Is my cpu overheating? Or is my comp hardware problematic?

I have a refurbished Lenovo Thinkcentre M57 (6075) Desktop tower computer. It's an intel core 2 duo with 4gb that dual boots win 7 home premium 64bit and lubuntu. The computer seems to be working fine, but a couple of things about it made me wonder about it's hardware.

First at times when it is completely off and shut down, if the power cord is disconnected from the back of the tower and then reconnected to the computer the computer (or if the computer is shut down and cord is unplugged from the surge protector and then plugged in) will turn on without the power button being even pressed like its booting up. The lights will turn and you can hear noise and then it will just turn off again and the power button has to be pressed normally for a regular boot up. This does not happen all the time, but it's happened several times which I haven't seen happen to other computers.

At first the computer ran fairly quiet, but now seems to be running more loudly though the performance still is the same in my opinion in that it seems no worse. But the louder running noise made me wonder if an internal component is having a problem. I am not techical enough to know what would be an obvious fix by looking inside the tower which I did and everything looked fine to me. I thought the noise might be something concerning the fan, but maybe someone here could clarify this if it is or isn't.

Finally I ran the cpuid software and I thought the cpu was running at a temp which had maxed at 170-190. I thought this was high and especially since I am not running any intensive programs. Could an expert let me know if the computer is having any problems and how they could be addressed?

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Thanks 8210guy for your reply. I appreciate the tip about the surge protector and the computer turning on like this. I thought this was a problem that this computer was just having since others I had seen had never had it before. Since I know you've experienced it and it's not a real problem that's good to know.

I entered the bios and looked on every available screen. I saw nothing concerning any health reports or temperature information. At least nothing that specifically looked liked it would be related to this kind of info. I have another HP with Win 8.1 and it has a health check it can run so I have seen health info on a comp, but nothing on this lenovo in the bios or in the Win 7 control panel. I apologize for the lack of information I am giving you as I know you need more to help me troubleshoot the issue. I am admittedly not very familiar with Win 7 so I may be missing something here. Can you suggest a freeware I can install that maybe could do a health check of some sort?

I know you said software can be incorrect and I have heard this before, but I did wonder if maybe your assertion that the comp is overheating a bit and the fan is speeding up and therefore causing more noise is true. I had wondered this myself more and more and especially since the comp feels pretty warm to the touch on top of the tower. I had a much older dell from years ago that I no longer use and don't recall it running this warmly/loudly when I used it. If it will help any here is a screen shot from the cpuid hw monitor results I ran before I replied to you.

[external image: dm-814209261812.png]

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Thanks so much for your help. I was starting to think that this might just be the case now. I think I read on another forum about a user reseating the their cpu's heatsink and getting better performance for their computer. My knowledge is limited and I have never reseated a heatsink before, but I have gone inside a tower several times to deal with minor hardware issues (ie putting in, removing memory, hard drives and a cd burner) in the past. I would be a bit nervous about dealing with the cpu heatsink, but if it's not too difficult I will definitely do it since I don't have the finances for a repairman and feel like my prior experience might be enough to get me through the process. I want the computer to last and from what I've read that thermal compound (artic silver right?) is inexpensive enough and the results of a cleaning should be good enough to get me more time out of this machine if it's maintained properly. Please tell me if that's your opinion.

You can walk me thru it, but I have no thermal compound on hand right now if it's needed immediately. Let me know if that will be a problem for you helping me. My computer is a Lenovo Thinkcentre M57 Tower Desktop (The bios said the Machine Type/ Model is 6075CWS) running Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit SP1. There was no service tag indicated that I could see. There was a system serial no. though. Is this the same thing? Let me know if you need more specs and I will try to find them.

Thank you 

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Thanks for the heads up on how difficult this might be. I am sorry to hear about your health affecting you 8210guy and appreciate techs like yourself taking out the time to help people like me who have limited knowledge.  I admit I am still nervous about trying this since I have never done it before, but with your help I think I can be successful.

I saw a highly rated youtube video by Newegg's shopping site that showed a tech applying paste to a heatsink. I thought it looked helpful, but since you are an expert I thought you might know better if his tips could better assist me in the process for my own heatsink.

http://youtu.be/9VSDkB-3st4

I finally was able to take some photos of the the heatsink and upload them. I'm not a photographer so I hope they are good enough to help you.

http://s125.photobucket.com/user/eph511/library/LENOVO%20HEATSINK

I have an old laptop that is running lubuntu only with no access to windows at all right now if you need me to run any windows based programs. Wine hasn't worked too well for me on this laptop so I'm not sure if I will be able to access any windows program if you need me too during this process.

I am going to try and order the artic silver 5 kit that includes the articlean solutions you mentioned later today. I'm hoping they will be here in a week.

I downloaded and installed Speccy and took screenshots. Let me know if these are what you need.

[external image: dm-1414210568937.png]

motherboard specs

[external image: dm-1314210568933.png]

cpu specs

[external image: dm-12142105689316.png]

system summary

PS I was reading on a  site that a user had a loud fan issue and that he disconnected his cpu fan to see if the sound would lower. I wouldn't try this and didn't of course, but when I looked in the tower on the motherboard I saw a 4 pin connection that said PWR FAN with nothing plugged in.  I saw a cord leading from the power supply marked P10 with was a 3 pin female connection. I read somebody say 4 pin fan connections can work with 3 pin fan connectors so I took a shot and plugged it in. The two connections fit, but the computer wouldn't turn on with them connected, only with them disconnected. The comp was running quiet at first so I wondered if these connections are affecting the noisiness of the comp in addition to the heatsink issue. Please let me know what you think about this as well.

PPS I had something to do on the computer just now and now it won't turn on at all. There is no noise coming from the tower, no lights, nothing. My monitor is working fine. I'm not sure what is going on. I tried another power cable and the power from the wall is fine, but the computer will not turn on no matter what. Do you think this is the heatsink issue or something else?

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Thanks a lot for your repsonse 8210guy. You sound very knowledgeable and have been very helpful during my entire time here. I have learned some things from these forums and from members like yourself so I appreciate you all paying it forward. I try to help others with my own knowledge where I can.

I appreciate your advice on the youtube video. It eased my mind about this particular heatsink as before you saw my pics and advised me I was extremely nervous about the process. With you telling me this I feel a bit more at ease now with seeing the difference in the heatsinks.

I'm pretty worried now about your telling me about your concerns with the cable I tried to connect. I honestly feel terrible about this. The computer had a dvd drive issue and during the shipping process a loose cable caused it not to function properly. When I saw the fan connection and the cable connection and naturally heard the loud sounding fan noise I made an assumption it was another loose cable.    I am going to try and see what I can find out about the problem with the computer not turning on from your diagram and anything else I can do from any other instructions available to me. Please continue to post back here if you do find something else helpful in the mean time though.

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Lol thanks for the clarification. I will keep all these things in mind. I will not make this mistake in the future. 

The reason why I was concerned was because when I first had the computer it sounded quiet and normal and the only issue was the one I first mentioned with when I had plugged it in and it coming on without me pushing the power button and then shutting off after a few seconds. This happened several times, but otherwise the computer ran fine. 

Then not long after I heard a loud whirring or humming noise (I hope I'm describing it right) coming from the computer tower that I had never before from previous computers I had used. The tower felt a bit warm on top and the thought came to me that maybe something was overheating or related to the fan inside. When I opened the tower, both the fan in the back of the tower and the fan on the cpu (from the pics I submitted) seemed to be blowing air but I still heard this noise which is why I posted here. The noise seemed like it got a little louder  over the short time this heatsink issue started before the comp wouldn't turn on the other day.

The lead/cable in question was a long wire leading from the power supply. This lead had a black female connector  (It was labeled P10) that looked like it would fit 3 male pins. It was small and had 2 clip looking things on the side that you could squeeze a bit. I connected it to 13 Power fan connection in your diagram from your 8th post . When I look at your diagram now and now seeing that this connected was labeled P10 I am now wondering if it went to the 10 Front USB connector instead. On your diagram they look the same size. Whichever the case I am learning as I go and gaining from this experience.

Please let me know if you need more information.

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The Power supply is a LITEON with a model no. PS-5281-7VR. I will definitely not try anything else and thanks for the heads up for safety's sake.

The capacitors all look normal to me with no signs of being blown/bulging at all. 

There is no signs at all of any scorching or anything remotely damaged even around that set of pins.

If by fuse do you mean the black plug connection in the back of the tower that hooks to a power cord? If so I don't another to swap. I had an extra power cord to swap for the computer and using this didn't allow the computer to power on either.

I plugged the computer into directly into a main wall and it still didn't turn on with that attempt.

There is no electrical burning smell at all. The computer smells normal inside and no different than it did when I first opened it or from other computers I have used. 

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I appreciate your research efforts. No the cable wasn't a main motherboard cable 20/24 pin lead. I think it had 3-4 pins and was black, most resembling the 2 FDD cable lead on your main pic in your post. But this cable had a small prong looking object on either side of the lead's  "head" that you could squeeze a bit.  I plugged it in because I saw a 4 pin connection that said PWR FAN with nothing plugged in  and I read somebody say 4 pin fan connections can work with 3 pin fan connectors. The motherboard connection is 13 Power Fan on your diagram in post #8 if this helps.