This morning i was on world of warcraft, and in the middle of the game i hear a loud click from inside my computer, i immediatly shut off the system, and when i opened it up the top clasp that held on my processer fan had broken off, and the plastic part it clips to had broken so i couldent reattach it. when attempting to restart the system, it turns on for a few seconds and shuts off. can anyone explain this please? sorry for the lack of information, i dont know too much about what happend.

a new fan or a new attachment. i wouldnt try running the system with it broken like that. it only takes a few seconds to overheat a processor without any cooling devices and then your really in bad shape.

ok, well is the system not starting because the fan is broken? because when i start it up, the fan goes, but the cpu shuts off. what could be causing the shutdowns?

is the fan still attached somehow? your bios might have a feature that detects if the fan is malfunctioning and if it is, it probably has a safety feature to shut your system down so you dont overheat

yah its still attached by the bottem bracket. so best bet to get a new fan?

id do it...for safety sake. i dont see your system specs, so i cant tell what all you've got "under the hood," but id say you'd want to protect your investment. just my thoughts.

Did your heatsink come detached from your CPU? If so, you are shutting down from overheating. Once you break that seal between your CPU and heatsink, it has to be re-seated. You are at risk of permanent damage to your CPU everytime you try and turn it on.

Where is the clip break? Is it the heatsink clip that broke or is it the clip on the motherboard? Hopefully just the heatsink, as that is easily replaced. But if it is your motherboard that has broken.... ouch. Warranty?

Or.... did the fan come off of the heatsink only? (as opposed to the heatsink coming off the CPU).

its still attached but both clips are not connected, olny the bottom one, ok so how would i know if i overheated my processer? would the comp even turn on for that second if it was burnt out? i'm not sure if the fan came off the heatsink or if it came off the cpu, how would i telll?

well, from experience with an amd...youll hear it start up, then smell a "funny burning smell" then, nothing but a fan noise. now i m not saying youve already done this. D'OH i forgot the cooling fan. lucky it was a friends computer hehe.

ok well i havent smelt anthing wierd yet and the cpu still sounds the same when it boots up, just as if it was going to boot up, so its not just the fan. thats good to know. ty

oh i forgot to ask...when you opened the case up was the fan hanging off or was it still attached. if it was still attached you should be ok.

man dont you dare to run the system without any heatsink coolage.. the CPU could turn neurotic... run kill frenzy, and cause a massacre in your appartment.

seriously noparking1307 there are so many ways a cpu can break without it even being your own fault so why risk anything? you should really listen to Surkitz.

still attached. the fan still works fine, u think my cpu just has a safety setting on that shuts off the comp when the fan isent attached properlly?

might be. lets hope so for safety sake. not sure what bios you're running and what features it has but first things first. get the fan clip thing fixed somehow

OK, this probably doesn't look exactly like yours, but it'll be something like this.

Where did the break happen? In the pic above, did the black fan come off the silver heatsink? Or did the heatsink (grey part) come undone from the motherboard?

If it is the grey part that has come undone, we need to know what is broken. A part on the heatsink, or a part on the motherboard (holding the heatsink).

[IMG][/IMG]

this is what broke, its a plasic part that skrews onto the processer and holds the fan with 2 metal clasps which u can see on the left hand side, the thing im pointing to is the part that broke, i found that if i turn on the computer while pushing down on the side that is not clasped down, the computer starts fine, so im thinking im just gonna have to get a new plastic thingy am i correct?

Unfortunately, I can't see the graphic you uploaded. Sounds like angelfire doesn't like you taking up their bandwidth

But it sounds to me from your description that it is the heatsink. As long as the motherboard clip is fine, you should be able to attach a new heatsink on the CPU. Make sure the heatsink has either a thermal pad or some thermal paste before you attach (and only a very small amount).

But I would stop using your computer in the meantime, or you are at risk of permanent damage.

I just saw that picture now

link is http://www.angelfire.com/wizard2/music10/DSC00275.JPG (others can cut and paste this url into your browser to view )

Hard to see, but it looks like it is the heatsink that broke. Are you sure that the part that the heatsink ATTACHES to (the motherboard) is intact?

Also, what socket type is your motherboard? We can suggest a new one for you based on that info.