Repair help!!! 📦

2    07 Mar 2021 07:50 by u/Dankmemer9_11

I gave my laptop to a third party repair center for cleaning the fans and the insides of the computer due to temperature throttling issue. He sent me photos of all the dust accumulated in the fan, motherboard and heatsink, all removed and cleaned. When getting the computer back, I asked him if he had removed the old thermal paste and put on a new one. He said it is not necessary (WTF!!!) and the old one will work fine as it is. He literally removed the heatsink and put it back on the dried thermal paste. The laptop is 6yo btw!!!. I came home and checked temperature, the computer performance is good but the temperature is still high (around 90C) while gaming. Is that how thermal paste works? or should I remove the old one and put on new one?

6 comments

2 u/I_Am_That_Guy 07 Mar 2021 13:39
Thermal grease is relatively cheap. A tube can be pricey, but the amount you actually use is so small that the cost is negligible.
If he's fighting you over it, he's not a great tech guy. Don't go back there. Thermal grease (or other heat-transfer material) is vital. It is certainly cheaper than buying a new unit when the one you have overheats and dies. As to cleaning: You can do it yourself, fairly easily. Get a vacuum cleaner, suck out the bulk of the dust.
Get a soft-bristle brush and brush the dusty areas while using the vacuum to collect it and keep it from settling into the other parts of the machine.
After that, you can remove the parts and clean them individually.
Make sure that any solvent you use for cleaning is compatible with the material. Distilled water is my go-to for most things. It won't hurt electronics, as long as they are not powered, and you blow out all the water afterward and allow to dry thoroughly before reassembling.
It can be tedious, but you should only have to do it every few years or so. Be careful with using compressed air. Some parts, such as cooling vanes, can be delicate, and air under enough pressure can bend or break them. That said, sometimes, it is the only way to dislodge dust from between the vanes. It is always risky to poke through them with a toothpick or something.