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Resolved Red Diagnostic LED DSI510 and Mac Pro not starting - broken Northbridge heatsink rivet

PowerMac G4 MDD

PowerMac G4 MDD

macrumors 68000
Jul 13, 2014
1,900
277
You beat me to it! I was going to make a detailed tutorial on how to complete this, but it looks as though what you have supplied is ample—more appropriate than the original post I found which led me to use these Chinese rivets. (To whomever that was, thanks for discovering that these Chinese rivets work! Unfortunately, I cannot find his thread.)

EDIT: I noticed that you have a single-CPU model. Not entirely sure, but, on said model, does the single CPU heatsink overlap the Nb heatsink at all? See, on my dual-CPU model, one of the CPU heatsinks did just that, and it caused me to have to shave down one of the rivets in order for it to actually allow for the CPU heatsink to seat itself fully. The Chinese rivets I worked with were very tall.
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fendersrule said:
Why? Seems to be a piss-easy fix. The hardest part I bet is finding those fasteners.
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The whole process of one suddenly seeing his Mac Pro overheat, then frantically Web-searchin and finding out several random repair methods (some of which are pointlessly complex) for it, and then beginning research on what to do, is quite stressful for one. Unfortunately, there are too many asking about this and too few giving clear, concise instructions on how to remedy the situation—especially fixing it in a painless way. Far too many hunt down random screws and such and confuse others by way of posting their lackluster repair ideas within threads.

So, this thread essentially has shown what every newcomer to this issue must see once he has diagnosed this issue. And, well, it came pretty late. And, this is one of probably only TWO threads out there which actually confirm—with sufficient text & pictures—that the fix is easily done with Chinese rivets (which are easily found on eBay and can be purchased in bulk).
 
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howiest

howiest

macrumors 6502
Aug 16, 2015
323
131
Left Coast
I ordered the Chinese rivets off of eBay yesterday. Better to be prepared just in case. I hope to nurse this old cMP along until we get a look at the modular machine that Apple has promised.
Thanks for all the helpful info folks.

PS:
I'm even more concerned about the PSU dying. But that's a conversation for another thread.
 
PowerMac G4 MDD

PowerMac G4 MDD

macrumors 68000
Jul 13, 2014
1,900
277
h9826790 said:
Yes, the NB heatsink is completely covered by the CPU heatsink
Click to expand...

So, I guess others have used the same rivets and have had to cut them? What's odd is that I've never heard anyone else mention that they've had to shave their rivet/s to size. The first-ever post I saw which mentioned success with Chinese rivets (and possibly the first post out there, at that) did not mention it whatsoever. It came to me as a nasty surprise when I saw that one of my heatsinks was blocked by one of the rivets. I was sort of panicked, but I just cut the nub on the spot and was able to fit the heatsink perfectly.

I DID just get a reply from a fellow member here who has been seeing worse temperatures than ever before, that he did have to shave his rivet/s down as well; but, I only obtained that information by asking.
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Dr. Stealth said:
After seeing the threads on broken rivets I decided to be pro-active. Yesterday I replaced my rivets with new ones and gave both processors and the Northbridge a cleaning and new goop..... I'll sleep better now.... ;)
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Nice! You are also lucky that this thread (and others) exist now. When I received my 4,1 (8-core) for free, I had no idea what was causing it to overheat. Researched that, found the culprit, saw various suggestions on either the types of screws to use or which rivets to use as substitutes; and then, finally, I found some thread which reported that the Chinese rivets worked just fine. (No eventual need for the next best alternative, which was this 10-dollar fan kit which happened to contain two fine rivets.) It took a little more looking around until I could confirm that these were—indeed—destined to work.

The feeling I had after I finally decided on the method and had resolved the issue in full was marvelous. Not only did I remedy an issue which had driven the previous owner to toss the machine, I had myself a [then] $1,000 machine for $10 in parts + some labor. Not much time passed before it became the machine which you see down below in my signature!
 
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Troy2000

Troy2000

macrumors regular
Oct 21, 2009
201
77
A pair of M3s and nuts are all that is required. I replace Mac Pro northbridge clips in this manner as a matter of course.

Employing plastic clips in such a toasty environment was one of Apple's few engineering missteps with the classic Mac Pro.
 
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martyr

martyr

macrumors member
Jun 19, 2007
34
12
howiest said:
Do you recall what mm size M3?
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Can we get a go/no-go on whether using metal bolts and nuts will do the trick and what MM size works best?

I'm about to order the plastic clips from eBay as an alternative as well.

Thanks!
 
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