Salvaging an older laptop...WTF is this? - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

Flash Walken · 10-16-2011, 05:45 PM

Newly emboldened by my ability to resurrect the PC that I'm using to post this thread, I've decided to see if I can resurrect an older gaming laptop.

I've got 'er all taken apart and I can see some issues, but nothing weird except for this.

On the heatsink there seems to be a piece of metal/plastic on the underside of the heat sink.

It's blackened except for two parts, the underside where it had been (very flimsily) glued with thermal paste, and the top side where there is a silvery rectangle in the middle of an otherwise charred looking outer surface. The rectangle mirrors the rectangle on the top surface of the chip where the heatsink paper stuff was touching.

So, what the heck is this stuff?

TorqueDog · 10-16-2011, 06:00 PM

Yecch. They're thermal pads. Awful, useless creations. I had them inside my ASUS G1S-A1 when I did an autopsy on it after the board decided to kill itself.

Flash Walken · 10-16-2011, 06:02 PM

so if I am going to re-attach this heatsink, do I need to use the pad, or just a tiny little bit of thermal paste on this little rectangle on the chip and that's it?

Meelapo · 10-16-2011, 06:13 PM

You should be able to use thermal paste. If you take a look at your picture you'll notice that the pad goo on the copper base is only on that part that was touching the chip so as long as the chip has paste on it you should be good to go.

TorqueDog · 10-16-2011, 06:33 PM

Just verify that the heatsink is making good contact with the processor die when it's fastened. Put a little heatsink compound on the die itself (nice thin layer, spread evenly with a credit card) and fasten the heatsink clamps.

I wish manufacturers would stop using thermal pads.

sclitheroe · 10-16-2011, 06:33 PM

Thermal pads are single use only, and should be discarded once you break the bond between chip and heatsink. You'll want to clean the heatsink and CPU core with rubbing alcohol to get them perfectly clean, then use a tiny amount of thermal paste spread thinly and evenly with something like a credit card or small spatula.

Thermal pads aren't as awful as some will make them out to be - a great many enterprise grade servers with high wattage CPU's use them to no ill effect, and any lower cooling efficiency relative to straight thermal paste is offset by them usually being very consistent - they aren't as prone to hot spots as poorly applied thermal paste can be, and they do a great job of levelling out less than perfectly flat heatsinks, once they bed in. That being said, they absolutely cannot be used more than once.

Regulator75 · 10-16-2011, 07:22 PM

It's an unfocused picture.

Hack&Lube · 10-16-2011, 08:10 PM

The only issue I can think of is that the pad might have been used to bridge a wider gap than thermal paste alone would not have bridged so if you just use paste, it may not have the same contact/pressure.

sclitheroe · 10-16-2011, 09:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

The only issue I can think of is that the pad might have been used to bridge a wider gap than thermal paste alone would not have bridged so if you just use paste, it may not have the same contact/pressure.

Yeah, the thermal pads compensate for crappy heatsinks for sure.

Flash Walken · 10-16-2011, 09:04 PM

Ok, I've got another question.

So I took everything out, un-mounted the motherboard, checked all the connections.

I went from not being able to power the system on, to being able to power the system on.

The green light engages, the fan for the processor turns on and then that's it.

I just put the CD drive back in, and that powers up as well once I press the power button. The CD drive is also operational, I can hear it spinning and can load and eject disks.

I get no beeps, though.

Seems like the motherboard is working, but nothing is starting up. where could that problem be?

Hack&Lube · 10-17-2011, 08:45 AM

It could honestly be anything. If you don't get anything on the screen, not even a POST, then I suspect the BIOS is messed up and you might want to see if there's a way to recover/reflash it.

How did this laptop die anyway?

Flash Walken · 10-17-2011, 10:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

It could honestly be anything. If you don't get anything on the screen, not even a POST, then I suspect the BIOS is messed up and you might want to see if there's a way to recover/reflash it.

How did this laptop die anyway?

This laptop died because I had it for 3 years and then all of a sudden it died.

First the harddrive died, so I replaced that. Then months later, I picked it up on one side and then it stopped working. Been that way since.

However, since i've started this process of resurrection, I've achieved start up functions that didn't exist before.

I think I'm on the right track, going to replace the CMOS battery.

Here is my question:

The CMOS battery seems to be soldered to the mobo. How hard is this going to be to disassemble and then re-assemble?

Edit: pictures always help

Hack&Lube · 10-17-2011, 01:08 PM

It's not soldered. It's the complete opposite of soldered

It's plugged into a header. Just unplug it.

From the symptoms you are describing, it sounds like the motherboard is faulty and/or there are faulty traces or cracked solder or some other deep level hardware issues. The only way a home user can attempt to fix those things is to reflow the entire motherboard by sticking it in your oven at around 400° for 8-10 minutes.

Flash Walken · 10-17-2011, 01:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

It's not soldered. It's the complete opposite of soldered

It's plugged into a header. Just unplug it.

From the symptoms you are describing, it sounds like the motherboard is faulty and/or there are faulty traces or cracked solder or some other deep level hardware issues. The only way a home user can attempt to fix those things is to reflow the entire motherboard by sticking it in your oven at around 400° for 8-10 minutes.

Heh, I got the plug part!

It's the other part. There's a housing around the battery that I have found out since my last post is glued to the battery itself, with the housing glued to the motherboard.

I will try the motherboard method after I've removed the glue and battery.

Thanks for your help, this has been really fun.

Flash Walken · 10-17-2011, 03:57 PM

quick question before I toss this baby in the oven:

What do I do about the thermal paste i previously applied to the chip and heatsink? obviously I am going to remove the heatsink before placing it in the oven, but should I remove the remainder of the paste and re-apply or just forget about it?

Flash Walken · 10-17-2011, 04:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flash Walken

quick question before I toss this baby in the oven:

What do I do about the thermal paste i previously applied to the chip and heatsink? obviously I am going to remove the heatsink before placing it in the oven, but should I remove the remainder of the paste and re-apply or just forget about it?

I just re-thought about that question.

I guess I'm going to take the chip out before I put it in the oven too.

Kipper is King · 10-17-2011, 07:47 PM

This does sound like a fun project! I have often wondered about trying stuff like this with old PCs, just for the sake of doing it. Good luck!

Hanni · 10-17-2011, 07:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flash Walken

I just re-thought about that question.

I guess I'm going to take the chip out before I put it in the oven too.

That would probably be for the best.

Flash Walken · 10-17-2011, 08:01 PM

Well.

I cooked 'er too long.

I had a great set up, baking sheet with cookie cooling rack with chopstick grid to shield the motherboard from direct contact with the metal.

Put 'er in the oven at 400 for 5.5 minutes, saw some smoke, took it out.

Lost some components off the motherboard because the heat broke the bond with the mobo.

Not all is lost, however. I have a line on a soldering gun and have kept everything together and safe, so I'm going to keep this is an on going project.

I don't suppose I can superglue some of this stuff back on...?

Flash Walken · 10-17-2011, 08:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kipper is King

This does sound like a fun project! I have often wondered about trying stuff like this with old PCs, just for the sake of doing it. Good luck!

You should!

Even though I've only actually brought 1 computer out of 3 (so far) back to life, I've gotten others to various stages of re-birth. Enough to give them their last rights.

It's great though, like being a Surgeon on a cadaver. Worst case scenario, I didn't mess anything up. Best case scenario? NEW COMPUTER!