Chipset Heat sink not detected.

Question

Hello, i have a Dell Optiplex 7090 tower and when i boot it up i get the error message Chip set heat sink not detected. As far as i know there is only one heat sink on the chip set and it's there and secured firmly. What am i missing, or is this motherboard shot.

redxps630 · Answer

there is no fan on the passive chipset heatsink so it could be 2-3 things:

chipset temp higher than bios can accept as normal, or the thermal sensor is misreading temp, or bios setting corruption. during normal use put your finger on the heatsink to see if it is too hot. If not too hot, it is either sensor or bios. sometimes bios upgrade might resolve the bug but this innocuous error is not worth the risk of bios upgrade, assuming pc runs fine o/w.

bradthetechnut · Answer

@redxps630​  'Ow' in English means pain.

Nyshadow · Answer

So, there is more to this story. As there always is. I was attempting to update my 7090 Tower to the max configuration that you can get from dell. Which according to the Spec sheet i downloaded from dell is a i9 11900K CPU and 128GB of memory. I only went to 64GB however. So i was able to get my hands on another 7090 tower which has the same motherboard in it, D/PN FKVT5. This 2nd 7090 came with a 10th gen i5 which worked. So first i upgraded the memory from the 8GB it came with to the 64GB i had from my first 7090. Booted fine, i ran diagnostics, everything passed. So then i swapped the CPU from the 10th Gen i5 it came with to the 11th gen i9 i had, error. Chipset heatsink not detected. With the 11th gen i9 installed you can boot in to the bios and it detects it fine, and run diagnostics just fine, everything passes. IT has the latest 7090 bios 1.25 , from my research the 7090 has the intel Q570 chip set which should support 10th and 11th gen intel CPU's. IS there a different motherboard if you would have built a 7090 with a 11th gen i9 from dell?

Nyshadow · Answer

So also about a year ago, i upgraded a Optiplex 7080 SFF to a 10th gen i9 with 64GB of memory. Worked flawlessly. No issues. Sold that PC to a friend who still uses it today.

bradthetechnut · Answer

Could the i9 be defective, or was it already tested as working? Check for any bent CPU socket pins. One easy way to do it is take a photo with phone and zoom in.

redxps630 · Answer

Re: then i swapped the CPU from the 10th Gen i5 it came with to the 11th gen i9 i had, error. Chipset heatsink not detected. So the story gets better. I believe the bios error has misled you to chipset heatsink, what the bios wanted to alert you is VRM heatsink is missing. The error code got mistranslated. When you upgrade from non-k cpu to a -k cpu, that triggers a bios error because the Dell originally ships 7090 tower high end spec -k cpu with VRM heatsink installed at factory. Your pc originally has i5, so it has no VRM heatsink installed. You just need to order and install the tower VRM heatsink, I think there is a very good chance the “chipset heatsink” error will be gone.

7080/7090 MT: DP/N 612F7

612F7

ASSY,HTSNK,VR-MS,MT,7080/8940.

$5.99

the description specifically mentions MT.

Nyshadow · Answer

Yeah, i thought about that too brad. CPU was supposedly brand new, came in a sealed box.  Definitely going to look into that too. The adventure continues. lol

redxps630 · Answer

No I think the i9 -k cpu triggers a bios VRM heatsink error. If it were bent cpu socket pin, it would probably not POST with either cpu.

it is extremely unlikely to have a “defective ” i9 cpu that triggers a bios error of heatsink not found.

Nyshadow · Answer

'You just need to order and install VRM heatsink' Thanks Red, I'm going to look into that too.

redxps630 · Answer

That is way over priced.  Dell price was $5.99 + shipping. https://www.ebay.com/itm/165183614929?

Nyshadow · Answer

Yeah i saw that red. Going to shop around.

bradthetechnut · Answer

@redxps630​  I agree and disagree.  I disagree a PC won't post with a couple of bent socket pins, though possible.  Reason being is another user had a Precision problem with DIMMs if I remember right.  A couple of bent pins were found.  You also replied in that thread. I agree it's probably not bent socket pins in this case as I momentarily forgot about the i5 working and therefore agree with your assessment.

redxps630 · Answer

I still find it strange though a true VR heatsink not found error was not triggered. OP pls look into this discussion the story is more interesting. If your bios is not updated you may consider taking a small risk of updating the bios to try get rid of error (and if so you should probably still buy the VRM heatsink for a i9 -k cpu)

https://www.dell.com/community/en/conversations/optiplex-desktops/optiplex-7080-sff-alert-vr-heat-sink-not-detected/647f9114f4ccf8a8de27cad9

Re: bent cpu socket pin. besides no post, another possible consequence is some DIMM slots do not work.

Optiplex Desktops

Chipset Heat sink not detected.

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