ovidescu wrote:
> Hi all
>
> I recently bought myself the parts for my new computer (INTEL Pentium4
> 531 boxed, 2x512 DDR2 533MHz Kingmax, GIGABYTE GA-945PL-S3 I945PL mobo,
> ASUS EAX1300PRO-SILENT/TD/256M video card, Hiper Power HPU-3S350 350W
> power source) and put it together. At the very first boot-up sequence
> everything ran as it was supposed to (got Windows XP SP2 installed in
> under 15 minutes). This is my first super computer and needless to say
> I was over-excited. Anyway, before installing Windows I went through
> the usual setting up of the BIOS. I enabled the "CPU fan failure"
> signal beep, also "Smart CPU fan mode" (whatever that was), booted up
> from the CD-ROM and installed WinXP. I spent the rest of the day
> installing software and games and all went smooth.
> The surprise came the next day, when I got back from work and hit the
> power button on my computer case. I got the CPU fan failure beep !!!
> (which is quite annoying). I immediately hit the power button, opened
> up the case and with my eyes on the CPU fan, hit the power button
> again. The fan stayed motionless. I even tried to give it a boost
> manually, but nothing happened (the CPU fan failure beep was creeping
> me out). Again I turned it off, turned it on, entered BIOS, disabled
> "Smart CPU fan mode" and continued to normal boot-up sequence. To my
> surprise, no more CPU fan failure beep. I continued on playing Quake 4
> for the rest of the day and all was okay. Until the next day... when I
> got the CPU fan failure beep AGAIN. I entered BIOS, went to "PC health
> status" section, 0 RPM for the CPU fan, about 12 centigrades for the
> CPU itself (which was slowly and constantly rising about 1 centigrade
> every 2 seconds) and I disabled the "CPU fan failure"signal beep (still
> 0 RPM for the CPU fan). Saved the changes, restarted the computer (no
> more CPU fan failure beep), entered BIOS, went to "PC health status"
> section: about 19 centigrades for the CPU, still 0 RPM for the CPU fan.
> I waited a bit and to my surprise, when the CPU hit 21 centigrades, the
> fan started rolling, at first at 1600 RPM, then a little faster. I
> restarted again and went on with the usual stuff.
> After this, each time I boot-up for the first time, I first enter BIOS,
> watch the CPU heat up from 10 to 21 centigrades and the CPU fan go from
> 0 to 1600 RPM the instant the CPU hits 20-21 centigrades. I still have
> "CPU fan failure" signal beep and "Smart CPU fan mode" both disabled.
> Has anyone ever had a problem similar to mine ?
> Is it that INTEL has implemented some new technology (something like
> AMD's "Cool and quiet") on its new chipsets, some that I haven't heard
> of (and I consider myself to know pretty much everything INTEL cooks
> up--in case you haven't figured it out by now, I am an INTEL fan) OR I
> really need to get a new cooler for my CPU ?
>
> ANY help/suggestions greatly appreciated.
>
> Thanks

from googling, that MBRD has an Intel chipset. But, all MBRDs report
CPU fan speed. It's just the BIOS that has a - perhaps - badly thought
out setting of reporting when the speed is 0RPM. I guess it's purely a
funny BIOS you have, so i suppose a company ilke phoenix or AMI,
whoever wrote your BIOS, are to blame (you'll see when you go into the
bios). maybe flash the BIOS 'cos they've updated it to correct the
problem.
It's bad communication between cpu heatsink/cpu cooler manufacturerers
and BIOS makers. More a fault of CPU cooler manufacturers. 0RPM
should be reported. The cooler manufacturers should compromise and make
their coolers run inaudibly slow as soon as the power is on.
What make/model cpu cooler do you have?