Thermal problems ??

Hello all -

I am trying to help a friend of mine with a computer problem, but he lives too far away for me to see everything first hand. First off, his specs:

xp2000, ECS K7s5a, 512mb 133, white label 60gb 7200 hd, 300w foxconn case with only 1 case fan (exhaust)-

Basically, the problem is that every now and then, the computer randomly restarts, and then will not reboot to windows. When he shuts it down and leaves it off a while, it still will not reboot. I talked him through his bios, and it seems that evertime this happens, the bios does not recognize the hd. He at that point has the bios scan IDE and it locates it, and then boots normally, and can last this way for days.

My first and obvious thought was to check the temps -- he did, and sure enough, the computer idles close to 60 degrees Celcius. Do you guys think that this is the main problem? Having experienced several restarts, do you you think his rig may have suffered any permanent damage, or will getting a better heatsink/fan and an intake case fan make everything better?

My only other thought was that perhaps the white label HD was failing -- I have no experience with HD failing yet. He says that the drive is only 2 months old though.

Let me know what you guys think -- thanks!

Has he heard any clunking noised coming from the drive? If not, the drive is probably not failing. It could be the heat causing an issue with the drive too though. I would definitly have him put in an intake fan, and it may be time to clean the inside of the rig as well. Have him seperate the hard drive from the other components as much as possible, to allow for better airflow around the drive as well.

No, he hasn't heard any clunking or anything -- I guess that's a good sign. If it is a heat issue as we suspect, I'm still curious if any long term damage could have been done, or whether things will be a-ok upon making everything run cooler. Anyone else have any input?

This sounds like another symptom of a weak PSU, the HD is not getting enough power and its not spinning up, I doubt heat has anything to do with it, although 60c is a bit on the hot side, you might want to tell your friend to remount the heatsink and apply some AS3 (dont forget to scrap off thermal pad if using stock amd hsf)

i secont the weak psu thought. I know my system did that with a cheap 420watt. I put a antec in it and havent had a problem sence.