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Thread ID: 114589 2010-12-09 08:09:00 Motherboard heat sink loose in case GorCh (13021) Press F1
Post ID Timestamp Content User
1160143 2010-12-09 08:09:00 Hi all,

Been helping some family members with their computer, and opened up the tower to check the motherboard model number. Unpleasantly surprised to find a heat sink sitting in the bottom of the case.

After some investigation I found that the smaller clip, attached to the motherboard, that the spring arm of the heat sink wedged into had come off.

After I got the PC home, I found the clip in the dust bunnies in the bottom of the PC.

Can anyone give me some pointers as to how to reattach the clip to the computer? Also can anyone tell me which chip this heat sink is protecting?

Photos of the heatsink, the small clip and the motherboard are attached (sorry about small text on motherboard one).

Regards,

GorCh
GorCh (13021)
1160144 2010-12-09 08:26:00 Another image of the mobo from a different angle here:
www.clemsco.com

I'd guess it's the GPU that has lost the heatsink, with the CPU hidden from view up under the PSU.
If it's still working, then no harm done hopefully.
Ideally it should go back on with some fresh thermal paste under it.

The clip can hopefully be re-soldered to the board.
Paul.Cov (425)
1160145 2010-12-09 08:38:00 Ok, thanks for the tips. Looks like a similar motherboard at the very least, though this one has only two Ram slots.

Soldering eh? Could be an adventure.
GorCh (13021)
1160146 2010-12-09 08:53:00 Does installing a graphics card bypass the onboard GPU at all? Or will the onboard one be called during bios boot etc? GorCh (13021)
1160147 2010-12-09 08:54:00 Ok, thanks for the tips. Looks like a similar motherboard at the very least, though this one has only two Ram slots.

Soldering eh? Could be an adventure.

Soldering advise .... practice on some old wire or totally stuffed PSB before you dive in and get to the "important" stuff. It's not difficult but take your time, melt some solder onto the soldering iron tip ... then wipe it off again ... or flick it onto the carpet if your Mum doesn't mind that sort of thing ... before you start soldering anything. Better to make a mess of something that's not going to cost $$$

No Wucking Furries .... :D
SP8's (9836)
1160148 2010-12-09 08:54:00 Should disable it Speedy Gonzales (78)
1160149 2010-12-09 09:15:00 Oh I'm happy enough soldering, just haven't done it on a PCB. Though I guess seeing it is going onto where the clip is there are prob no important joints back there.

That being said, its not a PC worth any money really, just an old dunger that has been passed through about 3 people before ending up at the grandmothers. I opened it up to begin with to investigate upgrading the amount of ram from a whopping 128MB. I've got another old box that I can chuck the bits in if it comes to it.

On another thought, am I breaking many rules if I slather on some thermal grease, pop some hot glue round the sides and jam/gently place the heat sink home? I would then install an old grphx card, the onboard would be for redundancy.
GorCh (13021)
1160150 2010-12-09 09:16:00 As for the soldering, my mother wouldn't mind at all, but my landlady would be significantly less impressed at the shiny sparkles introduced to the carpet :devil GorCh (13021)
1160151 2010-12-09 09:35:00 Time to take Mantrol GorCH .... go for it ...:D SP8's (9836)
1160152 2010-12-09 09:36:00 Oh I'm happy enough soldering, just haven't done it on a PCB. Though I guess seeing it is going onto where the clip is there are prob no important joints back there.

That being said, its not a PC worth any money really, just an old dunger that has been passed through about 3 people before ending up at the grandmothers. I opened it up to begin with to investigate upgrading the amount of ram from a whopping 128MB. I've got another old box that I can chuck the bits in if it comes to it.

On another thought, am I breaking many rules if I slather on some thermal grease, pop some hot glue round the sides and jam/gently place the heat sink home? I would then install an old grphx card, the onboard would be for redundancy.

should work with the grease and glue... until you realize hot glue does not stick to mobo's.

Answer 1: Duct Tape
Answer 2: New gfx card. I have an Nvidia Vanta LT if you want it.
The Error Guy (14052)
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