Fan issue

[tomcraig]

Ok so I'm having some trouble deciding what fan I should get for my project. I have a Mini-ITX motherboard with an integrated CPU. However when I first plugged in the PSU the other day, nothing happened. I tried putting a second CPU in to see what would happen, and then it did power on and beeped, but then shut off again saying there was a CPU fan error. I was under the impression I wouldn't need a fan for the project, but obviously I do. I have one fan but although it has 3 connections like the mobo, it came from a laptop so the connector is too small. Could anyone tell me what kind of fan I will need, or if there's a way to boot using the other CPU instead? Thanks.

[DrkSide]

What kind of board is it and what processor are you using in it?

The only boards that support passive cooling are normally the intel atom or VIA boards. If you have one with a socket I would guess it would be a socket 775, 1156, AM2+, or AM3. With any of these boards you will need a fan plugged into the cpu for cooling. What cooler are you using with the build?

[tomcraig]

It's a Mini-ITX HP board (http://tinyurl.com/4ov2tk2). My processor is an Intel Core Duo T2500 2GHz. Don't know what kind of cooler yet, that's part of my problem :/

[DrkSide]

If you are trying to run without any cooler DON'T. You can burn up your processor very easily.

Also, almost all processors will require some form of active cooling. This specific one is a laptop processor and even it will require active cooling when using most coolers. As for the fan issue OEM computers have a bios (I think) trigger that requires a fan on the cpu header. This is so it does not burn up the cpu in case the fan fails, since it is alot easier to replace a fan than a cpu.

[Lothair]

The only motherboards I know of that have integrated processors are the Atom boards, and I don't think I've ever seen one with a 479m socket type for a corresponding processor. This would explain why nothing happened without a processor yet something did happen once one was placed in.

Even Atom processors need cooling and the one you're using will definitely need a heatsink with at least some airflow, thus you will need a fan.

However I don't know of any socket 479m coolers. Do you have a heatsink for the processor you installed? If so, then all you will need is some sort of fan for airflow to remove the heat surrounding the heatsink, otherwise it's likely you'll over-heat the processor.

[tomcraig]

I do not have a heat sink for the CPU. But there already was a heat sink on the board and that lead me to assume it had a integrated CPU. Is there any specific kind of fan I should get?

[mDust]

I do not have a heat sink for the CPU. But there already was a heat sink on the board and that lead me to assume it had a integrated CPU. Is there any specific kind of fan I should get?

You need a 479 cpu heat sink with a fan. You can get them here:
http://www.performance-pcs.com/catal...ain_page=index
...or anywhere else. Search for '479 cooler' in google or your preferred computer hardware store.

[Lothair]

I do not have a heat sink for the CPU. But there already was a heat sink on the board and that lead me to assume it had a integrated CPU. Is there any specific kind of fan I should get?

That would be the North Bridge. The one without a heatsink would be the South Bridge, although some boards have heatsinks on both of them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northbr...28computing%29

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southbr...28computing%29

You cannot run the PC without a heatsink on your processor, which is Socket 479, so you will need a heatsink that says it's compatible with Socket 479. I'm not sure what the difference between Socket 479 and Socket 479m is, though. So buy at your own risk. If I had to guess though, any Socket 479 heatsink should work. That's just a guess, however.

If you don't use a heatsink, the processor will either burn up (literally) or your computer will hopefully detect that there are heating issues on the processor and won't turn on, which looks to be the case right now.

If you have any other questions, don't hesitate to ask!

[Lothair]

I'm looking at the board you linked to earlier, and I cannot for the life of me figure out how you would attach a heatsink? There's no holes or clips or anything? Perhaps someone can explain how this would work, apparently I'm not too familiar with older style boards like this one.

[mDust]

I'm not sure what the difference between Socket 479 and Socket 479m is, though. So buy at your own risk. If I had to guess though, any Socket 479 heatsink should work.

The official naming of this socket by Intel is mPGA479M. That's where the 'm' comes from. There is no difference between 479 and 479m.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socket_479

Socket 478/479 heat sinks clip onto the socket instead of bolting to the board...so no worries there.