Applying thermal paste to a laptop's CPU

[compl3x]

I cracked my laptop open a while ago because I had repeated BSODs. I did memtest and all that business beforehand and I couldn't find anything wrong in those areas. I thought that this might be a heat issue. Sure enough, there was a crap-ton of dust around the CPU fan and heatsink. I cleaned it all out, put the thing back together and for awhile it ran swimmingly. Problem solved! Poor ventilation was causing over heating, resulting in the BSODs, I concluded.

 

 

Yeah, not so much. The dreaded BSOD reoccured. I've been using realtemp to monitor my laptop's temp and even idle is seems to run pretty hot (40-55+ degrees C/104-131F).

 

I thought applying some new, and perhaps better quality, thermal paste to the CPU might remedy the issue. The thing is I really don't want to screw around with the heatsink and CPU without asking what special precautions I might need to take. Desktop CPUs I am fine with; I've done it plenty of times. I just to make sure there aren't any special or unique screws, springs, latches, serums, potions or incantations I need to be aware of before doing this.

 

I have added an image of the the heatsink/fan which people can view below (the images are rather big (dimensionally) so I thought linking to it was better than screwing  up the layout of the thread)

 

http://i.imgur.com/WGCiFnX.jpg

 

Thanks.

[xendrome]

If that is some type of black thermal pad between the heatsink and CPU get rid of it righ away and put some Arctic Silver 5 or something similiar on there. That pad looks porous....

[Praetor]

normally laptops have a thermal paste pad; removing it and applying quality thermal paste, like Arctic Silver, does wonders. Just remove the screws from the CPU (those 4 big screws) and from the northbridge (the screws the copper goes under the fan), clean all that copper and the fan, CPU and northbridge and apply good thermal paste on those. Check the temps with Real Core / CPU Fan or other CPU monitoring software before and after the cleanup and you will see major improvements.

 

Also, remove that sponge thing right from the fan and clean it up; most dust is parked in there. I've seen laptops with tremendous heating issues because of those: wear a mask as well if you do have allergies (and if not, wear it anyway since those are very prone to bacteria).

[compl3x]

Cool. Thanks for the input.

 

When I first opened it I noticed that pad and though "the hell? I've never seen those before". Does anyone know why manufacturers use them instead of conventional paste? Do they last longer or something?

 

I've got some paste tucked away so I will deal with this soon. Thanks again for the info :)

[ShadeOfBlue]

From the processor's point of view, those temperatures are nothing. It can handle much higher. Also, keep in mind that the cooling system is designed to maintain temperatures below a certain preprogrammed value while being as quiet as possible. It will spin the fan as fast as it needs to in order to maintain the temperature below that threshold. Unless your fan is spinning full blast while in Windows, your CPU temperature is fine.

 

Improving the thermal compound will affect temps at the lowest fan speed as well as reduce the amount of work the fan needs to do by some amount (however big or small it may be). But if your temps aren't getting high enough to require 100% fan speed, then messing with the cooling system can't prevent what isn't happening in the first place. If it does, then it's a sign that something other than the CPU is overheating. In that case, you may want to check for a BIOS update that added a more aggresive fan algorithm. You could also see if there are any programs out there than would allow you to have more control over your fan (e.g. SpeedFan).

Are you getting random stop errors or the same one over and over? Overheating issues should cause random errors (just like memory and power issues do). You could examine the dump files from previous errors to see if there is a pattern by using the free BlueScreenView program from NirSoft or by other means. You said you ran memtest, but a hard drive test couldn't hurt either if you have not done one yet. If the errors happen frequently enough, you may also want to try booting to a Linux disc (e.g. Linux Mint or Ubuntu) for a few hours just to see if the problem goes away once you take the Windows software/drivers out of the equation.

[Mando]

Cool. Thanks for the input.

 

When I first opened it I noticed that pad and though "the hell? I've never seen those before". Does anyone know why manufacturers use them instead of conventional paste? Do they last longer or something?

 

I've got some paste tucked away so I will deal with this soon. Thanks again for the info :)

 

Cost, pure and simple, it also can compensate better with uneven application of the heatsink.

[Aergan]

Cool. Thanks for the input.

 

When I first opened it I noticed that pad and though "the hell? I've never seen those before". Does anyone know why manufacturers use them instead of conventional paste? Do they last longer or something?

 

I've got some paste tucked away so I will deal with this soon. Thanks again for the info :)

 

Let it warm up (leave it running for 20mins or so, then power it off & remove the battery) before trying to take the heatsink off either the CPU, RAM or GPU. Some OEM's thermal paste can act like epoxy when cold and it can/will shear off BGA packages (Naming no names *cough* Hewlett-Packard, Fujitsu, Sony *cough*).

[Alex I.]

As stated above, the issue might not be caused by an overheating processor. It would be usefull if next time you get a BSOD, note the code that it displays. You can find out what is causing the roots of that problem by searching on the internet for that code.

[Intersect]

Cool. Thanks for the input.

 

When I first opened it I noticed that pad and though "the hell? I've never seen those before". Does anyone know why manufacturers use them instead of conventional paste? Do they last longer or something?

 

I've got some paste tucked away so I will deal with this soon. Thanks again for the info :)

they use pads because it makes for faster assembly times or some times. The 1st thing i do with any new laptops I buy is replace the gunk that the OEMS use.

 

your lucky enough to have a laptop that has easy to access parts, some laptops need to be stripped down to the board to do what you want

What model is it?

[Andre S. Veteran]

As ShadeOfBlue said, these temperatures are nothing to worry about especially for a laptop. 

[T3X4S]

they use pads because it makes for faster assembly times or some times. The 1st thing i do with any new laptops I buy is replace the gunk that the OEMS use.

 

your lucky enough to have a laptop that has easy to access parts, some laptops need to be stripped down to the board to do what you want

What model is it?

Every laptop you have owned, you take it all apart to use better thermal paste ?  Even if there is no signs of thermal issues ?

I guess its OK if you buy a laptop every 4-5 years - but I couldnt imagine doing all that considering a buy 1 every year.

[Aergan]

Every laptop you have owned, you take it all apart to use better thermal paste ?  Even if there is no signs of thermal issues ?

I guess its OK if you buy a laptop every 4-5 years - but I couldnt imagine doing all that considering a buy 1 every year.

 

I've seen a few "supermarket" grade laptops use heatpads that are fitted waaaaay-off the mark. If your warrenty can allow for it, I would certainly check within the first year.

 

My HP business grade laptop when I bought it ~2008 had the metalic-like thermal paste applied over 2/3 of the die and the rest over the CPU packaging (quite the calibration error as it had been applied in an almost perfect rectangle).