Alert! Chipset heat sink not detected. System Halted.
November 6, 2008 by Jeremy Brock
Every few months I’ll see a computer come in with a loose chipset heat sink. Often it’s a slim dell such as the Dimension 4600C however I’ve also seen it on other motherboards. Luckily Dell has a self test that prevents further damage by halting the system and displaying the message "Alert! Chipset heat sink not detected. System Halted". The solder joint seems to fail from constant tension and heat. If you find the missing clip inside the computer you can solder it back in place and reattach the chipset heat sink wire hook. If you can’t find the clip you can replace it by bending a thin piece of wire in a half circle.
Instructions for Removing the 4600C System Board
I just reviewed the many posts about the Dell Dimension 4600C chipset failure and, I must say, that they were extremely helpful(after the fact). I, myself, had the very same problem occur last night (wouldn't boot), and, having spent a few hours troubleshooting it, found the source of the problem. There it was, one end of that z-rod metal jumper was hanging in mid-air! Obviously, HS1 jumper was missing from the motherboard (I couldn't find it), so I fabricated a makeshift jumper(a staple) to put back in its place. I pressed fit it in and it seems to have held without pulling back out. I had to ease the tension on the one end of the arm of the rod, so it wouldn't exert too much force again. So far, it's holding and I was able to successfully boot back up. While I was inside the computer, I noticed an unbelievable amount of dirt and dust that had built up, especially around the CPU's heat sink and the cooling fan mounted on top of it. I made sure it was blown out and, in retrospect, this might have been the reason for the jumper blow-out....too much heat! I have learned my lesson about that and will regularly get in there to blow out all the dust and crap. What a dumb design!
Anyway, thanks for the information you all experienced about this failure. It was a big help, not to mention very reassuring to see that my actions were what most of you had done.
Rich
I just handed it to my technician,he just solder it back and the result is my computer keep on shutting down and again re start and after that shutting down again.
Chipset heat sink is very important to keep the computer in good condition. Since, it is sensitive, I suggest to consult the expert to fix it.
I've seen this same problem before. The CPU fan or something else must have vibrated it loose. The one I fixed was a Dell also. The prompt on the bios screen was the only indication of what was wrong. Didn't have to solider anything though. It just clipped back into place.
I paid a local guy $30 to re-solder it, and now my computer is back in action!
DEFINITELY make sure that the person soldering it is familiar with soldering PCB's (printed circuit boards). This is a lot tougher than simple soldering.
Hi, thanks for such nice information. Your all posts are really informative and helps to repair or do something by yourself.
How do you get the wire hook back under the clip once it's soldered on? It almost seems like you have to solder it on AFTER you have the clip in place... this one has be scratching my head.
I think this is a stupid design. I've had this happen on two different computers now.
hi thanks for the advise on fixing the heatsink, it was simple when I knew what to look for, but now I have another problem, I fixed that and no when i boot the pc the monitor go's into some kind of safe mode, it beeps about six times and then the screen gives me the blank view, any idea's its a dell 4600c
Memory is loose