Is processor burnout a sudden or gradual thing??

My computer has went very slow, first it was the hard drives, I checked all
the connections and even bought a new 80 pin cable. I replaced the battery
in the motherboard, but everything points to the processor, the only thing
that remains is the above question.

Also, (I know it contradicts the above) my computer is not in a very well
vetilated area, the case gets pretty warm. Could lack of air in the case
cooling fan, cause a problem with computer speed if enough air isn't getting
in??

Thanks

John

fitzy_bhoy wrote:
Intel or AMD CPU?
It is possible for parts of a CPU to fail and slow things down. If the
internal cache "dies", everything would run *very* slowly. However,
it's more likely that a CPU would just die outright, like a light bulb.
Intel, and perhaps newer AMD CPUs (not sure of this), will throttle back
(slow down) when they overheat, but will run to full speed when temps go
back to normal.

fitzy_bhoy wrote:

A far more common reason for slow computers would be spyware and
viruses. What have you done to eliminate these possibilities? And if you
have Norton anything installed, disable it to see if that helps.

"ICee" <icee@thelight.invalid> wrote in message
news:b5edndrKacxX6KLcRVn-hQ@adelphia.com...
It is an AMD 1800+ processor. the interanl cache thing sound probable as
the computer is very slow from a fresh reboot. So that counts out the
overheating or maybe not if the computer is not well ventilated. the problem
here is whether to spring for a new processor or a new case fan.

Thanks
John

"Rôgêr" <abuse@your.isp.com> wrote in message
news:-OSdnV-khN5F5qLcRVn-hw@pghconnect.com...
i run msconfig every couple of days to see if there are any new program
installed in the bootup. I run adaware and spybot every saturday and any
other spyware elimators that are recommended during the week. I have
downloaded patches for all the worms mydoom etc etc.
I run kaspersky AV, I think my computer is pretty streamlined.
I have a reasonable amount of PC knowledge having used them since DOS
(around 1992-1993). But have unfortanately lost touch since Windows XP has
been introduced (partly due to my family increasing in size and long hours
at work). But this one has me completely stumped.

I am willing to replace a case fan in the short term, but I was planning to
replace mobo and processor after xmas.

I truth it is driving me nuts.

John

fitzy_bhoy wrote:
The 1800+ would not have throttling. The best thing to do would be to
gather some facts about the hardware. SpeedFan is free and will show
the voltages, temps and CPU fan speed.
http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php
Sisoftware Sandra is a utility you can use to benchmark the system and
compare to a similar CPU speed.
http://www.sisoftware.net/

"ICee" <icee@thelight.invalid> wrote in message
news:AvudnaBKAPY-GaLcRVn-rg@adelphia.com...
however I can notice a definite drop in performance. We are not talking 1-2%
here but 25-50%.

John

fitzy_bhoy wrote:
When you get a chance, two things to check. First, is the CPU running
at its correct speed? The 1800+ should run at 1533 MHz on a 133 MHz FSB
(266 DDR). It's possible the FSB may have defaulted to 100 MHz.
Some BIOSs allow you to disable the L1 and L2 CPU cache. If yours does,
disable one or the other and check the system speed. If one and/or the
other slows the system down when disabled, then the cache is ok, and the
CPU very likely is ok also.

Why not open up the case and direct one of those big-ass table fan at
the cpu to see if its heat related. One big table fan = 100 case fans or
something like that.

fitzy_bhoy wrote:
Sounds as though you have the spyware/virus angle covered. When you Ctrl
Alt Del is there anything sucking up CPU cycles? I've been messing with
computers for a fair amount of time too and have yet to run across one
that the CPU simply slowed down. Died yes, slowed down, no. Which is not
to say it won't happen tomorrow though.

"Rôgêr" <abuse@your.isp.com> wrote in message
news:X5mdndiex4gtBaLcRVn-pQ@pghconnect.com...
The only processes at the moment are Svchost.exe which fluctuates between 00
and 01 and the system idle process is 99. Apart from that all others (about
25-30) are zero.

John