Fan on Motherboard going out

[ddeleaumont]

Hey all,

First off, pardon my ignorance about this question. I have a Biostar M7VKD Motherboard and I just recently had to replace the CPU Cooling fan.

Well, not two days later, this OTHER fan on my board started sputtering and sounds like it's grinding to a hault any day. I checked my documentation on my board and it looks like it's sitting on a chip that reads VT8363.

When I Googled this, it came up that it's the video chip for my ATI Video Card (8Meg AGP SVGA Card).

My first question is this, can I just get a new video card and disable this other one so I do not have to use this fan or is that fan a necessity, even if I have a new video card?

My last question is that if it IS indeed an necessity to have this fan, is it replaceable because it looks like a job and a half to get off!

Thanks,
Don

"If you want to make a difference, you have to be different. That's the deal."
-Kevn Kinney

 

[paparazi]

ddeleaumont
This is not the video card but the mainboards "Northbridge" chip
What you have is a KT133 chipset equipt motherboard whoose northbridge has an "active" fan type cooler.
Many KT133 implementations only had passive heatsink coolers on the northbridge (no fan) but the heatsink was of a larger size to compensate.
These fans are particularly unreliable so for yours to make a noise isn't rare.
Usually you can make a resonable repair by removing the four screws, cleaning and then lubing fron the rear.
Peel back the round sticker on the reverse of the fan to expose the shaft, apply two drops of 3in1 type fine oil, work free and re-assemble (try not to get any oil on the sticker) don't overtighten the screws.
This maintenance will last for several months but you may find yourself having to do this routinely.
Alternately you could replace this heatsink/fan assembly with a larger passive heatsink off an old board or replacing it with one of the many after market chipset coolers available from people like Zalmon and Thermaltake.
see examples:

http://www.overclockers.com.au/techstuff/r_gpu_cool/

Martin


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[Smar969905]

You have me confused here. You started saying the fan is on your mobo, then go on to say it is on the video card. Is it a fan on the motherboard or a fan on the video card?

If it is the mobo fan, those are easily replaceable. Remove the entire heat sync and fan unit from the mobo, and most modern fans on heat syncs are kept on with either clips that are easily pried off with a small flathead screwdriver, or by screws, mostly phillips, so it comes off, put a new fan on and clip or screw it back in place, put the heat sync/fan unit back on the processor, and you are good to go.

If it is the video card, replace the whole video card, because an 8 MB card is virtually worthless, and a 64 MB card isn't that expensive. It would also be easier to just replace the entire card that it would to try to replace a fan on a current card.

Buen suerte,

Smar969905