Hi,
I have been asked to look at a non-functioning PC and found that the problem appears to be the onboard graphics chip has failed. This is probably due to the heatsink coming off the chip. Basically it is a levered clip on design and one of the inverted u anchor points has come away from the motherboard. I have installed a PCI graphics card which works. Query is - can I leave the blown chipset as it is or do I need to still have a heatsink - because it still generates a fair bit of heat.
TIA
If it's blown but consuming power, one of two things has happened:
1) It hasn't really "blown", the circuits are still clocking but it's nadgered enough to not do anything useful.2) It really has fried, in which case it might just be consuming power as a resistive load (chips can do this as doping agents disperse under heat and silicon with diffuse doping agents is more or less just a big resistor.
2 would be unwise to use the mobo unless you can remove the chip.1 would probably be OK but you should have a heatsink to prevent the chip frying more. You can get sticky heatsing thermal pads or thermal epoxy and glue a heatsink on.
Personally I wouldn't leave it on unattended in that state but if it does useful things, why not... Thing to remember is PC PSUs provide some pretty potential currents on the various rails and if the chip goes short circuit (quite possible) it's either going to fry the board (as in char it), kill the PSU or otherwise start burning something.
It's rare these days for PCs to actually smoke in the literal sense, but it does happen occasionally - and I have seen one do that. It made the case bloody hot and stunk the lab out for quite some time. Not really something you'd want in a house where it's near lots of combustibles.
Cheers
Tim
I'd fit a heatsink, else it may die at any time.
NT
I think there's a group uk.comp.homebuilt that might be worth a go.
I wouldn't risk it. The chip is overheating to the extent that it has malfunctioned, and is still running hot. It will not cure itself, but can only get worse. It may cause data corruption in the system, and may damage other components. You can get a motherboard/cpu/ram bundle for a hundred quid or so now.
Andy
Many thanks for the responses. As you may have guessed, this was another of those "charity case" repair requests, that are so invaluable in using up one's spare time. (Except of course this one is for a charitable group.)
Regards.
As an aside, I've had a few "charity" motherboards[1] that have protested failed graphics chips / graphics RAM (BIOS beep codes alleged it) which refused to boot and then mysteriously came to life after a full CMOS reset (in with a screwdriver on the motherboard pins) - this seems to be pretty common on integrated graphics adaptors, might be worth a try?
And yes, the heatsink is pretty essential even if you're not using the onboard graphics :(
Dave H.
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