How bad is this?

[The Duck]

Well, I have personally never seen a heatsink and fan for onboard video alone... maybe nihil means the chipset???

I tried comparing the fan and chipset by size, but I really can't tell from the pictures ... So i'm just going to go down the list:

It can't be the cpu because you said it still has it's heatsink and fan...

I doubt it's your video card fan... If it has one...

So the only logical explination is one of the 2 chipsets... probably northbridge like you suspected... but, have you checked the case for any missing fans? The case will usually have atleast 1 fan....

It would help if we knew the make/model of the computer, or at least the motherboard.

I agree with nihil on this, it would be very helpful to know the model of the motherboard...

But everything else he said I have no clue what he means

***edit***

Btw, what part of chicago are you from, I'm also in the chicago area...

[nihil]

Well,

Having re-examined the photos I can say it is a Micro Star (MSI) MS-6577 board, version 2.1

Unfortunately, I cannot find a diagram for that particular board................if you are sure where the heatsink came from, just glue it back, as suggested. I would recommend getting the cleaning kit as well, as the perished adhesive will only make it fall off again.

As for the video card, if you install one it is going via an AGP or PCI slot, and not the onboard chipset, unless it is something I have not encountered?

That reminds me, check that the onboard video is enabled in your BIOS............I suspect that you would have had to disable it when you put your card in ?

[The Duck]

ah, I misread his post... so I guess both the heatsink and the fan fell off... well that excludes the case fan...

And nihil, I still don't understand why you keep bringing up onboard video and video cards... that's not his problem .

Or maybe I just misread the problem... again .

[JewishIntent]

The Duck: Im originally from the subarb of Villa Park which is right by Elmhurst,Lombard,and Oakbrook, moved out to Aurora back in highschool, and just moved to a town that still isn't on any maps yet called Pingree Grove up by Northern Illinois U.

I'm not sure how the idea came up but the box isn't missing any fans. It still has the fan on the back of the box, the one over the cpu, and the psu fan. the only thing that fell off was that one particular heatsink.

The reason Nihil kept bringing up onboard video and the such was because most likely the chip that the heatsink fell off of is the onboard video and i had asekd/said

i was under the impression that even with a video card installed that the onboard video is still "routing" signals between the vid card and wherever the signals go after it hits the onboard vid

and he was just clarifying that little detail.

I would have the motherboard designation if i had remembered to get it while still out at my mom's over the weekend, but i recently moved about an hour and a half away so its not exactly a quick jaunt, and she doesn't know enough for her to want to do almost anything regarding opening the box up which is why i always end up messing with it for her.

and finally

Nihil:

That reminds me, check that the onboard video is enabled in your BIOS............I suspect that you would have had to disable it when you put your card in ?

actually i have installed vid cards in 2 of my boxs, my mom',s little brother and older bothers and have never disabled anything. Heck i didn't know i as supposed to. i just plugged the things in and switched where the monitor plugs in and it worked fine. Should i have disabled onboard video in BIOS?

[rcgreen]

actually i have installed vid cards in 2 of my boxs, my mom',s little brother and older bothers and have never disabled anything. Heck i didn't know i as supposed to. i just plugged the things in and switched where the monitor plugs in and it worked fine. Should i have disabled onboard video in BIOS?

I think most motherboards nowadays automatically disable the onboard video
when they sense the presence of a card. At least I think this is true of AGP.
Older ones, yeah, you had to disable it in the BIOS.

[nihil]

Hi,

actually i have installed vid cards in 2 of my boxs, my mom',s little brother and older bothers and have never disabled anything. Heck i didn't know i as supposed to. i just plugged the things in and switched where the monitor plugs in and it worked fine. Should i have disabled onboard video in BIOS?

They will frequently work, however as this is a remote box I would have done so to remove a possible source of conflict. When I do something for someone else I generally try to keep the system as simple as possible to avoid repeat visits

The other point with onboard video is that it shares your RAM. If you turn that off you release the shared memory for the system to use.

[JewishIntent]

The other point with onboard video is that it shares your RAM. If you turn that off you release the shared memory for the system to use.

So if by snapping in a video card it will, at least in all the boxes i have toyed with, automatically disable the onboard video, would i still need to manualy disable something in order to unshare the RAM, or is that taken care of during the auto-disableing of the onboard video.

[nihil]

Hi,

You will need to check your MoBo manual and BIOS options. You may get a message about shared memory on bootup, or see it in your BIOS.

I am not sure that you actually turned off the onboard video. I have at least one machine that will use either the onboard chipset or the card depending on what socket the screen is plugged into when I boot it.

The test is to look at your BIOS settings. Control panel etc. See how much memory is shared. With some boards you cannot turn the memory share off entirely, but you can turn it down. I think that the reason is a contingency in case you have to trouble shoot a video problem?

I haven't come across a situation where inserting the video card turned off or minimised the sharing. I have always had to alter the BIOS settings. Mind you I generally don't use boards with integrated video.

[FlockofSeagulls]

Let me guess, Compaq Presario. Generic components thrown together in a sloppy fashion. I'm amazed that Northbridge sink came off like that, then again not really. They usually use gum that you should never take off while its cold (it's a bitch). So that box must have been scorching for it to fall off, or maybe just an odd occurrence. That is the Northbridge, because you can see the Southbridge below it with its signature IHS internal heat sink. I don't know of many, if any, 478 boards that unnecessarily did a sink on a Southbridge. Also, I think that cap below your white and gold barcode is swollen. The one above the 12v too. Can you read the brand of the capacitors? Pictures are blurry, I might be wrong.

On my new socket T they used a stock sink on the Southbridge, and heat piped the Northbridge. I'm balling on root with the 7800GTX. CoD2 call of duty........... Get some! 80fps