small problem, help appreciated...

[rbalbale758]

hi, I have a gigabyte ga 8-pe667 ultra motherboard that i've been using for a little over a year now. sometime while i wasn't paying attention during the past 2 months, the fan that is mounted on the mb itself stopped working and one day the computer just stopped working. i dont know too much about the physical parts of a mb, but i'm assuming whatever the fan was cooling overheated. i wanted to know if there was any way to salvage the mb or do i have to buy a brand new one. everything else in the comp is running fine: it all powers up, fans go on, processor fan turns on, ram light turns on, etc. i only noticed the problem when my graphics card stopped outputting anything. i swapped my card into another computer and it works fine, so then i narrowed it down to the mb. i'd appreciate any help.

thanks,

 

[alirob24]

have you tryed putting a new fan in? alot of the newer mobo's have a built in prtection and when the fan stops working the protection shuts down the mobo....I dont know much more than you but I have read this in my users guid for my mobo...

 

[Ken90630]

Since you say in your post that, "... the processor fan turns on," it sounds like the northbridge fan is the culprit. Like Alirob says, many modern mobos have internal monitoring that enables them to shut down upon an overheating condition. This is, obviously, a good thing.

I'd call Gigabyte's customer service department, explain your problem, and ask what they'll do to take care of you. Hopefully your mobo has more than a one-year warranty! If not, a northbridge fan shouldn't cost more than a few dollars. They should be able to send you one.

If it was your board's protection circuitry that cut things off, chances are you'll be fine after installing a new fan. If your board doesn't have such circuitry, you may have a damaged northbridge chip due to the failed fan. This is probably the least likely of the two scenarios (although anything's possible).

Hope this helps.

Ken

 

[rbalbale758]

Hi, sorry about the late reply. I finally replaced the fan, but I keep getting the same problem. Does this mean that there is nothing more I can troubleshoot and have to purchase a new board or is there something else I could test? Of course I'm in the process of contacting gigabyte's technical service, but they aren't exactly the most prompt of all people. Again, I'd appreciate any help.

Thanks,

Rashaad

 

[Ken90630]

The failed fan might have allowed your northbridge chipset to overheat and become damaged. IF this is the case, you'll need to get your board repaired or replaced (don't even think about trying to replace a northbridge yourself -- it's not a feasible option).

Having said this, I'm gonna defer to some of the more experienced guys here at A-tech and let them chime in if they want. I'm sort of a newb myself when it comes to motherboards and some other components and am still learning. I'm confident in what I've told 'ya so far, but I don't wanna venture beyond this.

Best of luck.

PS: The issue of northbridge fans inspires different opinions, but I myself prefer a mobo that uses a heatsink on the NB as opposed to a board that uses a fan to cool it. I wouldn't not buy a board just because of that, but all things being equal, if you can find another board that has the same features and a fan-less NB, that'd be my recommendation. But if you overclock, that might be a whole different ball of wax. Let the experts advise you on that.

If I was gonna buy a board with a NB fan, I'd get one that has, like Alirob mentioned, protection circuitry in case the fan fails. If I couldn't find such a board, I'd make sure I had a windowed side panel for my case so I could check the fan easily and often. And I'd probably buy a replacement fan and keep it on hand.

 

[lenjack]

Good luck with Gigabyte...they take forever if you need to rma. They also want you to send $10 with the return to cover shipping.

 

[rbalbale758]

i'll do a little research before i buy a new board then. thanks for all your help!

rashaad