[S.O.A.D.A.]

Evening,

This happened on a computer of a client of mine.

I was cleaning the computer and decided to remove the heatsink+CPU fan block from the motherboard. It is a very easy setup, with two levers on the fan that, when lifted, loosen the arms that are latched to 4 plastic thingies that are part of the dock that is connected to the mobo. After lifting the levers you can remove the arms and take out the heatsink and the fan that sits on top of it. I did everything correctly, but still, one of the plastic thingies broke when I was lifting the lever, so the entire dock needed to be replaced as a result (I guess the extreme heat generated by the poorly ventilated processor weakened the plastic, rendering it extremely fragile....). But I am not sure how it can be removed. It seems there is no way to remove it without ruining it completely (like, maybe, drilling through the heads of the four plastic pins that hold it tightly to the board).

It's an ASUS boars, model: P4S800D, SiS 964.

I'd be very grateful if anybody could give me some advice on the matter.
I have purchased a new dock to replace the old, damaged one, BTW.

SOADA

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On the vast majority of boards these plastic holders are removable by simply popping out the clips as they appear on the underside of the board. They're rarely screwed in.

[Neil Jones]

On the vast majority of boards these plastic holders are removable by simply popping out the clips as they appear on the underside of the board. They're rarely screwed in.

[S.O.A.D.A.]

Not possible.

There are two plastic "arms" protruding from the each of the 4 holes in the motherboard (if you look at it from behind, of course). Between those plastic arms a sort of pin is wedged, a pin with a large round head. I tried pulling it from the front side of the mobo, I tried pulling and I tried pushing from the underside - no results. Bleedin' things won't budge.

[makai]

They do come out. You need to be careful and try harder. Those pins are very common throughout the industry and built something like this...

[attachment=35416:Pushpin.jpg]

[S.O.A.D.A.]

I appreciate the effort, man, but this looks nothing like the pins (or whatever you call them) I had to deal with.
'Had to deal with'. I've replaced it, and all is working splendidly fine!

Had to drill through the center of the heads (mobo topside) 'till the cap of the internal pin-thingy became detached from the rest of the pin, then pulled it out from the other side. The pinheads on the topside were designed in such a way that even if the pins could have been pulled out, there was really nothing to grab them by.... ah....

I've seen quite a few items of hardware that were either designed / built not to last long, or were designed to break easily. The very dock that had started up this topic is one example - why not build the 'thingies' from metal, if they are supposed to be under considerable pressure for years, and next to the hottest component in the computer? Or socket 775 for Intel, with those silly pins that go straight into the mobo..... WHY? The official device specs state that it cannot withstand more than 20 re-insertions..... What the...?

Had a little chat with a tech guy at a computer store today. Now, a friend of mine told me not so long ago that if you buy cheap hardware you end up paying more, but, that tech guy... he said it didn't really matter. That today all hardware is made at the same factory in China, and that nothing is meant to last for more than 3 years. That really freaked me out. I felt like someone has (metaphysically) dropped his feces on my head. If that is true, then no matter how much you pay for your hardware, in 3 years it will self destruct.....

I dunno. Makes me feel bad.

How truth do you think that statement carries? I'm interested in your opinions, if you feel like sharing.
: )

SOADA

[makai]

How truth do you think that statement carries?

With all the competition out there, manufactures would be shooting themselves in the foot if they built stuff that only lasted 3 years. Their name is on the line, and in business, your name means everything. You mess up and earn a bad reputation, and you're out of here! Look at what happened to ABIT. They used to be prime in the motherboard world. All it took for ABIT to crash was that they started using cheap components. Once the word got out, people started shying away from buying Abit, and this probably triggered their financial downfall.

I have old P2 boards that are working fine. In fact, I just stripped one of everything including the P2 Cartridge clamp. It's perfect. I also just recently built a new computer for my nephew, so he sent back the P4 system I built for him in 2003. I stripped everything and put it back together, including pulling the processor and reapplying AS5. It's clamp is also perfect and the system runs great! I've been dealing with hardware a long time, and I've never experienced any clamp system breaking, including north/south bridges. If anything, it's the stupid case fans that wear out. I'm not saying I haven't experienced system failures, as I have, but not for stuff like CPU clamps.

I would take that guy's statements with a large grain of salt! Not saying it can't be true, but it surely is hard to prove.

[S.O.A.D.A.]

It could be true in some cases (what percentage....), or in some areas more than in others.
Anyways..... we live and learn.
I'll keep reading about hardware and, of course, meeting it, battle-scarred, in the field.

Thanks for your input,

SOADA