nForce4 chipset woes (prz help srsly)

[Chojin]

So the other day my computer was making horrible noises. I open it up and eventually figure out that it's the fan over my mobo's nforce4 chipset (not the cpu, it's a mobo chipset) - it's turning awkwardly and slowly and making loud weird noises. So I resolve to replace it. One trip to CompUSA later, I have a 'Blue Ice' or whatever chipset fan and I go to replace the current heatsink & fan combo. Turns out the old one is held on by two plastic bolts with springs on in the lower left and upper right corners, distanced a tiny bit from the square heatsink enclosure - I can lift up the heatsink about a half centimeter and I can push the plastic bits into the board that far, but can't remove the things for the life of me. After dicking with that for an hour (removing the metal screws on the heatsink's face et al just to find out that I can remove the heatsink & fan's faceplate and fan itself but still not the heatsink, which is still attached by those two plastic things), I get pissed, get emily's Channel-Lock wirecutters, and just snap the things off. One of them falls out of the mobo completely, the other I can't get back through the hole, but whatever.

So I finally remove the old heatsink to find that this is not your normal smooth metal cover mobo chipset, it in fact looks a lot like a CPU - exposed circuit board with a lil chip in the middle, and thermal paste all around. I clean all the paste off with rubbing alcohol and go to put on the new heatsink & fan, but it was really designed for normal chipsets, so the bottom of the heatsink has a large square of self-adhesive tape on it. I cut a lil square hole in the middle for the cpu, put some thicker double-sided tape around it, and pressed it onto the chipset and hooked everything up. Everything seemed to be gravy. Last night I set a bunch of downloads and went to sleep.

This morning, I come back to find the pc restarted. I log in and start the downloads again and the computer locked up when clicked on the start menu - It seems like something is overheating. Last night I had the thing running for at least 6 hours with no problem, but I did have the side of the case off during that time. However, my case has good ventilation and it shouldn't be getting that much hotter with the side on. After giving the computer a 'rest' of about 10 minutes this morning, I turned it back on and it's been good for at least 15 minutes now with no complaints, but then again I'm not telling it to do anything aside from run a web browser.

So, questions:

* Is it possible to get a heatsink for a chipset that has that gay two plastic pin w/ springs fastener?
* How can I track the heat of my mobo chipset?
* Could my problem just be because I didn't re-apply thermal paste?
* How can I make sure my pc doesn't melt while I'm using it ;<
* Is there a way to make the PC turn off if the chipset overheats? I know there's a way to do it for the CPU in the BIOS.
* Could Azureus or eMule be partially responsible for the strange behavior at all?
* What is your interpretation of the speedfan numbers (below)?

Motherboard: Biostar NF4UL-A9-A01

Speedfan reports:
Fan1: 3516 RPM
Fan2: 1442 RPM
Fan3: 0 RPM
Temp1: 127C (never changes, probably a misreport?)
Temp2: 127C (never changes, probably a misreport?)
Temp3: 27C
Local Temp: 0C
Remote Temp: 6C
HD0: 35C
Temp1: 30C

[MetalMilitia]

It is almost certainly overheating. What you should of done is firstly cosulted the internet about how to remove the old HFS correctly. Secondly you should have removed the thremal pad completly and applied some good quality thermal paste instead. Im not sure what you tried to do with masking tape but its certainly not helping matters.

The core is the only part which needs to make contact with the heatsink as it is the only part which produces heat.

Speedfan will detect just about all of the heat sensors on your board. But it is often difficult to tell which is which so it may not be ideal. I would think your computer would crash before it does its self any serious damage so you shouldn't be in too much danger.

So basically what you need to do is pull off the heatsink you just stuck on, remove all the thermal pad, masking tape and crap. Then reattach it with a thin layer of thermal paste and some proper springy-screw thingys.

[Chojin]

Sorry if I wasn't clear about it, but I did remove all tape from the area on the heatsink that contacts the chipset's core (this is what I meant by cutting a little hole for the chip). The only part with tape is the part that contacts the circuit board, so as to hold the heatsink in place.

Also, I didn't ask the internet about it because typing 'spring screw heatsink' into google wouldn't have yielding anything but furry porn. Plus my computer was turned off while doing this and while we do have other computers in the house, they all suck.

But if I understand your suggestion correctly, I should peel off the heatsink, apply thermal paste to the exposed heatsink square and the core, and then stick it back on. Am I right guys? Will that really make that big a dif? I really hate those plastic things and am hesitant to put those in, lest I have to remove it again later.

[MetalMilitia]

Im really not sure I am understanding what you have done. Could you take a picture of it or something?

Basically your northbridge should have a HSF attached with annoying little springy screws - on the base of the heatsink should be nothing but a thin layer of thermal paste where the core of the northbridge is.

Chances are the HSF is currently not getting good enough contact with the northbridge chip for it to do its job properly.

[Alive]

Thats "thermal tape" he's talking about, and after you removed the little sticky protector all's you needed to do was stick the whole shebang onto the northbridge and 'voila! you would have been home free form your little tech journery into the hsf abyss (no little plastic/screw adjusters needed, held on by thermal tape alone -but now who knows..)

But cutting away a little hole into the thermal tape may have caused you a little connection problem afterall, and the tape sides may be riding higher then the contact to the core is. you made an incredibly easy job hard in the long run, but if you can get a little thermal paste into that "cutout" portion this may still work providing the existing tape has enough adhesive to still make good contact.

[Chojin]

Okay but listen, it isn't a flat surface like most mobo chipsets so the included sticky shit didn't sit even on the surface of it and therefore i couldn't just ram it home as-is because it would not stick - Like I said, the core rises up a bit from the surface like a cpu, and the majority of the chipset is a circuit board. But yeah, i think it may be riding over the core a bit now although there's no way to know for sure.

I'm just gonna fill the square gap i made with paste and see how that works. Unless someone here advises me not to.

More discussion on this topic would be appreciated!

[Chojin]

so right ok i put in lots of thermal paste in the lil crevice I made and applied a thin layer directly to the core. we'll see how this goes.

[AChimp]

THE CORE IS OVER-HEATING, CAP'N.

I helped by bringing humour to this thread.

[Chojin]

Left it on overnight and everything seems to be ok. LITHIUM CRYSTALS APPEAR TO BE HOLDING.

[whoreable]

I had the same problems with my board, I took off the fan to put on a passive heatsink that has the clips(yes they make them).

I think i chipped the core on mine or somethign though cause it locked up right after the bios screen. I had to replace my board.

in short fuck the non capped chipsets.