What happens when your computer over heats?

Answer 1

If a computer over heats normally it will shut itself down to ensure damage is not done to the hardware, however damage can still occur to hardware if it happens repeatedly or the computer is running at high temperatures most of the time.

Answer 2

Most computers will shut off or hibernate as they detect temperatures that are approaching dangerously high levels. This is meant to prevent damage to the computer, but does not work completely. Prolonged exposure to heat causes laptop batteries to lose their capacity at a higher rate than usual. Repeatedly nearing overheating temperatures will still cause damage the CPU while causing the cooling fans to run all the time and use more power.

The most immediate effect of an overheating computer is the screen going black or blue while it either shuts off automatically or crashes. A decrease in performance will also be noticeable before this happens. In the event of the computer crashing, unsaved work will be lost of course.

Basically, your computer will shut off or crash completely resulting in loss of unsaved work. This can cause long-term damage to the machine if it happens repeatedly. Using free software such as CoreTemp is instrumental in measuring temperatures. Cleaning out dust from heat sinks solves most cooling issues, restoring the computer to its new condition.

Answer 3

The thermal sensors in most processors will sever power to the core at critical heat levels to prevent damage (i.e. the computer will shut off automatically); this function is typically configured in the BIOS setup screen if it is configurable. If this fails (specifically disabled or simply malfunctions), you can expect the CPU to "explode"; it will emit a puff of acrid smoke, the computer itself will turn off, and the dysfunctional processor will have to be replaced before the computer's BIOS will allow power to be turned back on again.

Answer 4

Computers are designed to shutdown when they reach a certain heat level.

Get a can of compressed air, make sure your computer is off, and blow the dust out of it. You'd be surprised how often the culprit is dust and animal fur clogging up the fans. If this is a desktop, and you know how, open the case up and blow out all the dust etc. If it's a laptop, flip it over and blow the dust out of the vents.

Have someone check to make sure the fans are working properly. You may need to replace the fans with better quality ones if this is a consistant problem.

If the computer doesn't shut itself off, then, theoretically, the CPU will get super heated and basically melt some of the plastic parts on the mother board. But they will shut down long before that happens.

Answer 5

It means that an overheating condition is present in the computer. The cause may be a defective cooler, or the desktop is unproperly placed. The overheating may be also present in the HDD installed in the computer. There are many programs to control high temperatures in the PC. To control HDD temperature I recommend Ashampoo HDD Control.

Answer 6

overuse, not powerful enough fans/cooler ,enviromental