"Hardware monitor found an error"

I'm visiting my mother, who has a Sony VAIO with Windows XP Home. When she first turns the computer on, she often gets the following message:
"Hardware monitor found an error. Enter Power setup menu for details. F1 to continue, F2 for setup "
If she just presses F1, Windows opens successfully, and the computer seems to run fine, but I'd like to get to the root of the error while I'm here (if possible!).
When I go the Power setup menu for details, this is what it shows:

MB Temperature 34C/93F
CPU Temperature 49C/120F
CPU Fan Speed 1339RPM
Power Fan Speed 1670RPM
Chassis Fan Speed 1350RPM
VCORE Voltage 1.5V
+3.3V Voltage 3.3V
+5V Voltage 4.6V
+12V Voltage 10.6V [note: the 10.6 here is in red - everything else is in blue]​

Is there something that I can do to adjust whatever's wrong? Is it something serious enough that I should take the computer to have it looked at?
Also, are those temps normal? The numbers show up in the same blue as everything else, but they seem awfully high to me for a computer that was just turned on - then again, I know nothing about hardware.
Thanks for any help/advice/suggestions!

 

That "10.6V" for the "+12V Voltage" is too low. Should be within a 5% tolerance, (11.4 to 12.6)

What model Vaio? There may be a BIOS upgrade available that addresses the problem.

 

Rebecca,

Those temperatures are within the 'normal' operating range. The CPU heats up very quickly so this is also normal. You may want to check the case for dust 'build up' in any of the air vents. (computers are super dust magnets)
If the computer is more than six months old you may want to check inside the case for any dust build up an clean carefully ('canned' air works well).

B

 

SpywareDr:
As best as I can tell, it's a VAIO PCV-W510G.
How would I go about looking into BIOS upgrades?
Thanks!

 

Can't find anything on Sony's site but, all is not lost ... yet.

Download and install EVEREST Free Edition 2.20

http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4181.html ​

Run it, select Motherboard | BIOS to see what Model and Version is listed, then post back the info.

 

Problem resolved (kind of inadvertently)...
The printer was making all the right noises as if it was going to work whenever we tried to print something, but all that would ever come out was a blank sheet of paper - so I figured I might as well disconnect it from the computer's USB port. Around the same time, I read something about how shredders and copiers should not be hooked up to the same power strip as the computer and its peripherals - my mother had a shredder plugged in, so I moved that to a different outlet. Not sure whether it was the printer or the shredder causing the problem, but in any case,the Hardware Monitor error hasn't shown up since I made those two changes. If I have time, I'll experiment further and see if I can narrow down the solution, just as a matter of curiosity, and see if it makes any difference whether the printer &/or scanner are turned on/off.
For anyone else enountering a low voltage error, though, my first suggestion is to start unplugging things!
Thanks for the help!

 

Interesing indeed. Would like to know the outcome of your test.

 

The shredder appears to have been the culprit. It was set to "auto ", so that it was effectively "on" all the time even when it wasn't actually being used to shred anything - I guess whatever wee bit of power it was taking was too much. It seems incredibly unlikely to me, but hooking up the printer again has not resulted in further error messages, so the shredder it must have been!

 

That is a strange one: Plug in the shredder and the PC's 12v drops to 10.6(?)

Wonder i there's a problem with the power strip, maybe with the socket the shredder was plugged into.

Anyway, 'whatever' eh? Glad to hear the problem's been solved.