please advise, re heatsink/fan & CPU

[Agent_J]

Hey everyone, I was just cleaning out the dust in my case today and when I was cleaning the fan and heatsink, the left corners of the plastic casing that held the heatsink (the black ones that you screw onto the mobo) just shattered and the clips of course fell off as well. Anyone know what the cheapest and easiest way to fix this problem is? My mobo is a Socket 423 (P4 Williamette), thank you for any advice in advance :)

here's a picture of what broke off (I circled it in red), i use to be able to put the clips to hold the heatsink in place, but now that the corners broke off, there's nothing to hold the clips in place :(

http://img484.imageshack.us/img484/617/heatsinkfm1.th.jpg (http://img484.imageshack.us/my.php?image=heatsinkfm1.jpg)

[_Aerospace_Eng_]

What were you using to clean it? Here is what I think happened from a physics stand point. You were using that dust off or w/e its called. You know the one that shoots out cold air. Well since a heatsink is meant to get hot you sprayed with that cold stuff and quick temperature change shattered the casing. Helps to know these basic things when cleaning things that are hot. I guess what you could do is use a type of super glue though I'm not sure if this will melt. Good chance it might. There is a type of plastic glue that I've used before called cyanoacrylate zap it glue. Basically it bonds almost any plastics instantly. It cures in about 24-48 hours. Its super strong and if it contacts your skin it will start making it burn (slight irratation). It also eats through latex just in case you were thinking you could use gloves. Just be careful with it as it can keep your fingers stuck for about a min or so and if it gets on you it will take a few days for it to go away.

[Agent_J]

What were you using to clean it? Here is what I think happened from a physics stand point. You were using that dust off or w/e its called. You know the one that shoots out cold air. Well since a heatsink is meant to get hot you sprayed with that cold stuff and quick temperature change shattered the casing. Helps to know these basic things when cleaning things that are hot. I guess what you could do is use a type of super glue though I'm not sure if this will melt. Good chance it might. There is a type of plastic glue that I've used before called cyanoacrylate zap it glue. Basically it bonds almost any plastics instantly. It cures in about 24-48 hours. Its super strong and if it contacts your skin it will start making it burn (slight irratation). It also eats through latex just in case you were thinking you could use gloves. Just be careful with it as it can keep your fingers stuck for about a min or so and if it gets on you it will take a few days for it to go away.
ahh damnit they didn't teach us anything like in physics class lol. I was actually using a vacuum cleaner (which sucked in air), would that have the same effect as the cold air spray can thing?

also, do you know if I still need to apply more thermal paste between the CPU and heatsink before I reattach them? (I actually got this system custom built, so I've never done this beforen :o )

[_Aerospace_Eng_]

The stress on the clips from the suction may have broke them off. Umm since you did use a vaccum cleaner, there is a good chance more of the thermal paste was sucked up so I would say yes but in the future you are probably better off not touching your pc if you don't know what you are doing.

[Agent_J]

indeed but I always like learning how to do new things :D

So when I'm applying the thermal paste to the cpu surface, should it be all over the CPU or just outlining the CPU so to speak? And do I need wait after I stick the HSF & CPU together again before I can turn on the computer?

[_Aerospace_Eng_]

http://www.windowsdevcenter.com/pub/a/windows/excerpt/pchacks/index.html read hack #24

Note: The link above has nothing to do with actual hacking, they are just tips for optimizing pc performance

[daniel_g]

The stress on the clips from the suction may have broke them off. Umm since you did use a vaccum cleaner, there is a good chance more of the thermal paste was sucked up so I would say yes but in the future you are probably better off not touching your pc if you don't know what you are doing

Nah I think you were right on your first post: The cool air did it. See, a vaccum probably gave a lower preassure, which yields colder temperatures. http://ww2010.atmos.uiuc.edu/(Gh)/guides/mtr/fw/prs/prstmp.rxml

But that's just my theory. Stupid Physics.

[oracleguy]

You might want to see if you can fix it. Socket 423 cooling solutions are going to probably be hard to come by since the socket was only around for a short time.

[intiendes]

The stress on the clips from the suction may have broke them off. Umm since you did use a vaccum cleaner, there is a good chance more of the thermal paste was sucked up so I would say yes but in the future you are probably better off not touching your pc if you don't know what you are doing.

I agree!