Hi, I have the same problem - when I start my computer it show the message -Alert! chipset heat sink not detected, system halted. I talked to Dell and I during phone help I was told to pull out the the chipset heat sink and try to fix it back. I wonder if it was a sensible advice because it was glued in it's place and once I removed it, I could not put it back in place. I told the Dell tech on phone that one end of the metal was not attached to anything but the tech did not point out that it was OK or not. Now they advise me to change the mother board which could be $300-400 plus labour. Please advice me me it can be fixed in a cheaper way. Unfortunately my warrenty expired in March 2006. Please help out with this Thanks in advance Shermon

That error message does not make any sense. There is no way for the system to tell if a heatsink is installed or not. It could really mean an high temperature condition or a fan is not working. If you can open up the box without voiding your warranty (if you have one). I would do that and check for anything unusual, like maybe a fan that isn't running. Do yourself a favor BACKUP! Sorry, I do not check for private messages

Hi, Ham is right. That error msg probably should have refered to the Fan and not the Heatsink. Luck, Jim