[Tfug] m board

[Jim March]

On Fri, May 16, 2008 at 7:39 PM, <arizray at comcast.net> wrote:

> I have a Dell Dimension 4400 with a motherboard that is probably defective.
> It displays a error when booting that states that the processor fan was not
> detected. I have Ubuntu Hardy Heron on it and it has been working ok until
> shortly after the upgrade to Hardy. I'm told that it is not related to the
> os.
>
> Can anyone recommend a replacement P4 board for it?
>
> Any help is appreciated.
>

First, yeah, I would agree this isn't OS related...it's failing long before
an operating system boots.

If you're lucky it's just a blown-up fan and you can swap that.  Crack the
case, turn it on, if the CPU fan doesn't spin the BIOS will note that and
shut down to prevent further damage.  You should be able to see the fan
either spin or not.

If it's failed, swapping to an aftermarket CPU cooler for your motherboard
will include a new fan - usually the cooler (heat sink) assembly and fan
have to be swapped together.

So you'll need a new cooler unit and some heat sink paste (thermal grease).
Both *should* be available at SWS on Speedway for less than $40.  They'll
probably swap the stuff for low cost, otherwise it's possible to do it
yourself.

Declare the motherboard toast only if the fan IS still spinning at a healthy
speed.

If you end up needing to swap the fan/cooler assembly yourself, write back
and we'll walk you through it.

If the mobo is tits up then if it were me, I'd pull it out and take it to
SWS to physically size up a replacement.  You might end up needing a new
video card too if the old video card is on a slot type such as AGP that
isn't well supported anymore, or if your original video card was built into
the mobo.  Either way, if you're at all into 3D gaming, this is a good
excuse to upgrade to NVidia 7000+ series graphics :).

Jim
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