Broken fan mount. Is there any hope?

[Loafing]

It seems while I was off to work the CPU fan mount on my Gigabyte GA-K8N Pro had one of its clips break off. Of course the fan will no longer mount properly, even though it is in perfect shape. The little plastic square it mounts onto however, is quite finished.

Does anyone know if these are replaceable? I went to put in an email to Gigabyte but got a system maintenance msg, so I thought I would see if any of you may know while I wait. I was hoping to get out of this as cheap as possible, and the last thing I want to do is buy a new motherboard :?

I considered trying to glue the clip back onto the mount, but I doubt any adhesive will hold strong enough to clip the fan back on. Any suggestions or information would be fantastic

 

[Onus]

An aftermarket cooler typically mounts to the mobo using the standard screw holes now holding your [broken] clip in place; it doesn't need the clip itself. So, "as cheap as possible" might mean buying a $30 cooler which will likely be quieter and better than stock anyway.

 

[Loafing]

Thanks for the swift response!

I had hoped that if anything needed replacing it would just be the fan. I looked at the broken clip hoping to see a way to take it off and just replace it, and found no screws or anything. I guess you can only get to them by removing the motherboard? I will look at it some more and see what I can figure out. Thanks again for the advice.

 

[piratepast40]

The plastic holder is replaceable. I saw a few of them at PCClub a few weeks ago but don't know if they have them anymore. The screws go through the holder, through the motherboard and into a metal bracket on the back of the mobo. Like jtt283 said, if you have an aftermarket cooler, those usually just use the screws and you don't need the "ears" for the stock cooler clips. You need the backing plate as it has pims that the screws attach to.

 

[Loafing]

So in order to remove the broken clip, I will need to remove the motherboard? I'm not seeing a way to get at the screws from the top.

I have been looking at a few fans on Newegg, one Thermaltake fan in particular that seems solid, and not too expensive. But it says it clips on. I guess I will either need to find one that comes with a new seat, or one that uses the screws? This isnt an area I have much practice with, feeling kinda lost hehe.

 

[piratepast40]

No - you don't need to remove the motherboard. The metal bracket stays in place when you remove the hold down screws. The aftermarket coolers that are screw on, use longer screws to replace the ones that hold the current plastic piece inplace (some also use springs to supply tension).

You should see 2 screws in the center on the plastic holder (between the clip "ears").

 

[Loafing]

I do see the two spots where screws would be, but they seem to be enclosed with a plastic cap or some such. A little prodding has shown them to be pretty sturdy, and show no sign of coming off in any way. Due to this I was confused as to the direction the screw actually ran. Thank you for the clarification.

I have looked at several different cooling fans, but the ones that seem to be from a company I have heard of and a price that seems reasonable appear to use a clip system rather than screws. I do have my eye on one that uses three clips per side as opposed to the single clip that my stock fan used. This would give it two clips on the weak side (minus the broken one in the middle) and then all three clips on the opposite. Does this seem a safe alternative? Thanks again for all the advice and suggestions.

 

[o1die]

I would search the fan speciality stores for the bracket. Computer geeks charges $2.25 plus shipping, but they're out of stock. I would not run it with a broken bracket. Your heatsink must make good contact to keep temps low. You will have to remove the board, whether you replace the bracket or get an aftermarket heatsink.

 

[piratepast40]

I guess different boards are built differently. I have an ASUS that has a metal backing plate on the bottom of the mobo that stays in place. I just looked at a Foxconn board and it has screws and nuts so that board would need to be removed to reattach the backing plate.

Sorry if I spoke too soon about the backing plate. I made the assumption they were all the same - my mistake

 

[pat]

It seems while I was off to work the CPU fan mount on my Gigabyte GA-K8N Pro had one of its clips break off. Of course the fan will no longer mount properly, even though it is in perfect shape. The little plastic square it mounts onto however, is quite finished.

Does anyone know if these are replaceable? I went to put in an email to Gigabyte but got a system maintenance msg, so I thought I would see if any of you may know while I wait. I was hoping to get out of this as cheap as possible, and the last thing I want to do is buy a new motherboard :?

I considered trying to glue the clip back onto the mount, but I doubt any adhesive will hold strong enough to clip the fan back on. Any suggestions or information would be fantastic

if you dont see any sign of overheating, then don't mess with that. The thermal compound will hold it in place. If you plan to remove it, just be certain to pull straigth up (well, if your case lay on its side..) because the thermal compound will likely make the CPU to get out of its socket (yes, it is that much glued to the heat sink) and pulling straight will avoid pins bending.

 

[sobelizard]

Any chance you can take a pic and post a link?