My brother's HP model 500n DA190-80201 has worked fine while he has had it.
Recently, when he starts it, he gets a MESSAGE immediately which says:
CPU fan failed..SHUT down in 5 seconds.
Or press F2 to continue.
He did press F2 and it booted o.k. and he was able to use it for a couple of hours at a time. He did this for several days until he told me about the problem.

My problem is that there is no fan on top of the heatsink and I can't get the heatsink out. The 2 clips that look like they have to be pushed downward to release them just won't move.

I can't tell what kind of CPU or heatsink the computer has as all manuals,etc have been lost.

Thinking that maybe the BIOS got screwed up somehow (he wouldn't even know how to access BIOS so I know he didn't do anything to it) I tried to get into it.
Tried pressing F11 repeatedly and that didn't work so every time I POWERED it on I tried F2,then F9,F10,Delete, etc.

I just don't know what to try next. Thanks to all who try to help me.

ole ladyI would not fool trying to remove anything that you are not sure on how to do , take it to a PC shop and let them advise Thanks for your reply.. I've removed heatsinks before but have never encountered one like this. I'd like to try to get it out to determine if in fact, there really is a fan underneath it or in it. It doesn't seem to make any noise at all so I think the BIOS is screwed up. So, the first step to me was to try to remove it.
check the wires, make sure the fan is getting power... a wire may have gotten knocked out.I hate those heatsinks. It always feels like your breaking something when you actually get those clips off.Yes, that is how it feels.... like you will break something if you use too much force.
How did you finally release the clips??

Thanks for a reply.Looks like a Socket A AMD. See if this helps: http://www.fonerbooks.com/r_cpu.htmI usually use a straight screwdriver to push them down and then pull them out. You have to be very careful when you do this because you CAN break something. ALSO make sure you are grounded before touching any internal components