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 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