# Dell optiplex gx270 thermal error



## Jastone (Jul 3, 2005)

Hey guys,

My dell (family PC) boots up to the point where it asks whether you want to start windows normally, safe mode, etc and then straight away make a click/small beep noise and shuts off. On restart it says previous shutdown due to thermal error. I tried taking off the CPU and heatsink and re-applying thermal paste, which didn't help at all. I have also tried removing DVD/floppy drive to see if that helps. I've cleaned out the fans etc and all are working. Not sure what's going on.

Any help will greatly be appreciated!

Thanks


----------



## win2kpro (Jul 19, 2005)

Look at the Northbridge heatsink and see if it has a *Z* shaped wire running across it as shown in the attached pic. On some Dell machines instead of the *Z* shaped wire there will be two *U* shaped wires running across the heatsink. Whether it is one* Z* shaped wire or two *U* shaped wires the ends of the wires will be connected to "eyes" on the motherboard.

These wires are part of the temperature sensing circuit. If one of the "eyes" connected to the motherboard is broken off you will get an overheating error.


----------



## Lurker1 (Jan 30, 2001)

You should also check for bad capacators around the headsink. The GX270 boards are some that fail. See if the caps have a X on the bottom and are not flat on the bottom.

http://www.badcaps.net/


----------



## jgblake (Dec 29, 1998)

Would that be the problem if it will not boot in regular mode, but boot and run fine in safe mode, as mine is now doing?
Jim


----------

