Recently the chipset fan on my Asus a8n-sli Deluxe went out and I replaced it with a Thermaltake Extreme Spirit II Northbridge cooler W/AS5. After I re-mounted the MB and rehooked up all the cords I started to get random blue screens and freezing, especially when the CPU was active for over a minute. Thinking it was overheating, I set a boxfan full-blast onto the open case, to no avail. Since then I've been updating every driver I can think of (MB, GPU, SC, IDE, ect.) and have been closely monitoring temps with both fan controller probes and Asus PC probe and all my temps are WAY below threshold (MB-29 C, CPU-30 C, GPU-50 C). There is only two things I can think of at this point, my 12v line hovers @ 11.90 (but all the other voltages are spot on) AND when I was reconnecting my cords, I mixed up the cord for the 12v MB connection with the PCI-E power cord the first time I powered it up and eventually froze (I'm not that well versed in this, so for all I know that shorted something out). Well, I'm still getting blue screens and lockups and I'm plumb outta ideas at this point. I can't even run CHKDSK without the thing locking up on me. Here are my comps stats and thanks to anyone who has any suggestions.
Me thinks you fried the northbridge... When you cleaned it prior to applying your new heatsink, did you notive any bubbling under the plastic cover of the chip package? Was it a bit 'lumpy'?
Uh-oh, now that you mention it, it did seem quite uneven, and had me a bit concerned. I never had to replace a chipset fan so I thought nothing of it. So it looks like I fried it then.
Well, since this joke of a motherboard (I've had coutless issues with the thing, along with most everyone else) is officially fried...I suppose I have one "newb" question remaining: The only way to replace the motherboard without having to buy a new OS is to purchace the excact same model, correct? I know that XP becomes hardlocked to a specific motherboard, but I'm not sure how specific it is (like could I buy another nforce4 board, or does it have to be the same flawed model?). I'd like to avoid buying a new OS, especially since Vista is just around the corner.
No XP isn't "locked" to hardware. You have a certain amount/level of upgrades that you can do without having to call. swapping the MB is one of the levels that you *have* to call about as Bill assumes you put the HD into a different machine which, in effect, you have done. I've had to call them 3 times in a month over the same machine, (and many, many other times). After a while they must code you differently or something because once they've got it figured out that you're just a geek they quit putting you through the 20 questions.
Yeah, MS should be able to allow you to activate it without a problem. I agree that you probably fried your northbridge, or fried something on your mobo. Your best bet would be to try things on a new mobo and see what happens.
I haven't transfered an OS from one sys to another since I usually buy complete systems than upgrade parts at a time... so I'm not sure how hard it will be, but then again, I have student discount. 5 bucks for a copy of XP pro, which means I really don't care to what happens to my version.
It's a damn shame that I have to buy a whole new motherboard cause of a cheap little fan failure, but I say good riddance to this thing and it's poor drivers!
Now, just to find a motherboard with no moving parts and good drivers...
