I had a simple but terrible Experience . Usually we think that the CPU of the computer is a Big wall and we can use it as our elbow rest and sometimes even as a Book Stand.

I too thought the same till yesterday and what Happened was that suddenly the CPU moved a little i mean it slanted and came to the original position , may be due to the pressure i applied and then it was not a big issue

Then when i switched on the system it worked fine and i was happy , suddenly it got Switched Off.. Then I tried Switching it on again and again , it would on for a second and get switched off.

Then i recollected that i had slanted the Computer CPU just few mins ago , so i opened the cabinet and to my suprise i saw that the Power Cord from the SMPS was stuck in between the FAN , the processor fan and the fan stopped and Processor got overheated and it halted my system.

So then luckly it was a cold night i took the CPU to the Chill place and it was okay.

But learnt a lesson that i should not play with the CPU as a Toy.Be Careful .

yeh, the psu you got to watch as well, i was building a pc and picked up the wrong psu off the workbench, thinking it was the right one, i installed and turned it on. usually doing this in my sleep i had the case open and was pretty close to it when it blew, gave me a freaking heart attack!
sounds like that was a close one for you getting the cable tied up!
Hope it goes well for you from now on too!

Here's my story. I had a CPU. A Pentium 4 which I bought from a local Dealer. The CPU got some problem. I took the CPU to that dealer. And to my surprise the local Dealer broke one of its pin while finding out the root cause of the problem. And then soldered it & gave me. The CPU got overheated in just a minute when ever I turned my system on. After putting a lot a pressure on that dealer I finally got a new one which is working fine.

Lesson: Never visit a local Dealer.

My case is always open and Fan is powered off. Cooler is Zalman 9700Pro and CPU is Amd 64 3200+@2660 Venice. Mostly I use pc for internet and office work, so it doesn't heat a lot.

But when i had system with Prescott CPu, it was terrible. Temperature flew upp to 60-65 degreese and noise was terrible(stock cooler).

Over time the material between the CPU and heatsink will dissapear and cause your CPU to over heat. If your computer is restarting alot that could be a sign. I had that happen on a p3 but was too lazy to check and evenutally it burnted out. I opened up my computer anf find a burned out CPU lol. It was a free pc so I wasnt too mad over it.

This post has been edited by sonesay: Jan 30 2008, 09:49 PM

Yeah all computer parts are delicate and need to be cared for. When you spend hundreds of dollars for a small computer part, they need to be treated as equipment and not just toys. Always make sure you keep them cool and use the correct power and are plugged in firmly or else you risk permanant damage. Also, dont overclock too much unless you know it can take it or else you may be wasting lots of money.

My goodness. I agree, all computer parts should be cared for because I'm very tired of replacing things and it's so irritating! I love to move my right foot while surfin and then accidentally, I accidentally kicked the CPU and it breakdown! My heartbeat pumped and pumped as if there is no tomorrow! Well, I'm lucky it works well still!