By Lou Dolinar
Updated Feb. 14, 2006

This week's column, contrary to my earlier promise, isn't about digital music, other than that the Summertime Blues struck my music server last week. The Boudoir Computer, as you may recall, is something I built from the chassis up more than a year ago to be dead quiet, at some sacrifice of performance. The big computer manufacturers are just getting around to similar designs, which is the only reason I'll share my woe - you may run into similar heat-related problems with the new variable output processors, particularly if you're operating your PC in warmish offices without air-conditioning.

The Boudoir Computer uses a heat sink, rather than a fan, on the processor, a low-power Via C-3. The Antec case, meanwhile, has temperature-sensitive fans that vary their output according to the cooling needs of the case. The fans rarely turn on, and when they do, it's usually at the lowest possible, inaudible, speed.

So merrily I am computing away on a sultry Monday, when my network connection dies. I get an error message saying my network cable is unplugged. A couple of seconds later, the network connection returns, then dies, then returns ad infinitum. I ran through the basic diagnostics - jiggle the cable, replace the cable, reinstall the card, reload the drivers, replace the card (had its twin in the drawer), replace the router. Still the error message cycled on and off.

Was the problem heat related? Every time I turned off the computer, then restarted, the network connection remained active for a minute or so before starting to cycle on and off again. The temperature in the room was 80 degrees, which is bearable for me, but the hottest the room had been in a long time. I normally would have had an air conditioner running, but this being the first hot spell, it was still in storage.

I checked the temperature of the motherboard and microprocessor by loading the BIOS setup at startup (usually you do this by holding down the delete key when the computer is starting). The processor was at a cool 86 degrees and the motherboard was 2 degrees cooler, at 84. Not surprisingly, the automatic controller had turned off the case fans.

The touch test told another story when I opened the case. While the microprocessor was barely warm, the network card was hot. Stuffed away in the far corner of the horizontal case, it wasn't throwing enough heat to affect the sensors, but it was getting hot enough to act flaky. It would have been fine in an old-style case, where the fans roar away at a constant speed, but the fancy new case didn't give it enough air.

So how did I fix the problem? Normally the case fans plug into a special connector that varies the voltage as cooling needs change. I hooked them up to a regular connector so they run full-speed at all times. Problem solved, though I'll switch the connection back in the fall.

Interestingly enough, the sensors now show that the case is slightly warmer, by about 2 degrees, presumably because the heat from the network card is being swooshed around the entire case.

In general, if your computer starts acting weird when room temperature increases, suspect seasonal overheating as the culprit. You'll have lockups, General Protection Failure errors and the good old Blue Screen of Death. Any component can be affected - weird graphics displays will appear, for example.

A properly designed PC should be able to handle 85- or 90-degree room temperatures, but if you have lots of add-in cards, that may not be the case. If you suspect this kind of problem, open up the case and look for accumulated dust on the motherboard, fan and air vents. This doesn't just block airflow, it can act as insulation and retain heat. Vacuum out the worst of it, and blow off the rest with canned air.

If you still have problems, most cases have room for additional fans. These come in standard sizes and configurations, so all you need do is tighten a couple of screws and plug in the fan to a connector on the power supply. In a pinch, point a regular household fan at the case and hope for the best. The paranoid might want to download a copy of Motherboard Monitor, (http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=311)which puts a temperature monitor in your desktop system tray.

Placement can cause PCs to overheat. A desk that's snug against the wall will trap heat from a computer that's underneath it, raising the internal temp of the PC. Computers with vents on the sides of the case shouldn't be pushed snug against a desk. And of course it goes without saying that you don't stack papers, dirty socks, underwear, etc. on top of horizontal cases that have air vents on the top.

The weirdest heat-related problem I've ever run into was a few years back when my computer started crashing for about two hours a day, same time. But it wasn't the temperature of the room. I finally figured out that the case, which was near a window, was being overheated when it was in direct sunlight.

My latest heat-related problem involves my Sony Vaio laptop. Every now and again it starts acting weird, running slow and restarting for no good reason. Turned out that the aftermarket power supply I was using was a tad under spec, and when combined with a power hungry wireless card, caused the unit to overheat when the base is less than perfectly ventilated. The factory issue power supply works just fine.