One of my earlier computer repair jobs, I was at a woman's house that had a computer that reported the following problem: Heat sink has been disconnected or is loose. This is the first message the computer reported when turned on and stop the PC from continuing to boot. It took some thought and reading through a few other blogs to get a clue to the possible solution. The answer was easier when I open the computer to inspect. The heat sink on the north bridge chip was obviously loose and falling off. I still didn't understand how the computer could detect the problem. Then I noticed the small wire brace holding the heat sink from one side to the other was out. My hypothesis- the brace was actually a circuit, and simply bridging the connection would do the trick. It was shocking when this answer actually worked. I used a metal bread tie and a staple to hold it in the hole( no soldering). Computer booted fine and I was able to retrieve her files with little effort. I felt like Mcgiver. I was actually giving her a hi five when I found it worked. A little ingenuity came in handy.
