Asus A8N SLI Delux woes

[Just Someone]

Hi there,

Mobo: Asus A8N SLI Delux
O/S: Windows XP

A bit over a week ago, my PC started giving me a warning on bootup that the "Chip Fan" was not responding or too slow. I replaced the CPU HeatSink and Fan and replaced with another genuine AMD one. While I was at it, I also replaced the case fan as it was starting to kick up a racket.

I was a bit disappointed to discover that when I turned the PC back on, I got the same error.

I installed ASUS Probe II and it is happy to report that the CPU temperature is hovering round about 50 Celsius and that that the chip fan seems to idle at about 1300 RPM, but I have seen it running a lot faster under load. So, the software probe seems quite happy with the current setup. Any idea why the Power On Self Test might still be reporting an error? Could there be a flag somewhere I need to reset to tell it that I've changed the fan?

On the other hand, maybe all is not well. Over the weekend, I got a popup from my audio software, I think it's the default software that comes with the board. I didn't look too closely at the time, as the popup often appears when the speaker cable comes loose. I figured that maybe I hadn't put the cable back in securely and that I'd get to it. A couple of hours later, when I alt-tabbed back to the popup, the system froze and I got a Blue Screen of Death which only hung about for a second or two, certainly not long enough to read it, before powering down.

When I powered back up, my audio device was just gone. Clicking into the sound controls in Control Panel tells me I don't have any audio device installed. Searching for new hardware didn't find it.

So - what do you think?

Does the on startup warning about "Chip Fan" refer to my CPU Heatsink and Fan. If so, why am I still getting the warning, when the probes seem to show it's ok?

Is my mobo audio device fried? Can I restore it? If not, can I just install a new audio card?

Any help much appreciated. I'm mostly a software guy - I took it as a personal achievement earlier this year when I successfully installed an additional SATA drive in this baby. I know I need to get to know the hardware more, I just wish we didn't always meet at funerals!

Thanks,

JS

 

[dajeepster]

the "chip fan" is refering to the northbridge chipset fan. This is a common failure on this board. I've had it fail on my board twice and if you search the forums, you'll find an abundant amount of information about it.
I replaced my chipset fan with the ZALMAN ZM-NBF 47 over a year ago and the board has been running happy ever since. if you do this, you'll need to disable the fan speed sensor in the bios also.

 

[Just Someone]

Hi,

Thanks for the fast reply. Forgive my ignorance here, but is the "northbridge chipset fan", the AMD-branded heatsink and fan which was originally attached to my CPU until I replaced it? Or is it a whole nother component?

Thanks,

JS

 

[Blazer7]

I had this board back in the day and as dajeepster mentioned the chipset fan failure was a common problem. The NForce 4 chipset was a 1 chip solution so there?s just the northbridge. On the A8N-SLI Deluxe this is located where the southbridge would normally be.

I guess that the AMD branded HSF is your CPU cooler. If I?m right then it is the other one that is failing. I had experienced the same problem but instead of the Zalman I used the Swiftech MCX159-CU. This is much better than the Zalman and even if the fan fails there?s still a good chance that you?ll get away with it due to the massiveness of the heatsink. The only problem with this kind of HSFs is that you can use only single slot cards for SLI.

 

[Just Someone]

Thanks for another fast reply.

Yes - the original (and replacement) AND-branded heatsink and fan were for the CPU. I've also replaced the case/chassis fan.

The only other fan I spotted appeared to be on the graphics card. Could that be "the other one" you mention above? If not, where would I find it?

If so, it looks like I've replaced the wrong kit, and my system is still in danger of burnout, even though all looks well through the asus probe II software.

Could any of this explain the sudden loss of the audio driver?

Thanks
JS

 

[Blazer7]

No, we are not talking about the VGA fan. The chipset is located between the mem slots and the 4 red SATA ports. It features a small "silver" HS with a very small fan IN it.

As for your audio problem the chipset fan failure cannot explain the loss of the audio drivers. I suggest that you unistall/reinstall the drivers.

 

[Just Someone]

Ah ok - spotted it. Do you think that replacing the chipset fan would be something reasonably easy to do for those of us who don't often poke about in the innards of our PC's? Or is it something requiring a little more experience and/or soldering?

 

[Blazer7]

It doesn't matter what I think. Reasonably easy or not it's not like you have a choice here. You do it or have somebody else do it or you sit back and watch it die.

No soldering is required but you'll need to remove the board in order to take off the old HSF. To be honest you can cut the push pins and remove the old HSF without removing the board but I don't recommend it as all it takes to damage a board is one wrong move. Anyways, if you are going for the swiftech you'll need to remove the board in order to fit it.

You'll also have to clean the chipset from the old thermal paste/pad and reapply a thin layer of new thermal paste prior to attaching the new HSF. I recommend Arctic Silver 5. This is what I used back then and AFAIK that board is still kicking a$$. You should be careful with the thermal paste. Just apply a thin layer on the chip's core only. If you spread AS5 on other components this may cause a short circuit and you may damage your board. If you use more than needed that will reduce the amount of heat that the HSF will decepate.

If you find it hard to apply the thermal paste on the chip's core you can use thermal pads. They are not so effective like AS5 and the like but it will be much easier to attach one on the core and the job will still be done.

Arctic silver ceramique is also a good choice. It is quite effective and as the manufacturer claims ?it is a pure electrical insulator, neither electrically conductive nor capacitive?.

 

[Just Someone]

I know it needs to be done. I was just trying to get a handle on whether it's something which would be worth trying for someone who needs to get more acquainted with his hardware, or whether I should take it to a shop cause I'd only ah heck it up worse. It was never a question of leaving it to die.

Thanks for the detailed steps. I needed those.

I think I've decided that taking it to the shop is the way to go. When I took out the mobo last time, I broke the retainer clip for the video card. Lucky escape, I could have done worse damage. Anyway, as I'm about to head on vacation for a couple weeks, they can do it while I'm away - otherwise it would have to wait until I get back.

Thanks again, everyone, for the education. You're a good crew and it's good to know that there is support for the more inept among us.

JS