Abit BD7 northbridge bracket missing

[blackrain]

Hey all. While I was at work today, my computer died and created some smoke. After looking everything over, I noticed 3 things:

1) Despite the psu fan coming on, the video card fan was not coming on
2) The digital readout was showing an error code 86, then FF
3) The northbridge (NB for short) heatsink was on the board instead of on the northbridge (NB)

I replaced the video card and memory and just layed the northbridge (NB) heatsink on top of the northbidge. The pc starts up perfectly fine. I don't know how stable it is though without the NB heatsink mounted correctly, so for now, I shut it off.

Looking more closely at the heatsink, the NB heatsink is supposed to be mounted via NB hooks, which hook into 2 diametrically opposed brackets that are in the motherboard.

See the picture below.

http://www.overclockersonline....es/abit/bd7/silver.jpg


On my motherboard, the bracket (next to the capacitors and AGP slot in the picture above) is completely missing. There are just 2 holes in the board. I have 2 questions:

1) Is there anyway to mount the NB heatsink without the missing bracket? (note that the bottom of the heatsink has a foam or soft material in the shape of square near the periphery)

2) Because there was/is smoke, I am concerned about the stability of the system. I am hoping that it is completely from the video card. I am guessing that perhaps the bracket broke, launching the heatsink into the video card, but who knows. If I am ultimately able to mount the heatsink, is there something I should do before I start up the pc again. Are there tests I should run to check the stability?


By the way, please don't respond that I should buy a new pc. I still need this one for various reasons.

 

[mpilchfamily]

Because there was smoke its likly the motherboard was damaged. You will need to replace it and any otehr components that may have died. Take a good wiff of the PSU and see if there is a strong smell of burnt electronics. If so the PSU is shot and the main source of the problem.

 

[blackrain]

Since it starts up, isn't there a chance that it is okay? I don't smell anything from the psu. I would like to at least test it out if I could get this heatsink mounted.

 

[blackrain]

Doing a little research, there appear to be replacement heatsinks that stick and as another alternative, adhesive thermal paste for sticking the current heatsink to the northbridge.

Should I try taking the foam off of the heatsink and aplying the adhesive thermal paste? If so, what kind of adhesive thermal paste is recommended?

There appears to be a small square core in the middle. Where do I apply the adhesive? On the core or around the core?

 

[RebateMonger]

Those heatsinks on Abit boards of that generation were known to fall off. Mine did so, shorting out the motherboard but doing no long-term damage.

I ran my 845-chipset board for two years afterwards with no heatsink with no ill effect. You can also buy permanent adhesive (two-part) that works as heat-transfer media. The same company that sells Arctic Silver makes this. You can find it at Newegg.com.

 

[blackrain]

Originally posted by: RebateMonger
Those heatsinks on Abit boards of that generation were known to fall off. Mine did so, shorting out the motherboard but doing no long-term damage.

I ran my 845-chipset board for two years afterwards with no heatsink with no ill effect. You can also buy permanent adhesive (two-part) that works as heat-transfer media. The same company that sells Arctic Silver makes this. You can find it at Newegg.com.

Can you help answer some of my other later questions, like whether I should take off the foam at the bottom of the heatsink and where I should apply the adhesive thermal paste.

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: blackrain
Can you help answer some of my other later questions, like whether I should take off the foam at the bottom of the heatsink and where I should apply the adhesive thermal paste.

I purchased a kit of the "glue", but never used it. In my PC, I didnt find that the chip ever got hot even with no heatsink attached.

Mine also had foam. I think they use the foam (located around the chip itself) to keep the metal heatsink from getting cocked on the surface when it's clamped down. Especially since they only use two metal clips on diagonally-opposing corners. Those clips are under high tension (that's why the attaching loops eventually pull through the motherboard solder) and cocking would be worse than no heatsink at all.

 

[blackrain]

I guess I will leave the heatsink off the northbridge then. I suppose the next question is how do I determine whether the board is stable or not? As I said above, once I replaced the video card and memory, the pc booted right up.

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

Originally posted by: blackrain
I guess I will leave the heatsink off the northbridge then. I suppose the next question is how do I determine whether the board is stable or not? As I said above, once I replaced the video card and memory, the pc booted right up.

run prime95 on it for a few hours, or just use it as you would, just don't do anything critical that you can't risk loosing.

 

[blackrain]

Originally posted by: mpilchfamily
Because there was smoke its likly the motherboard was damaged. You will need to replace it and any otehr components that may have died. Take a good wiff of the PSU and see if there is a strong smell of burnt electronics. If so the PSU is shot and the main source of the problem.

Looks like you were probably right. After deciding to start up the pc without the heatsink, it booted and ran chkdsk okay. After chkdsk, it could not boot into windows. Eventually, I could not get it to boot at all. Now, the error code is 00.

I guess I can now get that new pc that I have been wanting.