Could overheating Nforce4 chip cause these problems?

[silkshadow]

So I had an older S939 HTPC die on me. For the whole story look here.

Basically, my S939 mobo died on me, there have been none for sale locally since August and I was stuck. Luckily, a friend gave me his old MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum. So now the specs of it are:

Zalman HD160 case
Silvertone Strider ST60F
MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum
2x512mb OCZ gold PC3200
AMD x2 4200+
MSI 8600GT
WD 250gb sata
Bluegears Ensipre
2 x pvr-500s

If you skipped the other thread, all of these parts, besides the mobo my friend gave me, have been tested thoroughly and work fine.

So, when my friend gave me this mobo, he told me that it has a problem. The problem was that the mobo would not recognize the keyboard and mouse sometimes. To fix this, I would have to unplug the box, let it sit and plug it back in. Sometimes, he told me, I would have to let it sit for a few mins before the keyboard and mouse would be recognized.

I quickly slapped the box together, as I had guests over the holiday. Now I've had a bit of time to see how it works and I have the following problems:

1) The keyboard/mouse issue my friend mentioned. To be honest, I don't have a keyboard or mouse plugged into this box, so I only experienced it once when I was restoring the disk image onto it. Its a HTPC, and a well configured HTPC doesn't need a keyboard and mouse IMO (just a remote and, maybe, gamepad). When it happened, I tried PS/2 and USB neither would be recognized. I had to unplug, let sit and replug.

2) On boot, it gives me the bios boot device selector menu sometimes. I can choose the HD and it will boot but I have only 1 HD and a DVD drive, its set to boot from the HD, etc. So this is some deficiency with the mobo. Unplug, let sit, etc will make it go away. Its really irritating because I don't have a keyboard and mouse on the box!

As I said, now I have some time to look at it and I have. This board has a heatsink on the Nforce4 chip with a tiny fan. It looks exactly like this:

The thing is, the fan doesn't spin anymore. The board is probably so dusty (my friend must've used it hard) that the fan is too choked to spin. An overheating Nforce4 chip would explain why letting it sit would make the problems go away.

So my questions are:

A) Can an overheating Nforce4 chip cause these kinds of problem?

B) How do I get an accurate temperature for the nforce4 chip? I don't have temp probes . I used to have a gage, but it broke and I have no idea where to get one locally.

C) Once I get a temp reading, what should it be? What is overheating?

D) What can I do to get the fan to spin again? Axel grease? What kind? Where do I put it?

Thank you!

 

[JamesXP]

It probably would..

I'd get a new heatsink, e.g Evercool VC-RE, my NF4 gets to around 70c, burns to the touch, every once in awhile my keyboard will crap out and i'll have to plug it out and back in again.

 

[silkshadow]

Thanks! Finding that kind of cooling parts is very difficult where I live. I usually place big orders and import that kind of stuff. I do have an order coming in just over a month but I didn't order a chip cooler.

Any advice on refurbishing the heatsink that came with the mobo? Preferably something I can do without taking the heatsink out? This is a HTPC and its a right pain to get the mobo out. Of course, I have to do what I have to do. If its got to come out, I will get it out

 

[silkshadow]

I just bought some WD40, would this be safe to use on the fan?

 

[QuietIce]

The best bet I know of is to dis-assemble the heatsink & fan as far as possible. Clean it very well using alcohol and maybe spray some of that WD-40 in there for cleaning. But machine oil (a very light-weight oil mostly used on sewing machines now) is probably best to use on the axle. Just one drop should be enough. If you can't find that then a very light, liquid silicon "grease" should work OK. I don't know if the spray-type silicon would work or not. Either way, be sure to remove as much of the WD-40 as you can before applying the oil to it ...

 

[silkshadow]

Thanks QuietIce! I will give that a try, guess I am going to have to take everything out again, a project for this weekend .

 

[Sam__]

Yeah... my NF4 gets pretty hot. I have an 80mm fan on it constantly. If that fan doesnt work on it any more do you have any spare,preferably larger than 40mm, fans you could point at it?

 

[silkshadow]

Humm, I definately have extra fans but its a HTPC case not sure how to make it fit but I will take a look. Maybe I can skip the refurbishing of the small fan if I can get another fan to blow on it, you think?

 

[QuietIce]

Absolutely!

You can take the fan out but leave the heatsink - unless you happen to have some of those around, too!
A fan mounted off-board by those SATA sockets should work fine ...

 

[silkshadow]

Thanks! I will get something working this weekend

 

[rseven]

I know this may be a hassle, but MSI is noted for not putting much in the way of thermal paste on these chips before mounting the heatsink. Removing it, cleaning it, and using some AS5 before remounting the heatsink would also be very helpful. And I concur, the NF4 chipsets run very hot and need cooling.

Good luck with it.

Cheers!

R7

 

[silencer51]

The HSFs used in NF4 mobos are notoriously bad...

The first thing I did on my DFI mobo was remove the pathetic stock chipset HSF and replace it with a full copper one along with some AS5

Revoltec & Titan both have kits available that fit on NF4 mobos nicely

 

[Quick69GTO]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835118014

 

[ninioautista]

I have the mobo MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum too, and with the same problem, but worst i think.
The chipset fan has died, so i've put in replacement two 80mm fans facing the chipset, but my computer shutdown randomly (in a rate of once or two times per day, using it more than 12 hours), and when i put my finget over the heatsink its freaking hot, i cant let the finger there for two seconds, i get burned.
The question is, until i find a replacement, can this damange permanently my mobo? Or maybe damaging other components? Or its safe and will just shutdown?
Im concerned about this, but i dont have the money to buy another computer right now .
Thanks in advance.

 

[madhatter256]

I would look for a replacement heatsink that would install on your board just fine. However, I wouldn't use that machine for long periods of time.

If you can post a picture of your heatsink and if you can measure the fan size, then I might have a replacement available.

From my experience: when a motherboard starts to have problems, I'd look into the rest of the components to, such as memory, HDDs, and PSU. Those are the only other components (other than the motherboard) that will cause problems. Of course, it's hard to diagnose these issues without a spare PC... In most cases if the problems are directly related to a bad motherboard, then I'd also recommend you also replace the power supply, depending on it's age, and condition.

 

[ninioautista]

I would look for a replacement heatsink that would install on your board just fine. However, I wouldn't use that machine for long periods of time.

If you can post a picture of your heatsink and if you can measure the fan size, then I might have a replacement available.

From my experience: when a motherboard starts to have problems, I'd look into the rest of the components to, such as memory, HDDs, and PSU. Those are the only other components (other than the motherboard) that will cause problems. Of course, it's hard to diagnose these issues without a spare PC... In most cases if the problems are directly related to a bad motherboard, then I'd also recommend you also replace the power supply, depending on it's age, and condition.

Thanks, but my question was if this chipset overheating and the consecuent shutdowns can damage my computer, or other components permanently.
Im concerned mostly because if my PC dies i cant affor another one right now.If this is the case, i cant keep using my computer anymore until i fix this.

 

[rseven]

to the OCF.

No, your whole system is not at risk, but you don't want to fry your NF4 chipset. Therre are replacement coolers out their, but you will have to pull the mobo to change the cooler. The alternative is just to replace the chipset cooler fan. Replacement fans can also be found. madhatter256 is quite right you need to back off on the usage till you get this resolved.

R7

 

[ninioautista]

I did some more tests, i leave the computer turned ON for some time IDLE (3 hours), i got a shutdown, but the chipset is not really hot now, i can leave my finger touching it, because i've put three 80mm fans all facing the chipset (very close to the surface).
Ambient temperature its about 25 degrees, and with a nice airflow.
When the shutdown occurr i have to turn off the power supply switch, and then on again to be able to turn on my computer.
I meantion this because maybe its a power problem? and not a chipset problem?
Because even if i buy a new chipset heatsink and fan, i dont think its going to get cooler than now.
Or maybe its already damaged, and im ****ed, i think the shutdows are getting more often.
Thanks in advance.

 

[rseven]

Yes, it could be a PSU problem. It could also be that the NF4 chip is dying. Overheating will certainly kill a chip and NF4's are knownh to put out some real heat. If you have another PSU to swap out you should try it. If not, I suggest buying one from a local retailer where you can return it if it doesn't fix the problem. I hate to say this because it's just a guess, but something tells me it is the chip. (I had a CPU die in the same way where it kept failing more frequently till it just gave out) I certainly hope I'm wrong. On the plus side, I do believe that they still have some NF4 mobo's out there on the market.

Good luck with it!

R7

 

[ninioautista]

I say goodbye from the failboat.