# Reattaching loose heatsink



## CrazyChihuahua (May 3, 2007)

Alright, here's my situation, in short: Last Thursday I put in a new video card, which required it's own connection to the PSU, which I wasn't ready for, but figured 'No big deal.' The PC ran fine with an occasional freeze up to Sunday, when I installed a gig of ram. The PC recognized the ram and ran fine, up until the point it shutdown Sunday night. I couldn't get it to stay on. I've got a new power supply for my PC now, a dual rail one which came today, but before I put it in, I noticed something else, which leads me here.

It turns out that my heatsink is loose. In fact, it's very loose. One of the pegs is still attached, and only one. Here's a picture:

My heatsink

It is a bad quality picture, but it gets the point across. The top left circle is about where the top left peg would be (relative to where the picture was taken from). The top right peg, not circled, kind of fits into the mount on the motherboard, but only a bit. The bottom right one is tight, so I don't want to try to take that out to orient the heatsink with the others properly, but I can if I have to.

My brother pointed out recently that the two left, circled pegs are pushed up in the plastic part that holds them, making them not able to reach the mounts on the motherboard. I was thinking of just pushing them down with a screwdriver, but I don't know what'll keep them secure. I don't need any thermal paste for putting those pins in, do I?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I figure that once that is secure, and my shiny new PSU is in (do they really need to make it chrome, considering it's always in the case), it should be smooth sailing from there, and I can get back to having a working PC.


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## linderman (May 20, 2005)

hmmmmm I would definetly say your shutdowns are the result of too much heat for the cpu because of the loose heat sink

I would also say the bond from the thermal grease has been compromised, (needs to be removed and reapplied)


I personally would not trust that heatsink any more, I hate the push peg and the snap lock clips too! ( sorry I be an opinionated fella)

My favorite is the Zalman cpu cooler line, there is no guess work there in the installation of those coolers

I highly advise you at least look at the zalman webiste and watch the install movie

keep us posted on your battle


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## CrazyChihuahua (May 3, 2007)

I took the PC into a place to get it checked out because I could not at all get it reconnected. Well, now I know why.

It turns out that part of it was snapped, so they had to take out the motherboard and put a support underneath it, and then put on a new plastic brace thing for the heatsink. Apparently either the pegs or the plastic support was broken, not sure which.

They've already called and got it done, so it's a matter of picking it up. I guess it was just as simple as replacing the support because it was snapped. They may also be applying more thermal paste stuff, not sure if they did or not though. It would be nice if they did.

Thanks for that site and info linderman. Hopefully my PC is running great after the new PSU is in and since this is fixed. BTW, is it a coincidence your name is the same as a major character from the show Heroes? I assume it is


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## blackduck30 (Sep 7, 2004)

I think they based the Heroes character off Joe, they seen his amazing ability to heal computers and thought it would be a winner.
The only precaution i would take when you startup your computer would be to go into the bios and just check out your temps for a while and see how they are holding up.


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## linderman (May 20, 2005)

*The only precaution i would take when you startup your computer would be to go into the bios and just check out your temps for a while and see how they are holding up.*




The Blackduck never misses a crumb! ray:


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## CrazyChihuahua (May 3, 2007)

The heatsink is secure now. It turns out the plastic clips holding the pins secure had broken. Now, the heatsink is screwed in, so it should stay secure for good now.

However, my problems are still there, possibly worse. I'd love it if I were able to get to bios. I'm lucky if I can turn on the computer now. I'll make a different thread though, as the heatsink problem is fixed.


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## linderman (May 20, 2005)

ok now we proceed to the fun part :upset: 



please give your full system specs

what is the make and model of the PSU you are using now


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## CrazyChihuahua (May 3, 2007)

Alright, I am posting this from my desktop PC now. Here's some info (there are still some problems):

It turns out that since I *assumed* that the PSU was the problem, I put in a new one (fancy 500W dual 12v rail one) after the heatsink was fixed, but was getting even quicker shutdowns. Often, the PC would not even start. However, I figured that maybe it was *only* the heatsink all along, and so I put my old, 350W Dynex PSU back in. That gets the computer started up, and I am not shutting down as of about 10 minutes of being on. All fans are spinning, and things seem good.

The PSU I put in was a Ultra 500W dual 12V rail card, not sure what else you need spec wise. I am assuming it was some type of manufacturing error, because I tried the 4 possible connections of cords that I could (the 6-pin cables were labeled 12V1 and 12V2, the 1x4 4-pin ones were in 2 bundles of 4, not labeled, so I didn't know which was on what rail). I still got the shutdowns. I am going to mail it back soon.

As for my current problems: When I start up my PC, it will get to the Windows loading screen, and then my monitor will be on, and the green light under my floppy disk drive will stay on, and the red loading light near my power button stays off. If I restart a few times, I can get to the desktop. However, I figured that if I don't plug the floppy drive into the PSU, it won't check it on start up, right? Wrong. The same thing occurs. It's not a major problem, but an inconvenience.

I had freezing problems before, but that might've been the loosening heatsink. I'll see how things are for a while. I just want to listen to some music and play some City of Heroes already  I will keep coming by these forums though, as this was a great learning experience, and it doesn't hurt to learn more.

Sorry, a lot of my posts are mini-novels. Thanks for the help though!

Edit: Specs, forgot those.
Intel P4 2.8 gHz processor
1.5GB DDR400 ram
250GB hard drive
ATI X1650PRO 256mb AGP 4x video card
Dynex 350W PSU

That should be the important stuff, I think.


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## linderman (May 20, 2005)

I would expect you to have PSU problems with such a small & average quality unit as a 350 watt Dynex

but the problem is, a worthwhile 550 or 650 watt unit is atleast $100.00


keep us posted, I think you are still suffering power problems just not as bad as the other unit


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## CrazyChihuahua (May 3, 2007)

I know the minimum PSU is 350W for this card, and I would like a new one, but the one that was ordered was payed for by someone else, as I expected to pay ~$100 for an upgrade to my video card, and ended up paying over $300 for a new card and new ram, and then more for the repair cost. Seeing as I currently have no job, I'll go with what I can for now. However, I appreciate the warning (how could I miss your sig message? ), and will keep it in mind in the future.

The store I got my repairs at had a $40 600W PSU, but it did not appear reliable at all. If I need a new one, maybe I'll check that out. Again, thanks for showing interest and being a great help.


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