Lightroom 2 - CPU overheating, Motherboard and Video Card burned up

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NikonAndy

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While using LR2, as slow as it was on my machine, my computer shut off. No response when I tried to turn it back on. Machine was hot and I later found that the Motherboard and Video Card burned up and needed replacing. The CPU was a AM2 64''+ dual core, and the video card was a GeForce 73'' GT with 512mb by nVidia.

I replaced those parts with a nVidia GeForce 85'' GT 512mb Video Card, and a new ASUS M3A Motherboard. I'm running 3 gigs of DDR2 8'' as well, same with the last config. I restarted LR2 with the new parts thinking the burn up was related to something other than LR2, but about 15 minutes into editing my computer shut down again. Thank God I set up the new Motherboard to watch the CPU, because the CPU got way too hot and the Motherboard shut it down before it also got burned up. It seems that LR2 is running the CPU between ''% and 99% CPU.

FYI, I'm using Windows XP SP3.

The only reason I got LR2 was because my D7'' files wouldn't read in RAW. The trouble and money this has caused me has turned me back to LR1.4. If anyone knows why my system is burning up in LR2, I'd love to know.

Thanks for any help.

~Andy
 
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Andy, Welcome to LR Forums, very sorry to hear about your problems.

Well, LR will definitely stress test the CPU. That said, though, if you're running standard clocking on everything, then I would certainly expect the CPU cooling system to handle peak loads of 1''%. Not questioning your competency, but is everything all squared away with the fans, heat sinks, thermal paste, etc.? I can't think of anything else that would cause that kind of a problem except overclocking.
 
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Let me add to Brad's questioning... did anything change other than installing Lightroom 2? I want to make sure we narrow down what changed on your system.
 
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Can I add an odd, maybe related, experience? I upgraded to LR2 and since then I've been unable to dual boot, even from a live CD. I can't run a diagnostics disc either. Just a coincidence? Is my 6month old hard drive cracking up? Or are all these related?
 
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That seems rather odd, and I would ask you the same question: has anything else changed or been installed on your system before this issue started?
 
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no offence

Hi Andy,

No offence but no piece of software like lightroom is suppose to burn down your pc.

In my point of view your pc does not have enough cooling down.

Well yes, lightroom stresses your pc to the max, but with a good ventilation system in it it would never burn down your hardware.

My gear is running 24/7 with a lot of cpu stressfull software... and sometimes I cannot hear my self thinking because all vents are blowing at max. But thats just a little while and only some times a day.

So I think, you should buy yourself a good ventilation system in you pc.

And it should not be a problem anymore.
 
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Ouch, that's a nasty problem that brings you here Andy. Well welcome to the forum! Definitely sounds like time for some extra cooling in your system.
 
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Hey guys, thanks for the replies. My cpu did not burn up, it ended up okay after new Mobo and Video Card. The Mobo and the video card is what took the hit. I've cranked on the machine pretty good before, yes even with 1''% CPU and never had any problems. My cooling has always been okay. I've run Photoshop, Lightroom 1.4, and my dvd player program on my comp before at the same time on my dual display with no problems at all. I used to do quite heavy 3D graphics work on the same system, heavy renderings, complex reflection maps, etc. LR2 is where I saw my problems.

I guess I could invest in a water-cooled sytem or something like that, but I think that's rather over the top for using a image editing program. I really don't think that LR2 should put that kind of stress on my machine.

I'd also like to mention that I have LR2 on my laptop and it seems to do fine. It's just a Costo Acer with 3GB of Ram and a 512 95''m GS video card and a 2.x GHz dual core cpu. No problems with overheating, no problems with the cpu cranking the way it does on my PC. I guess my system config is just not what Adobe tested for yet?

Also, to answer the question about system changes other than LR, no, I didn't add anything that I can think of. No software installs, no sytem reconfigs, nothing... The only X factor was LR2. I'm not trying to point the finger at LR2 just to have a scapegoat, but it really seems that the program is the cause of my overheating and system stressing out.

Thanks again for all the responses.
 
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Ian Farlow;2'16' said:
That seems rather odd, and I would ask you the same question: has anything else changed or been installed on your system before this issue started?
Click to expand...

No, Ian, nothing at all. With LR1 everything was fine, as soon as I upgraded it to LR2 there was no dual boot possible and it won't see anything outside the windows partition.
 
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Unfortunately, I am at a loss with answers for both of you. Any Windows hardware exports here that can offer help?
 
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In the past, I saw faulty Power Supplies burn Mother Boards one after the other. Even once the only parts left working where the Computer Case and the Floppies Reader!... :shock: Altough not related, Power Pupply becoming faulty around Lightroom upgrade time is a possibility to look at. Make it being checked? :?:
 
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Replaced my PS just to be sure when I changed hardware. Had the same thought... No problems with either PS, though. Thanks for the idea, though, Denis.
 
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Okay, an update for anyone still listening :) I've went ahead and put on a huge ASUS CPU cooling fan. It's rather massive, and I was told should keep my computer's CPU temp down for sure. Also, for extra insurance, I threw on a Zalman VGA cooler with heat sinks/fan all the goodies onto my Video Card. I would think that should keep me cool.

My CPU is rated at 65 degrees Celsius. With all my other applications the new setup has kept my machine at about 48-53 degrees. When Lightroom 2 is on, the CPU jumps in temp to 63 degrees. I'm sure it will keep going up, but I killed the app before it would crash my machine from being too hot.

Again, any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
 
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I'm still listening, but unfortunately I have no idea what is going on...
 
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NikonAndy;2'349 said:
Okay, an update for anyone still listening :) I've went ahead and put on a huge ASUS CPU cooling fan. It's rather massive, and I was told should keep my computer's CPU temp down for sure. Also, for extra insurance, I threw on a Zalman VGA cooler with heat sinks/fan all the goodies onto my Video Card. I would think that should keep me cool.

My CPU is rated at 65 degrees Celsius. With all my other applications the new setup has kept my machine at about 48-53 degrees. When Lightroom 2 is on, the CPU jumps in temp to 63 degrees. I'm sure it will keep going up, but I killed the app before it would crash my machine from being too hot.

Again, any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Andy,

Did you build the box yourself? Perhpas LR is your canary for a hardware problem that is eluding detection? If you need local service (prehaps for a second opinion), you might want to consider Uptime Technology in Wallingford. They have a good reputation. I am curious to know how this situation is resolved. Good luck.

--Ken
 
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Did an Import + render of 2''' files in LR2

Intel Q66'' with 2 GByte + standard Intel cooler.

Temp (using Intel TAT) raised from 57-58 till 78-81 (Celsius) for a few minutes than stabilized at 74-75
Speedfan reports 64-65 CPU temp at peak an 59 stabilized
 
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I have the same CPU overheating problem with LR 2.'.

Only variable is LR 2.' and the overheating happens with no other applications. I also run other heavy CPU utilization applications but none have overheated the machine enough to cause automatic shutdown.

System:
Dell Latitude D62'

System Information:
OS Name Microsoft Windows XP Professional
Version 5.1.26'' Service Pack 2 Build 26''
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Manufacturer Dell Inc.
System Model Latitude D62'
System Type X86-based PC
Processor x86 Family 6 Model 14 Stepping 8 GenuineIntel ~1997 Mhz
Processor x86 Family 6 Model 14 Stepping 8 GenuineIntel ~1997 Mhz
BIOS Version/Date Dell Inc. A'2, 4/11/2''6
SMBIOS Version 2.4
Windows Directory C:\WINDOWS
System Directory C:\WINDOWS\system32
Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume2
Locale United States
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "5.1.26''.27'5 (xpsp.'5'622-1524)"
Time Zone Pacific Daylight Time
Total Physical Memory 2,'48.'' MB
Available Physical Memory 1.21 GB
Total Virtual Memory 2.'' GB
Available Virtual Memory 1.96 GB
Page File Space 3.84 GB
Page File C:\pagefile.sys
 
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If Lightroom were made by a fly-by-night company, I could imagine something like either of those situations being caused by installing it. But Adobe is bound to have done a lot of testing and I can't imagine LR2 being the cause.

Hardware burnouts -- I've had several of them over the years. None were caused by software, in all cases it has been a component on the board failing. On the other hand I've never dabbled in overclocking and such things, but I know that tweaking the bios software can cause things like fatal overheating, but usually that will be the CPU itself not the motherboard or a video card. I've had several line surges that overpowered my surge protection and burned out modems and once was probably the cause of the loss of a video card. In the case of one internal modem card, the rest of the computer was fine, the modem just didn't work anymore.

Losing dual boot capability. My son's laptop has started losing that. Sometimes it comes up ok, sometimes not. I suspect an old hard drive with some sector problems. Modern hard drive controllers attempt to correct bad sectors on the fly and are pretty good about it. But without using a third party tool to examine one, the windows built in diagnostics won't always tell you how close to failure your hard drive is. In the past I've used an earlier version from http://www.grc.com/intro.htm to diagnose and repair hard drives. (well, sometimes it diagnose and then recycle).

If you have automatic updates subscribed from Microsoft, it's remotely possible that an update played havoc with your dual booting, but not likely since that is something that sits way under the operating system. You either have to modify bios or do something to the boot sector, neither of which is done by Lightroom.

Hope that helps, it's not really an answer, but as close as I can come.

Oh, there is one other thing. This is not fiction. About fifteen years ago I was working at a place where I was building a three computer network database program. One day when I came in, the secretary whose job it was to put information in the database and pull reports told me the thing was screwed up. I finally discovered that one record had somehow gotten an illegal character in it -- it was supposed to be text only and it had a code out of the text range. Shelley told me the only person to touch the computer was Gina. But Gina said all she did was enter the letters. I fixed it. Two days later the same thing. This time Gina had not entered data, but she had touched the computer. There are some people who give off electromagnetic signals or something, and I've seen other cases where a person walking by a computer can alter stuff in memory. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes I wouldn't believe it. So. If things seem to go strange whenever X is in the room...
 
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Way off topic, I sometimes work as a thermodynamic instrumentation engineer, which usually involves pulling more temporary cables and wires than a rock'n'roll roadie. We bansished one guy from the jobsite, because just his presence in the area causes cables to tangle and knot. He has to go sit in the office and do paperwork 'till everything's installed.
 
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Andy,

Hello to everyone on this forum. I'm obviously new here and found the site by doing a Google search on this same problem. Andy, I have four systems running LR2. One Apple Macbook, one XP SP3 desktop and one Vista desktop all running smoothly. My wife's Acer Notebook, though, has had the same problem you describe. It has a 2.4 GHz CPU with 4 GB DDR2 memory. LR2 will cause severe heating and immediate shutdown after a few minutes of image rendering. There is definitely some problem here.

Juan.
www.photogra4.co.za
picasaweb.google.com/thephotogra4
 
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