The PCH Southbridge does not need a heat sink (Inspiron 620 freezes when playing videos)

The available Dell on-line documentation does not show a heatsink.  Download one of the free temperature monitoring programs and see what that tells you.  I like the free Speccy Program  which along with temperatures will give a lot of system information. 

It may be that you need a separate Video Card rather than the basic Integrated Video.  Also how much memory (RAM) do you have? 

Looking at a schematic from the documentation (although not shown in very much detail) it definitely looks like there is something on the graphics chip:

<ADMIN NOTE: Broken link has been removed from this post by Dell>

I wish there were a better view of the motherboard somewhere...

I installed speccy, but unfortunately it doesn't give me a reading for the video temp, just the HDD and CPU temps. (which were normal since the CPU fan and case fan work fine)

To answer your question, I have 4GB of RAM. 

And I'm not doing any gaming, just watching movies and TV shows, something that my old HP laptop can do just fine without crashing. I really think it's a problem with the onboard video. I just restored the system again, have all the newest drivers, the newest BIOS, and it still is freezing.

Any other thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Matt

One option, if you think you got a lemon, you have 21 days from the date on the Dell Invoice (usually the day it was shipped) to call Dell and request a return for refund or whatever (many times they will offer to replace the system rather than have to issue a refund).

But, with what you want to do, I would either buy a PC with a separate video card or add a video card to what you have now.   Not to be a wise guy, but you did buy what would be considered an "entry level" system by today's standards.

Have tech Support Look at this posting and the pictures.  There is No way they can say that

the North Bridge does NOT require a heatsink.   The problem is VISUALLY obvious from your picture of the motherboard.

The Intel chip you show in the picture definitely has spots for a heatsink.

The 2   Solder bumps upper left and lower right with white rectangle around them

should have 2 silver wire loops to hold a spring that goes across at an angle on top of the exposed NorthBridge chip

shown in the picture.

The heatsink that came loose looks like this one.

Note the holes for an alternate to the wire like this using plastic screws.

Zalman ZM-NB47J Northbridge Heatsink - Aluminum Heatsink

ZM-NB47J Northbridge Heatsink does not require a fan, thus does not need to be powered, and does not generate noise or vibration. The Northbridge chipset can be cooled to an optimal temperature without generation of noise. You can adjust the direction while in installation. So you can prevent the interference with CPU Coolers and other components

Thank you, this is what I was wondering. Now I just need to convince tech support that it really indeed does need one. :)

I realize that my PC is entry-level, and I don't want to do any gaming, but even entry level PCs should be able to play video.

You are correct.  The new i3s, i5s & i7s with Intel HD 2000 or HD 3000 graphics should have no problem playing video.  

But I agree, there is a missing heatsink on that chipset.  Very strange.  

I realize that my PC is entry-level, and I don't want to do any gaming, but even entry level PCs should be able to play video.

If you get the part number from the Green INTEL northbridge chip you could lookup the spec for it and download the

specifications that note a HEATSINK for that part.  This is not the graphics chip.  With the core I3 I5 I7 the intel HD Graphics is part of the CPU.   The Missing heatsink is for the NORTHBRIDGE.

Look at this board and you can see what I am talking about.

The Exposed Glass on the Chip vs plastic is a dead give away that it MUST use a heatsink.

The motherboard in the picture is missing the heatsink from the northbridge.

This is not an optional part and this is why its locking up.  This is a manufacturing defect/mistake and should be rectified by dell.

If you look at the picture you can see the spots for the 2 wire loops as well as the plastic screws to hold the heatsink for the northbridge.

Hi,dukane3k  

Did you resolve the problem by adding a heatsink to it?here I have exactly the same problem as yours,while watching youtube it will stuck randomly,and the sound stuck in a loop too.

same model, same motherboard layout,no heatsink.

I'm still trying to get this issue resolved actually... Dell sent me a new motherboard, processor, ram, and hard drive. The new motherboard did not have a heatsink either, and when the technician came to install everything, the motherboard Dell sent was dead. The computer ran for a few days before starting to have trouble freezing again. For the record, it has frozen primarily during video playback, but also when downloading/transferring files.

So, I now know the problem is with the motherboard, and I think it is a heat issue. Dell decided to just ship me a whole new PC, which will arrive in a few weeks. I am really anxious to see if the new one has a heatsink or not... If it still freezes after the new one arrives I'm not sure what to do next.

I will keep you posted. (If I forget, just reply to the thread and I will get an email reminder)

I HOPE Dell has seen issues with this model and has changed something.

-Matt

Dell just shipped me a new system (I received it today) and it STILL doesn't have a heatsink on the northbridge.

Today with the brand new computer, with only the Dell provided peripherals connected and everything updated, I used it for 1 hour with only one program running (the Spotify player) and it still froze up. A hard freeze where I have to turn off the power and turn it back on. 15 minutes later, it froze again. Needless to say I am getting frustrated. I bought this PC in June, and still do not have a working machine.

There is also this post: en.community.dell.com/.../19908120.aspx with someone that had the same problem.

Dell, Please Help Us!

Hey,I reinstallded the whole system by using the disc along with the desktop,just don't install Mcafee anti-virus software when using the adobe flash player,it runs great.