Fix your broken Northbridge Mounting Loops!

[charlie]

Easy fix here, but thought I'd share it anyway:
I got an IC7 this week from Newegg (refurbished) and it had two broken NB mounting hooks (loops)... impatient as I am I didn't want to RMA it... so I used AS Alumina epoxy. A few minutes later I hear this sound like a bullet hitting the mirrored closet door, hehe, the epoxy didn't hold the spring clips, hook went flying...hard. So I whipped out trusty soldering iron, inserted hook (loop) back into mobo, flipped it over, and soldered the hook back in it's hole. The holes in the motherboard are little metal tubes and the hooks (loops) are meant to be soldered in place with metal to metal contact. Use needle nose pliers to push firmly on hook (loop) and put soldering iron tip on spot where hook legs poke thru motherboard for a few moments and then touch with solder, solder runs into tube around hook leg and it's a done deal.
Yeah, I know...so easy it doesn't really belong on XS.org but here it is!
C

[Major]

Hehe, why couldn't they just use mounting holes ?? WTF was intel thinking ?

I've had to repair both my P4C800 and the IC7, same thing the hooks pulled through the mb.

[charlie]

Originally posted by Major Slaughter
Hehe, why couldn't they just use mounting holes ?? WTF was intel thinking ?

I've had to repair both my P4C800 and the IC7, same thing the hooks pulled through the mb.

That would be "highly paid" Intel engineers there...
C

[Creative]

Nice tip :thumbsup:

Im putting a Silverprop Nexus on my boards later today or in the week and Im kinda hoping my hooks stay intact

*touch wood* :D

pics of the block here;
http://www.criticool.com/images%20large/waterblock%20-%20chipset%20-%20nexus4%20lge.jpg
and
http://www.criticool.com/images%20large/waterblock%20-%20chipset%20-%20nexus5%20lrg.jpg

:)

[autoexec]

Originally posted by charlie
That would be "highly paid" Intel engineers there...
C


are you being sarcastic about them being highly paid - or the fact that they screwed up?

[charlie]

I think both :D
They are highly paid FOR screwing up :D
C

[Jupiler]

Poor job done by ABIT though.
Mine came off too about 2 weeks ago.
Glued it back with superglue, and so far, it didn't came off (yet :D)

[Silversink]

Originally posted by charlie
Easy fix here, but thought I'd share it anyway:
I got an IC7 this week from Newegg (refurbished) and it had two broken NB mounting hooks (loops)... impatient as I am I didn't want to RMA it... so I used AS Alumina epoxy. A few minutes later I hear this sound like a bullet hitting the mirrored closet door, hehe, the epoxy didn't hold the spring clips, hook went flying...hard. So I whipped out trusty soldering iron, inserted hook (loop) back into mobo, flipped it over, and soldered the hook back in it's hole. The holes in the motherboard are little metal tubes and the hooks (loops) are meant to be soldered in place with metal to metal contact. Use needle nose pliers to push firmly on hook (loop) and put soldering iron tip on spot where hook legs poke thru motherboard for a few moments and then touch with solder, solder runs into tube around hook leg and it's a done deal.
Yeah, I know...so easy it doesn't really belong on XS.org but here it is!
C

Interesting, I'm a little miffed because the top right ring came off my IC7 and the revised Orb fell plumb on my 9800 pro frying it.

These rings are ridiculous


http://home.comcast.net/~trollhunter/Silversinks_001.jpg

[Jupiler]

Yeah.
Same thing happened to me. Top right ring fell off, right on my 9800PRO.
I didn't noitice anything, only a long beeping when I rebooted.
Couldn't find any anomalies, until I found the ring laying on my card.
Thank god, it didn't fry it. Card still works, lucky me.
Lousy soldering job by ABIT.

Silversink :
Sorry to hear your card got fried. :(
what happened to your card? Did you RMA it? Or got a refund or what?
Would be quite interesting to hear what ABIT's got to say about this, in case something like this happens.

[Silversink]

Originally posted by Jupiler
Yeah.
Same thing happened to me. Top right ring fell off, right on my 9800PRO.
I didn't noitice anything, only a long beeping when I rebooted.
Couldn't find any anomalies, until I found the ring laying on my card.
Thank god, it didn't fry it. Card still works, lucky me.
Lousy soldering job by ABIT.

Silversink :
Sorry to hear your card got fried. :(
what happened to your card? Did you RMA it? Or got a refund or what?
Would be quite interesting to hear what ABIT's got to say about this, in case something like this happens.

It just happened Yesterday, and I will be calling Abit tomorrow for sure.

I am going to ask them if they will consider Closing the loop on the clip so this crap doesnt happen to anyone else. Plus I am going to ask them to make sure the dang ring is properly secured to the Mobo's PCB in the first place. If the clips ring is closed and the bottom ring does pop off, at least the orb may not fall on the peripheral cards, If the top ring pops out it still may land on a Video card, but at least its some sort of prevenative measure. I wish Abit never went to those darn rings as this is ridiculous.

This should not be happening and they need to fix this quality control problem/and or a design problem.

[Semper Fi]

This is by far one of the worst design flaws I've come across. Ive heard the safest long term fix for this is to use paperclips and strips of plastic. What you do is insert the paperclip in with the piece of plastic running in between the two sides on the back of the mobo, then twist the paperclip until it is held firmly.

[Silversink]

Originally posted by Semper Fi
This is by far one of the worst design flaws I've come across. Ive heard the safest long term fix for this is to use paperclips and strips of plastic. What you do is insert the paperclip in with the piece of plastic running in between the two sides on the back of the mobo, then twist the paperclip until it is held firmly.

Thats actually a great idea, the fact is, Abits ring design for the Northbridge is faulty and they should do a recall :rolleyes:

But I doulbt we will see that...

[Liquid3D]

Very astute post Charlie. You obviously hit upon an a seemingly quite common flaw in basic design. Which is where (by the by) they usually do. Working so hard as they did on their "Bride of Frankenstien" (turning the granite Bay into a DDR MCH) they overlooked the "simple things in life..."

Thank for pointing this out, it answered severl questions. For example I just wondering when I fried my Epox, by removing the shim, and exposing the surface SMD of the chip to the heatsink, how it could have grounded, being that the clips were secured in plastic. Now because of this post, I've learned their seated in "metal tubes" which contacting the mobo, essential contact a "semiconductive" surface. Certainly enough to create the circuit, and solving the the last remaining question for me. Thanx.

BTW I was looking at the Silverprop H20 blocs as I'm now FINALLY getting into watercooling, good choice there Creative.

[Chriviper]

What a Bummer..glad i didnt buy that nf7...woohooo...but hey let us know what abit does about it....be curious to see if they do anything?

[Creative]

Originally posted by Liquid3D
[B]BTW I was looking at the Silverprop H20 blocs as I'm now FINALLY getting into watercooling, good choice there Creative.
:thumbsup:

The clip the use is like a bar you place across the top of the block and then it hooks to the clips on each end.

I can take a pic if you like :)

Was going to give trial run yesterday but got lazy.....and anyways on air my cpu only does 245 :)

[SAE]

Originally posted by Chriviper
What a Bummer..glad i didnt buy that nf7...woohooo...but hey let us know what abit does about it....be curious to see if they do anything?

People are speaking bout the IC7 (Intel 875)...

NF7 doesn't have those probs :D

[Ranger2992]

Originally posted by Silversink
[B]Interesting, I'm a little miffed because the top right ring came off my IC7 and the revised Orb fell plumb on my 9800 pro frying it.

These rings are ridiculous

I had the same thing happen. My NB WB fell on my 9800 p and killed it :slobber:

[cir108]

No commercial operation will look after their customers' imterest unless it hits their bottom line. A bottom line can vary from some small techie fancying my ass to the operations' going broke because of an uncontrollable issue - viz the SUV-tyre fiasco.

Complaints don't matter much unless there is a concerted effort and certainly not on the operation's funded forum. This is more so with less "sophisticated"/established operators who then becomes defensive and indifferent. In addition, bottom line profit margins also dictates the response level. The key phrase here is, "Leopards will never lose their spots until they are painted out by others."

Firstly, there is no need to worship. If a purchase is satisfying, be glad. The manufacturer is not my pimp and I'm not their whore. By being "over-enthusiastic", we cede control but worst still, we lose our self-respect.

This applies to everything we do. We paid for a product which declares and implies a certain performance level. If we get it, great. If we don't, we ask for a performance satisfaction. By being over exhuberant, we are giving the manufacture, the opportunity to grab our gonads and eat it too.

[SAE]

Welcome to the Xtreme, cir108 :D

[cir108]

I trust the "sexy" undertone isn't arousing anybody. It's there to make the subject "commonly" clear :slobber:

These anchor pads are so easily strengthened, that it's akined to kicking the buyer for the heck of it

What a shame on these "Overclocking Partners", especially their blameless PARTNER. Unfortunately, they are mere Money Organisms and Rights & Wrongs only mean Money & No Money to them.

[Underwater Mike]

Lost a NB loop on my now-dead IC7-G -- seems like it's always the upper right clip on a board -- and had the HSF/video collision, but the only casualty was my nerves.
:cussing:

ABIT Marketing replied to one of my rants on the ABIT Forums and said they were aware of a problem, but that's it. (Big surprise there.)

I agree that the design is inferior to MB holes, but I have not heard of any problems with boards other than ABIT's -- has anyone else?

Creative, could you post a pic of the block and clip? Thinking about water lately and I'd like to learn as much upfront as possible. Thanks.

[WerewolfX]

Funny you should mention that I just E-mailed them not 10 minutes ago about those gay things It popped off after 2 days of sitting upright im my case. Poor design indeed so I wrote them a rather polite E-mail calling them idiots.

"Hello Abit I recently purchased An IC7-Max 3. Its a great board and I like it allot. A pretty strange thing happened the other night though. I was sitting at my Home office desk and watching the news when I heard a strange ping from my computer. Anyhow, I looked in through the case window and saw the Northbridge heatsink had torn off out the tiny retention clip that was supposed to hold it in place. For a quick fix I placed the Northbridge cooler on another set of hook's so I would still have a motherboard, because I really need it for work. Anyhow I am still deciding whether or not to RMA the board. I was just wondering why the heck you decided on using those flimsy retention mechanisms on your newer Intel boards. The mounting holes were and still are a much better solution. I hope in the future you mount all of you Northbridge Heatsinks using mounting holes on all of your boards. Another question I have is would using a form of Epoxy to better secure the mounting clips void my waranty seeing as there may be a defect in my board as well as that of several others whom I have read of as having similar issues.

Thank You,"

I just hope they never decide to use those stupid clips ever again. Long live the mounting holes!!!!!

Cheers
:toast:

[Creative]

Originally posted by Mike Donatello
Creative, could you post a pic of the block and clip? Thinking about water lately and I'd like to learn as much upfront as possible. Thanks.
For all the people with them breaking, there has to be 5 people with them not surely? Cos now im scared to even put my block on guys :( :)
hehehehe

http://users.bigpond.net.au/creat/intel/spnexusb.jpg is the top of the block and I can take a pic of the 'smoooth as a babies bum' underside if you like? :)

Cheers

ps
will be installing it tomorrow...lukcilly the retention uses diaganol holes like default so if 1 breaks, then I spose I have the other 2 to use :thumbsup: :p:
heheheheheh

[WerewolfX]

Block looks good creative, but if you have a chance could you send a pic of the block mounted?

Anyways I have had no reply yet so I guess i have 6 more hours to go though till I reach my 24 hour limit (self imposed) before i call thier Tech support dept. I tend to get a little testy when forced to use a phone. Hehe
:toast: :eleph:

[Underwater Mike]

So how does it mount? Looks like there's just pins for mb's with holes?

[Creative]

Thats the AMD mouting holes, with the P4 it comes with a metal bar type thing that goes over the top of the block and then hooks onto the rings where normal fans do :)

Ive taken some pics but my webspace isnt working so Ill just attach one here in the post and reply again next post and attach another one :)

[Creative]

And the other piccy :)

[eva2000]

ah so that's what you mean by other toys ;)