My chipset fan is on the frits. its the stock one that came with my mobo (abit ic7-max3) and it keeps making a noise like its not getting any grip and it slows down. I really doubt its fixable and I will be replacing it soon, but as I cannot ge tthe parts as of right now I was wondering if i could simply unlpug the fan and let the heatsink do its work. I will not be doing any gaming and I have not overclocked anything. If i do nothing too strenuous then do i really need the fan that doesnt seem like it does much in the first place? Thanks a ton
you can unplug the fan and try and get a case fan to blow over it, for the time being. but it will need replacing.
I have the same motherboard and recently had a similar problem. Over at Abit's support forums, there is a lot of discussion about how to replace/fix the fan. First of all, they will send you a replacement unit for free + $11 in shipping/handling. There are also other ways of acquiring a same-size replacement fan. I can't dig up the details now b/c I'm on my way out of the apartment, but I'll try later. On a Vantac iceberg cooler (certain model), the fan is the same size as the abit one. Instead of replacing the unit or the fan itself, you can replace the entire cooler. I know Vantec makes passive ones and there are several other active coolers out there, but I went with a different route. The site is currently down now (probably updating or something), but check out 3dcool.com. I replaced my NB cooler with a Silenx chipset cooler. It comes with a somewhat beefy heatsink, and a 40mm fan. My CPU cooler is too tall to accomodate the fan, but I already knew that. The thing is, the 40mm fan that comes with the chipset cooler is the same size as the OTES fan but of supposedly far better quality. I'm not going to go into anymore details unless you want me to, but I just wanted to convey that there are a LOT of options available for you. A replacement will cost you anywhere from $5 to $45, depending on what you want.
Thanks for the replies. It will be at least 10 days before i can get another heatsink/fan so in the meantime would it be ok to run my pc without the fan blowing? To me it doesn't seem like it does much anyways. on that note, if it is ok to just unplug the fan would it be better to remove the fan and just leave the heatsink for better ventalation? It is right nexdoor to my zalman CNPS7000A-CU so i think it getrs a tiny bit of breeze. For anyone who doesnt know the abit heatsink its almost like the zalman CNPS7000A-CU, but the fan sits right on the middle. It seems like removing it or not having it run wouldn't have much negative effect, but you guys are the experts so any advice would be great. thnx again
on a side note, the room my computer is in is not hot at all, and my case temp averages about 28 degrees Celcius
You should be able to monitor the temperature of your chipset with SpeedFan to see if it's overheating. I'd say that anything above 60C is too much for a normal northbridge.
If you wish to not have chipset fan failure anymore then may I suggest a passive Zalman chipset cooler? It may cost more than going to Abit for a replacement but it will be quieter, cool just as well if u don't bodge the install and it can't fail. I never used one but hear good things so it may be something you wanna look into.
My mobo doesnt have a temp probe for the chipset I use MBM though and combined wtih the cool ambiant temperature and general good airflow my pentium 4 3 ghz chip stays around 40 C (37-45), so i feel like it should be ok without the fan, but i dont want to do any irreversible damage here
What exactly does the fault sound like? I heard people use compressed air and WD40 to clean their chipset fans and get em running proper again but again never tried it so dunno how gd it works.
definately will be lookign at zalman's coolers. The other thing is though, I cant have something too big because the CNPS7000A-CU towers over the chipset.
I have personally removed the fan from the heasink and cleaned it so it is good as new. from what i can tell (im not sure how this fan works inside) something is stripped, and the center is spinning like it shuold but the fan is not comming with it, resulting in a humming noise and the fan ceasing to spin. really the most important thing for me to figure out now is if I can run my PC without the fan on and not worry about serious problems.
Hmm sounds like the bearings have gone. Tho when my case fan blew its bearings it pretty much seized up. You could survive for now with just the heatsink aspect of the chipset fan on it and if you could aim a case fan that wud be even better way to stop it dying. As the guys above said ^_^
Fans gone. Now a question about the passive zalman heatsinks. The ic7-max3 doesnt have any holes, only the loops for the heatsink. Could i stil install the Zalman? From what i just looked at on their website it doesnt look like i can
Can't say as I can answer your most recent question, but the fan failure sounds familiar, have had to replace both the NB and OTES fans on this abit board. (and the PWM still hits 60C under load - higher than the CPU, even after the full 4x 80mm case fans the case will take)
Just use some thermal epoxy and glue it on. Or just a small about of super glue in the corners with thermal paste in the middle. (Did this with my NF7-S). Or just bend the exisiting nb loop clip on the zalamn (did this on my shuttle).
If you run without the fan you are risking your mobo, if the manufacturer thought it could run reliably without a fan they wouldn't have included it. There may be a chance if the HS has a decent surface area (ie. not an orb style fan with a tiny bit of metal around the outside). Touch the HS from time to time, if it feels uncomfortably hot on your skin then it's probably running too hot. I've replaced the horrid, tiny, whiney and unreliable chipset fans quite a few times in the past and the Zalman HS should come with a choice of glue and adjustable clips but you can always use a little superglue on the edges anyway as said. I wish passive chipset cooling was the standard.
