Repair a broken ear (heat sink hold down) on mother board

[Don Malone]

If I have a broken hold down ear for the heat sink on a MSI board
running about 1.2 Gigahertz. Is it possible to repair it (if I am
missing the broken piece) or should I just replace the board.

It is not my primary computer and I only wanted the MoBo to build a
system to work with Linux as I don't want to take my Windows XP machine
out of service.

Could you reccomend a procedure to try and repair the broken tab. Just
for the record; the tab is not broken of smooth. It has a small bump
that the Heatsink will hold for a short time before popping loose.

Thanks for the advice and any reccomendations you may have.

--

 

[Larc]

| If I have a broken hold down ear for the heat sink on a MSI board
| running about 1.2 Gigahertz. Is it possible to repair it (if I am
| missing the broken piece) or should I just replace the board.
|
| It is not my primary computer and I only wanted the MoBo to build a
| system to work with Linux as I don't want to take my Windows XP machine
| out of service.
|
| Could you reccomend a procedure to try and repair the broken tab. Just
| for the record; the tab is not broken of smooth. It has a small bump
| that the Heatsink will hold for a short time before popping loose.
|
| Thanks for the advice and any reccomendations you may have.

Maybe you'll have better luck than I did, but an Asus CUSL2 I had about five
years ago with that problem had to be thrown out. Nothing I tried worked, and a
local computer shop with some really good techs couldn't repair it. The CUSL2
had the old socket 370 with fairly small "nubs." I had the part that had broken
off and thought maybe Crazy Glue would hold it on. It didn't.

Larc



§§§ - Change planet to earth to reply by email - §§§

 

[Paul]

If I have a broken hold down ear for the heat sink on a MSI board
running about 1.2 Gigahertz. Is it possible to repair it (if I am
missing the broken piece) or should I just replace the board.

It is not my primary computer and I only wanted the MoBo to build a
system to work with Linux as I don't want to take my Windows XP machine
out of service.

Could you reccomend a procedure to try and repair the broken tab. Just
for the record; the tab is not broken of smooth. It has a small bump
that the Heatsink will hold for a short time before popping loose.

Thanks for the advice and any reccomendations you may have.

If the socket has three tabs on the side, and one is busted off,
find an aftermarket cooler with a three tab clip on it. The
clip can be fitted to the two remaining good tabs.

http://shop.syncron.de/images/product_images/popup_images/649774.jpg

Paul

 

[Guest]

If I have a broken hold down ear for the heat sink on a MSI board
running about 1.2 Gigahertz. Is it possible to repair it (if I am
missing the broken piece) or should I just replace the board.

It is not my primary computer and I only wanted the MoBo to build a
system to work with Linux as I don't want to take my Windows XP machine
out of service.

Could you reccomend a procedure to try and repair the broken tab. Just
for the record; the tab is not broken of smooth. It has a small bump
that the Heatsink will hold for a short time before popping loose.

Thanks for the advice and any reccomendations you may have.

I have repaired such things using very high quality cyanoacrylate
adhesive - it is worth paying the extra. Look for the stuff intended to
stick "difficult" materials. But that is when I have had the broken off
piece.

Where the bit is missing - it is down to dentistry. Drill a tiny hole in
the bump, using a pin chuck and a very fine drill. A circuit board pin
can then be glued into the hole. A peg can then be moulded around the
"peg" using epoxy resin. It takes a bit of time but does work and
doesn't look "wrong".

 

[Don Malone]

If the socket has three tabs on the side, and one is busted off,
find an aftermarket cooler with a three tab clip on it. The
clip can be fitted to the two remaining good tabs.

http://shop.syncron.de/images/product_images/popup_images/649774.jpg

Paul

Just my luck that the bargin board uses only a single tab. I did not
know they made a three tab clip for a heat sink. Is that on newer
models?

Thanks for the information.

--

 

[Don Malone]

I have repaired such things using very high quality cyanoacrylate
adhesive - it is worth paying the extra. Look for the stuff intended
to stick "difficult" materials. But that is when I have had the
broken off piece.

Where the bit is missing - it is down to dentistry. Drill a tiny hole
in the bump, using a pin chuck and a very fine drill. A circuit board
pin can then be glued into the hole. A peg can then be moulded around
the "peg" using epoxy resin. It takes a bit of time but does work and
doesn't look "wrong".

Looks are not the main issue and even though I guess I am really not
very handy when it to comes to hand fashioning a part. What have I got
to lose? The board is no good without the heatsink and this could work.
The board is an older model and this is probably its last chance to be
used.

Thanks.

--

 

[Don Malone]

If I have a broken hold down ear for the heat sink on a MSI board
running about 1.2 Gigahertz. Is it possible to repair it (if I am
missing the broken piece) or should I just replace the board.

It is not my primary computer and I only wanted the MoBo to build a
system to work with Linux as I don't want to take my Windows XP
machine out of service.

Could you reccomend a procedure to try and repair the broken tab. Just
for the record; the tab is not broken of smooth. It has a small bump
that the Heatsink will hold for a short time before popping loose.

Thanks for the advice and any reccomendations you may have.

How snug does the heat sink have to be to be effective? If I can't get
the heatsink as tight as it was originally; should I just scrap the
idea and save the chip?

Thanks.

--

 

[Guest]

How snug does the heat sink have to be to be effective? If I can't get
the heatsink as tight as it was originally; should I just scrap the
idea and save the chip?

The heatsink doesn't have to be very snug, just held evenly all around
against the chip package. The plastic ear can't be reliably super
glued, epoxied, or melted back together. Loctite has a kit of super
glue made especially for plastics, called Plastix, containing super
glue and MEK, but it works no better than some super glues alone. It's
possible that acrylic glue will work, but I've never tried it. It's
sold as Loctite/Duro Industrial Adhesive and is a 2-part product: one
part goes on one surface, the other part on the other surface (you do
not mix the parts. I would try a 3-hole heatsink clip or make a clip
out of piano wire. Most PIII sockets have ears next to the center
ones, and I'd run the wire between those. Don't use the remaining good
center ear since the clamping force won't be even with it. To reduce
the odds of breaking an ear in the future, file off any sharp ridges on
the heatsink clip holes.

 

[Don Malone]

The heatsink doesn't have to be very snug, just held evenly all around
against the chip package. The plastic ear can't be reliably super
glued, epoxied, or melted back together. Loctite has a kit of super
glue made especially for plastics, called Plastix, containing super
glue and MEK, but it works no better than some super glues alone.
It's possible that acrylic glue will work, but I've never tried it.
It's sold as Loctite/Duro Industrial Adhesive and is a 2-part
product: one part goes on one surface, the other part on the other
surface (you do not mix the parts. I would try a 3-hole heatsink
clip or make a clip out of piano wire. Most PIII sockets have ears
next to the center ones, and I'd run the wire between those. Don't
use the remaining good center ear since the clamping force won't be
even with it. To reduce the odds of breaking an ear in the future,
file off any sharp ridges on the heatsink clip holes.

Thanks for the info. I really appreciate what everyone has shared with
me.

--