Loose heatsinks on 6500 cards?

The other day I was unpacking a WS-X6748-GE-TX when I noticed one of the heatsink was odd looking. I pushed it and it actually came off! The heatsink is held down by a metal spring clip that hooks into wire loops soldered into the PCB. One of the loops had come off sometime during shipping.

Looking around it looks like this isn't an isolated problem. There are reports of various WS-X67xx cards with the wire loop issue.

I guess the moral of the story is, if you've got any WS-X67xx cards then check that the heatsinks aren't about to fall off...

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Comments

bighornsheep

Are the cards covered by a smartnet contract? Or another type of maintenance agreement? You should be able to get a replacement...

If not, I would recommend a few steps based on my A+ skills, and general PC knowledge, and I've also done some field work with 6500 series linecards...

Clean the bottom of the heatsink clear of any remaining thermal paste using rubbing alcohol, and wait to dry. Then get a tube of thermal paste such as this:Thermal Grease #2 - A2150 and apply to the IC for which the heatsink is protecting. Apply pressure on the heatsink for about 30 seconds for the paste to harden and dry. You should be back in business...

tiersten

bighornsheep wrote: »

Are the cards covered by a smartnet contract? Or another type of maintenance agreement? You should be able to get a replacement...

Yeah. It is on a SMARTnet contract so I just called up and got a replacement card couriered out.

Just a general warning to people with WS-X67xx cards really.

Forsaken_GA

Saw this all the time at my old job. We also saw quite a bit of line cards where one side of the connectors into the chassis backplane had an end chipped off of it, and I've seen power connectors where either a pin was bent, or the entire connector was bent up just enough that it wouldn't fit into the chassis. 9 times out of 10, it was from gear made in Malysia. I think the only country of manufacture where it was rare to see the occasional problem with was Mexico.

tiersten

Forsaken_GA wrote: »

Saw this all the time at my old job.

Considering the amount of $$$ that these cards cost even after discounts, the quality control is pretty bad!

Forsaken_GA wrote: »

We also saw quite a bit of line cards where one side of the connectors into the chassis backplane had an end chipped off of it, and I've seen power connectors where either a pin was bent, or the entire connector was bent up just enough that it wouldn't fit into the chassis

Mmm... I can see some engineers going it doesn't fit! and then just trying to force it in...

The bad pins must cause havoc with OIR if you don't closely inspect the connectors first.

Forsaken_GA

tiersten wrote: »

Mmm... I can see some engineers going it doesn't fit! and then just trying to force it in...

Not just engineers... some of the auditors for our incoming inventory were just as bad. And they should have known better.

Whenever I have to handle a Cat6500 module, before I pick it up, I remind myself that most of these cost more than my car. That helps me keep perspective and treat the hardware with the respect it deserves