sata port failure on HP motherboard

[root]

The sata ports on a 10 year old HP IPIEL-LA3 fail.
The machine has been acting a server for several years
and the sata ports fail a short time after power up.

My question is whether that failure could be due
to a failure of the heat sink function of a
chip.

There is a small heat sink near the sata connections
on the MB. This heat sink is held in contact with
the underlying chip by a Z shaped spring that is
held down to the MB by two inverted U shaped loops
soldered to the MB. The heat sink is finned
aluminum about 1.3 inches on a side and .4 inches
high.

Could a breakdown of the thermal contact between
an old heat sink and the chip cause overheating
of the chip.

If so, how do I release the Z spring from the
U shaped mounts? I have tried bending one end
with long nosed pliers but I run the risk
of slipping off and breaking stuff on the MB.

Thanks for any info.

[Jon Elson]

On Tue, 28 Aug 2018 15:39:31 +0000, root wrote:

> The sata ports on a 10 year old HP IPIEL-LA3 fail. The machine has been
> acting a server for several years and the sata ports fail a short time
> after power up.
>
> My question is whether that failure could be due to a failure of the
> heat sink function of a chip.
>
> There is a small heat sink near the sata connections on the MB. This
> heat sink is held in contact with the underlying chip by a Z shaped
> spring that is held down to the MB by two inverted U shaped loops
> soldered to the MB. The heat sink is finned aluminum about 1.3 inches
> on a side and .4 inches high.
>
> Could a breakdown of the thermal contact between an old heat sink and
> the chip cause overheating of the chip.

If they work right at power up and then fail, that really DOES sound like
overheating. Yes, the thermal conductive stuff could dry out or lose
good thermal contact. The springy hold down should be fairly easy to
unhook, just play with it a bit. They should be able to be unhooked by
hand, you should not need tools.

Jon

[John-Del]

Before you attempt to remove anything, make sure that's where your problem is. If you can pin down the time it takes for the port to fail and it's repeatable, then keep the chip in question cool with some freeze spray (or canned duster turned upside down). You don't have to keep a frost on it just keep it from getting really hot. If the time before failure extends (or stops failing) with the chip in question cooler, then yes, you could be experiencing thermal failure.

[jurb...@gmail.com]

With any OS XP or later you have to stick with the same model board, and that is even more true if it has an OEM version of Windows.

I quick Google finds replacements used of refurb of course from abut $ 30 to 60.

yeah good old 98 you could migrate, I know how. even the local PC store didn't know how, they are out of business. They were trying to sell a PC that I figure they just threw a loaded HD in, can't do that. Need to go to safe mode and start deleting all the system devices, then on reboot windows gets the drivers for the chipset out of its cabs. They didn't do that and the thing popped up with OE and all kinds of blue screens. Needless to say I didn't buy it, I doubt they would have taken ten bucks for it back then.

To migrate XP or later you have to have a disk, and if you want to keep all your shit, let the disk install, but into a directory you make, like Windows2 or whatever. Then copy \system, \system32 and all that into the new OS' directory and when it asks to replace existing files you go "No to all".

But with the same model board you don't have to do any of that - usually. Might have to anyway with certain OSes, I haven't done this to all of them as of yet.

Maybe it'll work if you don't find a heat sink problem. And if you do it is more likely in the chip, not the goop. It becomes a cement that is quite thermally conductive and does not have a tendency to crack until you break it off. If it is in the chip you might get away with putting a fan right on it.

[Ralph Mowery]

In article <5864282a-16b7-41d4...@googlegroups.com>,
jurb...@gmail.com says...

>
> With any OS XP or later you have to stick with the same model board, and that is even more true if it has an OEM version of Windows.
>

With Windows now one might as well just chunk the whole thing, install
the programs and hope you can load in the data files for the programs
off the old hard dirve , or saved backups.

[Mike S]

How about a card that goes in an available slot?

https://www.amazon.com/Vantec-6-Port-SATA-Host-Card/dp/B002PX9BX2

[root]

Mike S <ms...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> On 8/29/2018 2:59 PM, Ralph Mowery wrote:
>> In article <5864282a-16b7-41d4...@googlegroups.com>,
>> jurb...@gmail.com says...
>>>
>

> How about a card that goes in an available slot?
>
> https://www.amazon.com/Vantec-6-Port-SATA-Host-Card/dp/B002PX9BX2

I made that suggestion to the owner of the MB. She declined because
she thought the MB was no longer reliable.
>

[root]

jurb...@gmail.com <jurb...@gmail.com> wrote:
> With any OS XP or later you have to stick with the same model board, and that is even more true if it has an OEM version of Windows.
>
> I quick Google finds replacements used of refurb of course from abut $ 30 to 60.
>
> yeah good old 98 you could migrate, I know how. even the local PC store didn't know how, they are out of business. They were trying to sell a PC that I figure they just threw a loaded HD in, can't do that. Need to go to safe mode and start deleting all the system devices, then on reboot windows gets the drivers for the chipset out of its cabs. They didn't do that and the thing popped up with OE and all kinds of blue screens. Needless to say I didn't buy it, I doubt they would have taken ten bucks for it back then.
>
> To migrate XP or later you have to have a disk, and if you want to keep all your shit, let the disk install, but into a directory you make, like Windows2 or whatever. Then copy \system, \system32 and all that into the new OS' directory and when it asks to replace existing files you go "No to all".
>
> But with the same model board you don't have to do any of that - usually. Might have to anyway with certain OSes, I haven't done this to all of them as of yet.
>

The system had been running linux for the past several years.

[Mike S]

If she's willing to spend the money on a reliable system then that is a
reasonable position.

[tabb...@gmail.com]

A card is good, but a grossly overheating chip does still in place not make for a reliable board. But it's a very cheap option that will likely work.


NT

[John-Del]

We don't know that it's overheating. It could be running at the right temp but still failing thermally.

[~misfit~]

Or you can get a PCIe - SATA card.....
--
Shaun.

"Humans will have advanced a long, long way when religious belief has a cozy
little classification in the DSM*."
David Melville (in r.a.s.f1)
(*Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders)