sure you don't short out the pins with the paste...be very careful what you get this stuff on.

Sometimes, this cure is worse than the problem.

Thin and careful.

__________________

M. G. Burg
'10 - Dakota SXT - Daily Ride / ≈ 172.5K
.'76 - 450SLC - 107.024.12 / < .89.20 K
..'77 - 280E - 123.033.12 / > 128.20 K
...'67 - El Camino - 283ci / > 207.00 K
....'75 - Yamaha - 650XS / < 21.00 K
.....'87 - G20 Sportvan / > 206.00 K
......'85 - 4WINNS 160 I.O. / 140hp
.......'74 - Honda CT70 / Real 125
.
“I didn’t really say everything I said.”
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ~ Yogi Berra ~

You get the award on this one.

Temperature is a variable on the issue, but not the primary problem.

Dell did some diagnostics with it and found the hard drive is slowly departing this earth. New drive is on the way.

As I write this, the machine is in safe mode and currently backing up "my documents" to an external drive (I'm not on it at the moment). It'll probably take 8 hours to get it done...........if it doesn't crash.

I've got the a/c on maximum cold to help it as best as I can.

Spoke with Dell regarding this exact issue, as the Vostro does the same thing.

Perfectly normal. The machine knows the CPU temperature and won't increase the fan speed unless it senses overheating. The Dell diagnostics confirmed that the temperature is normal and not the problem.

A ha!


I had a suspicion it was the hard drive when you said it would run, slow down, then lock up!

__________________
-Justin

91 560 SEC AMG - other dogs dd
01 Honda S2000 - dogs dd
07 MB ML320 CDI - dd
16 Lexus IS250 - wifes dd

it's automatic.

Do you know of any other way to get it to move a folder other than safe mode and waiting.............??

It's really marginal and I'm a bit concerned that it won't make it the full eight hours..........I won't know until I return Sunday night.

Would it be successful if this drive was utilized as a slave to a machine with a good drive and a properly functioning OS?

What's interesting about this situation is that the machine boots up fine in full Windows. It just won't run any applications.

Best way is to pull the hard drive and attach it to another PC either internally or with an external caddy/cable. Trying to run the machine itself to copy the data relies on the hard drive being at least moderately healthy.

Out of curiosity, what type of hard drive is it? Samsung? Hitachi? Dell likes to use the cheapo hard drives, though technically the "Vostro" series is their cheapest line of PCs.....so its kinda expected.

__________________
-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)

Thanks.

If this last backup fails, I'll do that with the new drive.

I'll let you know after I pull it.

I had good performance from the previous Dell.........a Dimension 4550........so, the failure of the Vostro after two years is somewhat of a surprise. I don't believe that Dell uses any "better" hard drives in any of their machines. The get a certain performance level and live with the warranty issues.

In the Dimension and Optiplex series they tend to use only Western Digital or Seagate, but in the Vostro and low end models they use Hitachi and Samsung (and used to use Maxtor, which were the worst by far)...because they cost less and have slower performance. Most of the failed drives I see at work are Hitachi or Samsung or Maxtors....only every so often does a Western Digital or Seagate come through dead.

__________________
-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)

Interesting.

Now, if they would provide such info in their literature, I wouldn't mind paying more for the Optiplex. However, judging strictly by specifications.........RAM and HDD capacity..........the Vostro was more than sufficient for my needs.

Might be the last time I purchase their equipment due to the lack of truthful information for a proper choice.

This little fiasco is going to cost me plenty...........due to delays in business issues.

If you go for a new computer I would recommend a mid to upper range Lenovo or HP....they seem to have the edge on Dell in terms of quality. Though the higher end dell's are ok too....the new optiplex workstations are pretty nice beasts. If you want even better protection, order a workstation with dual hard drives in Raid, then you're pretty well immune to a hard drive failing, and have a chance to remedy the issue (the system alerts you to the hard drive problem) before it actually ever takes down the system.

__________________
-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)

Get a USB dock and use that to download your harddrive to another computer. Fast, easy and pretty safe.