CPU overheating, failing hard drive, or something else?

So, a few days ago I tried to fire up my PC and got hit with that classic "insert boot media in selected boot device..." error message. Total headache. I restarted, checked the BIOS, and realized it wasn't even detecting my hard drive. I shut it down, waited a bit, and when I booted back up, it actually recognized the drive. Everything seemed fine initially, but then things went south fast. Once macOS loaded and I reached the desktop, the machine became incredibly sluggish—I’m talking so slow I couldn't even get into the Control Panel. I honestly couldn't tell if I was looking at a software glitch or a hardware failure. Yesterday, I decided to tear it apart, swapped out the SATA cable connecting the drive to the motherboard, and tried a different port just to be safe. Reassembled everything thinking I'd fixed it, let macOS load... and BOOM, the whole thing just died. I opened it back up and realized my CPU heatsink had actually slipped off the processor. The thermal paste had totally failed. I went out this morning, grabbed some fresh thermal paste, applied it properly, and reseated the cooler, but the exact same thing keeps happening.

My CPU isn't exactly top-of-the-line (it's an AMD, 2.41GHz, 1 core, 1 thread, 1MB cache), but it worked perfectly fine before this mess started, so I have no idea what changed. Right now, I'm typing this from macOS Safe Mode where things seem stable, but obviously, that's not a long-term solution since most of my apps won't run properly there.

Anyone have any clue what might be causing this? I am completely lost after this chain of events and can't figure out what's driving the issue. If you want to know the rest of my specs, just ask—I don't want to dump a massive wall of text here right away. 😉

I honestly don't get how your CPU cooler could have just fallen off.... thermal paste doesn't hold it in place, you need the mounting clips.... or the brackets....

Honestly, I have no clue how that just fell off on its own. What, did you glue the heatsink to the CPU?

As for the hard drive, maybe grab HD Tune Pro and check the SMART status (you can post it here), and also download HWMonitor to keep an eye on your temps.

Yeah, that caught me off guard too. It’s held in place by two clips that pivot down and latch onto some hooks, then they pop back up when you flip the lever again.

Alright, I did exactly what you suggested.

Here’s what HD Tune Pro is showing:
Minimum:23.9 MB/s
Maximum:133.2 MB/s
Average: 93.8 MB/s
Access time: 15.9 ms
Burst rate: 115.0 MB/s
CPU usage: 31.5%

When I click the icon to check the temperature, it just says "no temperature statistics available"—I'm wondering if that's because I'm running Windows in Safe Mode?

And I can't even get Hwmonitor to download.

EDIT: Running Windows in Safe Mode is really my only way to stay somewhat functional right now, but the downside is it blocks most of my operations and commands. The real headache is that I have no clue what suddenly went sideways because everything was working perfectly fine before. I haven't installed any new software or changed anything that should be messing with the CPU or the system itself. My CPU and RAM are pretty bottom-of-the-barrel, and I was already planning on upgrading them, but they've always handled my basic workload without an issue until now.

fadedorca66 said:Honestly, I have no clue how that just fell off on its own. What, did you glue the heatsink to the CPU?

As for the hard drive, maybe grab HD Tune Pro and check the SMART status (you can post it here), and also download HWMonitor to keep an eye on your temps.

Alright, I just pulled these from my BIOS:

CPU - 51°C
Motherboard - 47°C
CPU Fan - 3125 RPM

Are these temperatures way too high for these parts?

redpilot29 said:Alright, I just pulled these from my BIOS:

CPU - 51°C
Motherboard - 47°C
CPU Fan - 3125 RPM

Are these temperatures way too high for these parts?

If you ask me, those temps look perfectly fine.

I mean, if you aren't even doing anything and they're sitting at around 120°F, they are a little high, I guess. They really shouldn't be crossing the 165°F mark.

51 C seems fine for idle, though I guess you should check how it holds up under a bit of a load. As for that HDD, maybe run a SMART status check using HDTune Pro