Hello,

When a machine freezes up after a 1/2 hour of CPU-intensive (floating
point?) work and then won't immediately reboot, but reboots after being
turned off for awhile, I would wager a bet that the cooling fan on the
CPU (assuming one was installed) is dead and your computer is dying of
heat stroke.

You will need to open the case and look for the CPU chip. If it is
visible without a heat sink and/or cooling fan or if the cooling fan is
not turning I would go to my nearest computer dealer and buy a GOOD 2
ball-bearing fan with large aluminum heat sink (make sure it is for a
486, not for a Pentium) and put it on. Before buckling the system up I
would turn it on and make sure the new fan is turning. You might also
vacuum out dust while you have the box opened, and also make sure that
any other fans in the case and power supply are working and not blocked
by dust and grime. Also clean the air intake/outlet vents in front
and/or back of the case.

Heat can be a killer (literally) for a 486/66 and above and I would not
use the system without checking into this.

Hope this helps.

Respectfully,

Bruce

In <[log in to unmask]>, on 05/16/97
   at 07:52 PM, Richard Smith <[log in to unmask]> said:

>Hi everyone,

>My comp is a 486-66,8Mb RAM, WD 1.2gig HD.
>It runs Win 3.11(WFW) with 24Mb Perm Swap file and 1Mb mem cache.

>In the last week it has been freezing up in Netscape after about 1/2
>hour use and in Math Blaster. The mouse freezes and the comp won't do
>any function. Ctrl-Alt-Del won't reboot it. The Reset botton and on/off
>button will turn it off but  with reset and power  on it doesn't
>reboot, although I can feel the hard drive spin up. Then I have to wait
>for about 15 min and it will turn on normally.
>Also the help files have stopped working in Pegasus and ChessBase. They
>don't show on the monitor.
>To check for a virus I have used F-prot for DOS and Viruscan(McAfee)
>for Dos with no results.

>Any help in diagnosing and fixing this problem will be greatly
>appreciated.

>Thanks for your valuable time,

>Richard Dennis Smith


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        Bruce Boschek - Haus Christiansruh - Nidda, Germany
[log in to unmask] - CompuServe ID 100331,2566
       Using IBM OS/2 Warp Connect and MR/2ice (Registered)
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