Nowhere to screw cpu fan into

[fiorinihc]

Hey guys, I unscrewed my cooler master seidon 120m from my gigabyte 970a-DS3P earlier to reapply some thermal compound, but when I went to screw it back in, the place to put the screws in were moved.

After trying to angle the screws for half an hour, I moved the computer and I noticed that the area to put the screws in moved, leaving just the four holes in the motherboard. Could somebody explain to me what happened, because I believe something may be loose.

Here are some pictures:

http://imgur.com/HMytM3r - Here you can see in the upper right-hand corner that there is a place for the screw to go.

http://imgur.com/WV1z0p8 - In this picture, it is not there and neither are the other four due to me moving it around. I need this computer for work and it is 100% required to be fixed within the next 24 hours. Any help is greatly appreciated!

 

[Darkbreeze]

You removed the entire backplate. Your nuts that hold the backplate to the motherboard must have come off WITH the screws that hold the water block to the nuts. You'll need to take the back panel off, take the nuts off the screws on the water block/heatsink and reattach the backplate using the nuts, then reattach the water block to the nuts.

If your opposite side panel doesn't come off or if there is no backplate access hole in the motherboard tray then you'll need to remove the motherboard to reattach the backplate. Most modern cases have a cutout to access it though but the right side panel has to come off to see it. You back plate is probably laying on the bottom of the case in between that panel and the bottom side of the motherboard tray.

 

[SchizTech]

There should be a back plate behind the board which holds the screws. That must have come loose. If your case has a removable rear cover just pop that off: there's often a cutout behind the cpu area of the motherboard specifically to permit the mounting of heatsinks like that one. If you can't see that plate behind there it might become necessary to remove the board.

 

[f-14]

i know exactly what happened, your back plate for mounting fell off the back of the mother board. try taking the case panel off behind the mother board and see if your case has a hole in the motherboard mounting tray to reposition it. it is a metal plate so becareful to make sure the electrical insulation strip stayed in place or you will short your motherboard and fry components.
Cooler Master Seidon 120v - Installation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTXHgtJJ1r8

 

[Darkbreeze]

It may also be that there were no other nuts holding the backplate to the motherboard and that you just need to hold the backplate up to the bottom of the motherboard while you start the water block screws back in.

 

[Darkbreeze]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JclCHOx0ARc

 

[fiorinihc]

Thank you all SO much, that was very helpful! I will be able to get back to work in no time, I was really worried I had broken it.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Heh. No worries. Hope you get all squared away.

 

[fiorinihc]

Yep! Posting from the pc right now, everythings working and spinning! By the way, would you say I have a normal amount of thermal compound applied, or is it too much?

 

[Darkbreeze]

IT was a bit much, and I'd have probably recommended cleaning it off and repasting to avoid any air bubbles, but if your load temps are staying below tolerance and no paste was squished out onto the cpu frame or motherboard, then it's fine. If there was excess paste on the socket frame or board, it should probably have been cleaned up using isopropyl alcohol and a lint free cloth or coffee filter and repasted. Since you already have it together and running, I probably wouldn't worry about it now unless there is an excess of paste on things.