This is in relation to cooling for Abit northbridge HSF, specifically the IS7 and AI7 boards as i see a lot of forumers experiencing problems wif it. This tip may be useful for other fans that are similarly shaped and sized and probably other mainboards as well. The problems faced may be:

- Fan not operational
- Fan speed slowed down
- Fan producing some form of weird noise

The method is pretty simple:

1.) Switch off power supply to the PC and remove northbridge HSF.
2.) Clean off existing dust particles and residue on fans and heatsink.
3.) Use sewing machine oil and lubricate the spindle of the fan which is the centre part of the HSF. Be sure not to drip oil on the base of the heatsink as this would disturb thermal properties of ur thermal paste.
4.) Spin the fan a few times to ensure the oil gets into the centre and lubricates thoroughly.
5.) Leave HSF for a few mins to allow excess oil to escape from spindle.
6.) Clean off additional oil especially near the heatsink.
7.) Fix fan back onto northbridge and ur ready to go.

Additional notes: I did this to my northbridge HSF just weeks after buying it as it ceased to function already and the RPM shot up to 6000. Pretty impressive. Also, it's IMO to remove all the pink coloured paste at the bottom of the HSF and just put ur desired thermal paste on the base.



Credits to those who adviced me on this tip last time. Sorry, but i forgot ur forum nick coz it was a long time ago.

This post has been edited by leadaxer: Oct 12 2004, 09:46 PM

To add something where I'm using Nf7-s.
It not necessary to take off the whole NB HSF if u just want to clean the dust and add some lubricant oil.
Just unscrew the fan and u can take out the fan, it will save the hassle to dismantle all the component just to take off the NB hsf.

Just my 2 cents.

wont the oil get harden coz of the heat. Im using wd40 to oil my cassing fan and after about 2 weeks running 24/7 the fan started to freeze.

try not to use wd-40, its designed to be evoporated away, not really suitable for long time lubrication, although its handy, convinient and ...... whatever. use a heavier grade oil like singer oil. cheap,too. try it.

hm....
does cooking oil or other oil help instead of those sewing machine oil??
coz i dont have those oil

btw, i m using ic7, and the fan stuck sometime,
so i unplug the fan and leave the heatsink and the fan on the board....

just by adding those oil will do??

thanx

Cooking oil is er.. no advicable, just go get a sewing machine oil, costs only around RM1 each

i think bcos of the low quality fan they r using~

...need to ask something...i had remove the "abit" sticker from the fan but didnt c any hole to put oil.....where shd i put the oil?...thx

low quality fan???
but the rpm is quite high
mine can reach 6000rpm....
i think the oil is inserted from the base there rite?? the gap between the fan blade and the base is it??

yup. T & T brand. very lousy fan i can say. my fan died 4 month after 24/7 usage.

is it ok if u're not into overclocking stuff. there are ppls which running it without the fan. but for peace of mind just get a cheap 4cm fan and attach on top of the heatsink.

Regular maintenance and cleaning would probably prevent the problem from occuring but then it also depends on ur luck i guess. As for me, it happened 3 times and i'm contemplating to replace it.

Well, just use a lint-free cloth and clean off the dusts. If the heatsink is detachable from the fan and motors, u can even dunk it in water.

You can refer to this Dan's Data link:-

http://www.dansdata.com/fanmaint.htm

**This link is not working currently as the Dan's Data Server is down.

bcoz they r using low quality stuff. they should replace the sleeve bearing fan with a ball bearing fan. as u know sleeve bearing need to lubricant after usage for some time.

I found a great link for Abit motherboard user especially for i865/875 based motherboard:
http://forum.abit-usa.com/showthread.php?threadid=85452