HeatSink Clip Fix

[Mortis]

Greetings... I put this here in Mods because it is a Mod as well as a Fix. Hope this is helpful to anyone else that has it happen. I sent a Computer via UPS East. It was pretty much assembled and I packed it Very thoroughly. I was worried about the heavy Volcanoe 6cu on the CPU but thought I had packed it securely enough. Well, sure enough- I didnt. It came off Breaking the Tab that it secures to. My Brother, who was the receiver phoned when it arrived to inform me. Now, I took a lot of extra time in packing this thing and when I found out- I was sickened, stressed and felt like I had wasted money. He tried to assure me that he could fix it, that he had done it before and told me to relax and not too worry. I wanted to do as he said- but thought it hosed. He emailed me these pics this morning and told me that he booted it and all was Good!

I hadnt thought of doing this and have never heard of it until he told me about it. What was I worried about? HeHe. It works great- its probably more stable than it was before.

Mortis

[Mortis]

And a CloseUp...

[smokin]

Cool
So he put a small diameter rod under the retainers that were still there and attached the HS clip?
..very ingenious
:D

[fosin]

Smart guy.

Where's the punchline :D. How'd he make it? What is it made out of?

[Mortis]

I am Completely sure what he used... but looking at it closely, it looks like an allen wrench. That would be strong enough and the sizes vary...

Mortis

[Sirhc]

Mortis is correct.

I picked up a cheap allen wrench and cut the end off, the hex shape held nicely under the retainers and does not slip. I used small 16g steel wire to attach to the retaining bracket.

[NDC]

All I can say is you should start a thread in the "Tips & Tricks" forum and put a thorough explanation of how this was done... This may be a real life saver for some people! Very smart method I must say! :)

[Mntsnow]

Excellent use and revival of a mobo!

[Thud]

Most excellent fix! I'd probably never thought of it. I would've probably just cut my losses and sprung for a HSF that uses all three tabs. :rolleyes:

This is one of those threads that'll come in handy for future reference, as this question comes up occaisonally. :)

[Axel]

COOL!!! -

[gjimene2]

awsome, :)

[BBA]

That is a great idea.

This is also the reason they started shipping heatsink clips that engage all three tangs to eliminate the broken center clip issue.

The volcano I gave to Socal had one of those on it.

[Xeroid]

I just got a new Vantec and it uses all 3 tabs. 3 tabs would be better when you have to ship an item. I know how poorly packages are handled because a friend used to work for a major shipper that most online retailers use.

I like the p4 clips better even though I prefer AMD. I did some work on my cousins Dell and was impressed with the clip arangement.

Mike :) ( kewl fix mortis! )

[MDS]

nice save :) and nice work

[NDC]

Would you mind posting the instructions on how it was done step by step? If you don't have the and with your permission, I could do it too. :)

[Gun]

I Have this same issue...Would it be possible to replace the existing single tab clip with a three tab clip? If so, where the heck can you find em'.
Also, what exactly was used,and how, to attach the allen wrench to the exististing single clip? 16 guage wire....how?
Thanks