CPU&Heatsink in Laptops
The laptop (ze5600) has been running hot and stays hot even with the fan full blast. I figured it was the dust, so I wanted to clean it out in the fan system (it had never been cleaned). I found the service manual for the laptop, and decided to follow it to do it myself.
Of course being the first time opening a laptop, I was trying to be as careful as possible, but not everything goes smoothly the first time. It turns out that the original thermo paste completely glued the CPU and the thermal sink together. I had no idea what to do, so I took it to the local shop and the guy just plied it open with a small screw driver.
So after I got home, I just scraped off the old paste, cleaned it using isopropyl alcohol, and reapplied the new thermo paste (Arctic Cooling MX-2), and put it all back together.
The laptop works great, the fan goes off when the temperature rises, it actually cools the CPU, then turns off when it’s cool enough. Mission accomplished in my books
Lessons I learned from this little project:
- You can take a laptop apart if you have a good manual
- Don’t mess with the CPU unless if you really need to (I didn’t really need to, but I pulled it off with the thermal sink
- The computer doesn’t even go to BIOS if you boot without a properly installed CPU. The screen stays black, but the fan and LED goes on.
- Despite what people say, CPUs aren’t that fragile. If you have some pins bent, just bend it back (to certain extent).
- This laptop has about 50 screws you need to unscrew to get inside
I think that’s about it.