help!! not sure what this is or if its a problem

hello everyone, i opened my moms pc case today and i heard somthing clanning around in the pc. So when i opended it up I found this piece off of the mobo just flying around in the pc. If i did this right it should show u the link of the pic which shows what part im talking about. what is this part and what does it do? i took it out of the case since i figured well it wasnt good to just be banging all around on the mobo. how do i fix this?? any help would be great thanx! http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n242/pimpstatus19/c00415371.jpg

 

the piece that im talkin about is circled in blue on the pic.

 

What's happened has it fallen off? That's a chipset heatsink which cools the separate co-processor that sends the commands to and from the processor via other devices, USB, CD-ROM, graphics etc. It being cooled properly is vital. if that's come off it needs re-attaching!

 

yea it fell off completly. so it is a important piece? if it is how do i put it back on there??

 

Yo, from your picture of your motherboard. Could you circle were, RAM would go and were the hardrive would go. Also graphics and sound cards thanks.

 

nate2005, yes the chipset will probably get too hot after a while to make the system run stable. It's important to re-attach it. Since the thermal compound on it will probably now be void, you'll need to have the thermal compound removed and re-apply some other stuff. We can guide you through this, but will require TIM removal fluid and new thermal paste to be purchased. I don't know of the success with rubbing alcohol and other substances for it, I hear they work but can't say for sure how successful they are.
lfcnathan, are you looking for where to plug in devices into your motherboard? what are you looking to install?

 

ok yea i think ill try the rubbin alchol cuz my mom is really upset she thinks it is my fault that it came off. yea if u could please walk me through the steps of doin this. just go ahead and put all the info up my mom is gona go get what we neeed later today. so just go ahead and tel me how to do this process. i appreciate all the help u have given me on everything already.

 

What fell off is a heat sink. Like sammorris said, remove whatever was left of the white goo on the back of the heatsink and top of the chip (where it fell off.) Buy new thermal paste from your local computer vendor, and then apply it when the motherboard is cool.

http://www.neoseeker.com/Hardware/faqs/kb/5,61.html

 

Yeah that's a pretty good guide on it.

 

ok i put that piece back on dont know how long it is gona stay on there though one of those little loop thingys broke off and i take it that is how it came loose in the first place. so i put a new layer of the thermal compound but like i said dont know how long it will stay up on there.

 

The clips came off? Hmm, I can't remember whether the clips are attached with the motherboard or whether they come with heatsinks. If the latter, you can buy another heatsink for cheap and attach that.

 

well one of the hooks that is on the motherboard came off so far its holdin on but i dunno for how long. yea thats what i was thinkin once it falls off ill just have my mom go get a new heatsink for cheap and put in on there.

 

Yeah they're like $3 or something ridiculous.

 

i dunno what u mean ddp? they were snapped into the mobo but one of the hooks came out of the mobo completly. i tried to put it back in but as soon as i lach it to the heatsink it flings the hook in the air.

 

This board is, whilst not identical, quite similar to my old board. The Chipset has two clips either side, that plug into holes on the board. It is my understanding that one of these clips has snapped off. Is that a correct interpretation?
(The clips I am on about, one of them is just above and to the right of the small blue Albatron logo, next to the left-most green cylinder (capacitor), the other is directly above the large Albatron logo.

This may not be exactly like your board, but is it that sort of thing?

 

correct one of them fell off the motherboard. so far it is still holdin on there.

 

Time for a new heatsink methinks, lest it happena again.

 

yea i think so 2 yea once it falls back off im gona replace it. thanx everyone for all the help on this i appreciate it