Abit IS7 mobo NB fan

[Slava]

I’ve seen something like that posted a few months back (I think on Newegg customer review of this mobo. Someone was complaining that the Northbridge fan died a couple of months after the mobo was first installed. I've had this mobo for about 3 months now and I wonder if my NB fan is dying.

Well, my NB fan sometimes starts making a whining noise and the RPM drops from its normal 5600 +/- 100 RPM to like 3600. If I momentarily stop the fan with my finger and then let it go, it returns to normal operation and RPM. Other times it can go steady at 5600 RPM for hours, even days without making any noise. The noise is most pronounced when I first turn the PC on but the noise is not always present during star-up.

I thought that maybe there was some dust or a hair getting in the way because when I first built the system I kept it open for a couple of weeks. But I am pretty sure that the fan is clean because I thoroughly cleaned everything before closing the case then and I just blew all the dust and stuff clean again with compressed air.

What can I do to be sure if it is dying or not? Is this fan really necessary on this board? If it dies, am I going to have a big problem? That fan is attached to a decent size heat sink mounted on the NB chip after all and I have 3 exhaust + 3 intake fans in the case that should provide a decent air flow over the NB heat sink and other components.

<font color=green>"The creative powers of English morphology are pathetic compared to what we find in other languages." (Steven Pinker, The Language Instinct)</font color=green>

 

[jammydodger]

If your from the UK I will happily send you the northbridge fan from my AI7 (it has the same northbridge fan as your board)...i just killed it

 

[Slava]

Thanks ) but I am in the USA... Do you think it is dying ... or maybe I should take it off and clean it more thoroughly? Oil it maybe or something?

<font color=green>"The creative powers of English morphology are pathetic compared to what we find in other languages." (Steven Pinker, The Language Instinct)</font color=green> <P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Slava on 03/05/05 04:05 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[jammydodger]

Lol, ah well. Have you enabled the fan temperature controll in BIOS? It could be throttling back when the northbridge is cool?

 

[markgun]

All of Abit's fans are prone to die! My NF7-S's fan did the same thing. SO, I sent Abit an email and they promptly shipped me a new fan on the same day (they obviously they know their fans suck). Haha, but they sent me the HSF for the IS7!

I ended up getting a Vantec HSF because I didn't want to hassle them again. But they'll send you a new fan (hopefully a revised model) without any hassle, should you go that route.

 

[pauldh]

Let me ask you what you would use to mount a Socket 7 heatsink to a radeon 8500le? I want to make one passive, and am itching to break out the dremel. But there are no mount holes in the 8500le. So it's drill through the PCB or use an thermal adhesive/epoxy. I don't care if it is a permanent mount, as long as it does a decent job of cooling the 8500le core at stock speeds I have no desire to remove it again. Arctic alumina adhesive or Artic Silver adhesive strong enough?


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[russell]

Apparently Abit is having issues with their chip set fans. I was just on their web site and resellers can order replacement fans at no cost except $6 shipping. You may want to talk to the retailer that you bought the board from and see if they will supply you with a replacement fan.

Buy ABIT parts directly from ABIT from the comfort of your computer.

ABIT parts come at no charge to you - all you pay is shipping and handling!
$6.00 for handling charge of each item

!#&$ <font color=blue> </font color=blue>---<font color=red><i><b>It's not heavy,...it's my computer</font color=red></i></b>

 

[Slava]

Thanks, guys. Abit sux

<font color=green>"The creative powers of English morphology are pathetic compared to what we find in other languages." (Steven Pinker, The Language Instinct)</font color=green>

 

[ChipDeath]

I used AS Alumina Epoxy to stick an old aluminium Socket A HS on my 8RDA+ northbridge. Worked fine for something like a year, before the board died.

It wasn't a huge HS, but I think it used to cool my old 800Mhz t-bird.

I don't think you'll have any problems with a similar sized HS on a GPU.

---
A64 3200+ Winchester @ 250x10= ~2.5Ghz, ~1.41 Vcore
1Gb @ 209Mhz, 2T, 3-5-5-10
Voltmodded Sapphire 9800Pro @ 450/350 w/ modded VGA silencer 3.

 

[russell]

Thanks, guys. Abit sux

I spent quite a bit of time recently researching Abit. They have had some issues ie. class action law suite lost due to bad capacitors on their boards and the fan issues, however they are trying to resolve the problems.
If you will contact Abit I am sure that you can get a new fan for $6 handling plus $5 postage. The information is <A HREF="http://www.abit-usa.com/abitparts/" target="_new">HERE</A>.

!#&$ <font color=blue> </font color=blue>---<font color=red><i><b>It's not heavy,...it's my computer</font color=red></i></b>

 

[markgun]

I spent quite a bit of time recently researching Abit. They have had some issues ie. class action law suite lost due to bad capacitors on their boards and the fan issues, however they are trying to resolve the problems.
If you will contact Abit I am sure that you can get a new fan for $6 handling plus $5 postage. The information is HERE.

They sent me my new HSF for FREE (no shipping/handling charges). Maybe they've gotten cheap, but I'd try contacting them directly first. He shouldn't have to pay $11 for a fan that shouldn't have failed in the first place!

 

[pauldh]

Thanks, I didn't think of that. You wouldn't use the plastics zips with just AS5 would you? Seems like that could still slip and slide alittle. Combining them with Artic Silver adhesive sounds like a plan.




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[russell]

They sent me my new HSF for FREE (no shipping/handling charges).

That's great, I didn't know if they would do that without going through hoops or not. I'm glad that that was the case. I got the feeling that they were doing everything possible to reconcile.

!#&$ <font color=blue> </font color=blue>---<font color=red><i><b>It's not heavy,...it's my computer</font color=red></i></b>

 

[Rugger]

That's great, I didn't know if they would do that without going through hoops or not. I'm glad that that was the case. I got the feeling that they were doing everything possible to reconcile.

Every company has the potential to receive faulty parts that won't necessarily be identified as such prior to shipping. Ther eal test of a company is how they react when the defective parts are identified. I think that Abit is/has been going above and beyond the industry norm in supporting their customers - Cheers to a great company!

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[Slava]

Hehe. Well, I just emailed their tech support. Let's see if they send me a new and improved HSF for my IS7 for free... If they do, I will edit my previous post saying that Abit sux

<font color=green>"The creative powers of English morphology are pathetic compared to what we find in other languages." (Steven Pinker, The Language Instinct)</font color=green>

 

[Rugger]

Best of luck in fixing this prob!

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[Slava]

On Saturday (I think) I emailed both Newegg (the board vendor) and Abit. No response from either so far. Any recommendations for a 3rd party NB cooling solution that will work for Abit IS7 please?

Thanks.

<font color=green>"The creative powers of English morphology are pathetic compared to what we find in other languages." (Steven Pinker, The Language Instinct)</font color=green>

 

[jammydodger]

The IS7 is difficult because it has no mounting holes, only mounting hooks. You might have to glue a 3rd party heatsink, either that or use cable ties.