Quick Motherboard Question...

I was working on a friends' computer that wouldn't boot up because it would freeze. I found out by opening it that the motherboard rention plastic bracket lost one corner that the heatsink uses to press down. With that, does anyone have an alternative (instead of replacing or removing the motherboard from the case) to mount the heatsink with precise pressure to the Pentium 4 chip?

dja2k

If the corner of the retention bracket is actually broken, then it needs to be replaced. Those retention brackets can be easily replaced without removing the motherboard from the case (although you will have to remove the heatsink/fan of course). You have to pull out the 4 little center pins and then the bracket will pop off. Those beackets are available if you look around. Overclockers that use fancy heatsinks should have extras laying around that they might send you for the cost of postage. Maybe that one corner just came loose? If so, pull that one pin out, gently pop the corner back into the hole, then push the pin back securely into place.

Thanks, but yeah the corner is broken and I have already removed the heatsink so all I would have to do is remove that bracket and put a new one in there.

dja2k

Right. But first, carefully pull out the 4 little pins at each corner using a pair of needle nosed pliers or pry 'em up a little first with a tiny screwdriver. The retention bracket snaps into place, so with a little pressure, you should be able to pop it up one corner at a time. I've replaced those brackets before with the motherboard mounted in the case.