CPU Overheats on Startup

[DeDra]

I have a computer that I use as a dedicated Minecraft server (don't judge lol). This computer was working fine for a while. However, recently the CPU started overheating before it got to the OS. I did not make any modifications prior to this issue which would cause this to happen. The last modification was switching out the RAM, but the computer worked fine after that. The wierdest part about this is that when I try to boot to the OS, I get the error beeps from the speaker, but when I go to the boot menu, or delay the startup in any way, I do not get the error.

If anybody could help, it would be greatly appriciated. Thanks in advance! 

[xephoneration]

When was the last time you re-applied thermal paste?

Do you have it on a overclock?

what is your cpu?

[DeDra]

I can't recall the last time that I applied thermal paste, would've been a really long time ago though, at least 5 years (old computer).

There is no overclock on the CPU. In fact, I tried turning the clock down to fix this issue (it did not work).

I believe that the CPU is an Intel Pentium 4, with a stock heatsink.

[iAlovi]

thermal paste may have dried. try getting some of that first. is the heatsink fan hot liek the cpu is ?

[DeDra]

I'll try that.

The heatsink's fan is very cool; room temperature to be exact (although I get the error only about 20 seconds after powering on)

[DeDra]

I tried replacing the thermal paste, and it worked! Thanks alot!

[DeDra]

23 hours ago, iAlovi said:

thermal paste may have dried. try getting some of that first. is the heatsink fan hot liek the cpu is ?

After a day of use, the cpu began to overheat again. I did not change any settings in the uefi. Any ideas?