[MikeMason]

The little plastic bracket which holds the heatsink onto the CPU has broken. I'm not entirely sure what it's called. I've looked every where but can't find a replacement.

My motherboard is an AsRock N61P-S. Could someone point me in the right direction of getting a replacement?

Any help is much appreciated, thanks.

Edited by MikeMason, 09 August 2012 - 08:21 AM.

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Is your MB the AM2+ type CPU socket?
If so heatsink & cooling fan http://www.amazon.co...4345359&sr=1-17

[phillpower2]

Is your MB the AM2+ type CPU socket?
If so heatsink & cooling fan http://www.amazon.co...4345359&sr=1-17

[MikeMason]

Thank you very much for the reply. Is it a AM2+ socket. I've now bought the bracket I need from ebay.

[phillpower2]

You are welcome

Was it the correct item that I suggested or the retention bracket itself that you required http://www.ebay.co.u...7#ht_500wt_1156

[MikeMason]

It was just the retention bracket. Coincidence that the ebay auction you posted is the actuall auction I bought the retention bracket from! I could have bought one from China but it will take at least 10 days to get here.

My computer made a crack noise. Which I guess was the retention bracket and about 2 minutes later it shut off. When I opened the computer I noticed the heatsink was hanging down off the CPU. Where the heatsink clips onto the retention bracket, one of the little plastic lugs has broken off.

I'm hoping once the heatsink is connected back to the CPU. That the computer will work and that it's not caused some other damage!

Thanks again buddy.

Edited by MikeMason, 07 August 2012 - 10:35 AM.

[phillpower2]

Thanks for the follow up

I too hope that you only need to do a straight swap.
Do you have thermal paste or a thermal pad to replace the existing application.

You are welcome BTW

[MikeMason]

Yeah, I bought two tubes a long time ago. I have one unused tube of Stars-612 copper thermal compound grease. So I'm set to go. Just hoping it's a straight swap and that my CPU or other parts aren't damaged.

[phillpower2]

Good luck with it and please let us know how it works out or if you have any questions.

Worth a mention is the fact that the high temps generated by the CPU can over time cause the plastic to become brittle and sometimes to snap, this can but does not always cause other damage but due to most more modern MBs having thermal sensors the system will normally shutdown to protect/prevent the CPU from frying, if however the heatsink falls onto the MB it can cause a short circuit, hopefully this will not be the case here.

[MikeMason]

I've built two computers in the past and fixed a bunch. So I'm not an expert but have more knowledge than the average person. I've had the computer a little over 3 years (posting this on my laptop). So you're probably right. The plastic going brittle because of the heat and the constant vibration of the heatsink fan caused it to snap.

Luckily the heatsink was still hanging on the retention bracket as the plastic lug on the right hand side was still connected to the metal clip.

Thanks again Phill and I'll give an update once I've done it. Fingers cross there are no other problems.

[phillpower2]

You are welcome Mike, good luck and hopefully your next reply will be on a repaired machine.

NB: Glad to hear the HS had not detached completely.

[MikeMason]

The retention bracket came today. It was the right one but unfortunately the plastic clips which attaches the retention bracket onto the motherboard were two small. The holes in my motherboard were about a 1/3rd bigger than the new clips.

I was worried about the clips before I bought it. So I did keep the broken retention bracket. I had to drill the new retention bracket holes to make them a little bit bigger. So I could fit my old plastic clips from my broken retention bracket into it. I did this and put my old clips into the new retention bracket and it fitted onto my motherboard like a glove.

I successfully put the computer back together and I've been using the computer for the last 2 hours with no problems at all.

Thought I'd better post an update incase someone else has this problem and they can see what I did to rectify it.

Thanks again Phil.

[phillpower2]

Glad to hear that you have resolved the issue and thanks for posting how it was achieved so that it may help others

You are welcome Mike