44 Deg C is perfectly fine for most CPU these days. Only start worrying if it gets up to the mid 60's, and even then most will be fine until they hit even higher temps. What CPU is it you have again?
[Reply]

I have a Pentium E6300, running at 2.8GHz.

The processor tends to be around 28 degrees when idle. That's pretty cold compared to my 68030 which tends to be around 50 degrees.

The fan tends to spin around 800-1000rpm, but this is variable by the computer. I set it to maximum earlier and it went up to about 2000rpm and was audible. It is pretty much silent at 1000rpm. I mention this as it is 80mm, and my 80mm case fans are very noisy. They do shift a lot of air though. So I connected them to 7V instead of 12V and they are now much quieter. I don't think there will be any heat problems.

The processor and memory both passed S&M's test.

---------- Post added at 02:48 ---------- Previous post was at 02:41 ----------

The problematic programmes seem to load fine in the MiniXP supplied with Hirens Boot CD.

So I wonder if it is an XP problem rather than a hardware one.
[Reply]

Yep, all of Intel's more recent chips run at great temps. My quad core and i3 systems both idle around 24-28 degrees with an after market cooler, and the quad core one was even idling down at 14 degrees over the winter which is quite amazing.

Definitely sounds like an XP issue then. Have you considered putting Windows 7 on there instead? It will run very well on the hardware you have and will be more stable and faster than XP is.
[Reply]

I do want to try Windows 7. I do have it installed in a VM, but I think I would need a dual layer DVD recorder to burn the image. Something I don't have.

I see Hirens Boot CD also have a Mini98 in addition to MiniXP. It comes with a rather addictive game called 5 in a row .
[Reply]

Microsoft have a tool that'll let you put a bootable Win7 installer onto a USB stick (or whatever you crazy kids call them nowadays). It's very easy, all you need is an iso. I did it for the Revo (as it has no optical drive) and it worked rather well. Of course, you'll need one big enough, I used an 8GB.
[Reply]

I'll bare that in mind in case I ever get a USB stick larger than the 128MB one which I got off college a few years ago.
[Reply]

I'll still have a fiddle with Windows to see if I can get anything to work nicely, but I think otherwise, I will just ditch Windows from this computer.

After all, WINE does a good job of running Windows programmes:

winuae.png
[Reply]

Does WinUAE run perfectly using Wine? I've never tried it myself.
[Reply]

I only tried it with an ADF of Tearaway Thomas.

It did take a bit of fiddling, but it did work. The graphics were rather jerky in Window mode but was more or less fine in full screen.
[Reply]

Update:

I've tried both XP Pro SP3 and XP Media Centre 2005 and both do this restarting thing with some exe files. But it only seems to be with files on my old IDE hard drives (and not ALL files). Copying these files to my SATA drive causes the same problem.

But, extracting the files from their original ZIP archives (either on the HDD or by downloading), they run fine.

Odd.

The aforementioned files still run fine on my old Pentium III system.
[Reply]