Fan Error / Thermal Paste Question

[Callahan]

After having my T42 on yesterday for maybe 6 hours ... everything seemed normal until the last 45 minutes when I started hearing a strange noise from inside the computer ... like a grinding sound. It seemed to be more on the right side and I thought maybe the hard drive was going bad. I shut the computer off for the night and this morning it wouldn't start ... "fan error' came up.

I went through this before in 2016 with a T41 and that is also when I joined the ThinkPad Support Community to get help replacing the fan in the T41. All went well at that time and the T41 developed other problems later and is no more. I bought a few extra used fans from that eBay seller after getting that first fan. It had a good spin with the blades and was clean.

So I have a good idea what all will have to be done with replacing the fan in the T42. I am going to put the fan from the T41 into the T42 ... it was still running good when the T41 went dark.

This is my question on the thermal paste. In 2016 I used Noctua NT-H1 Paste for everything and I still had some left in the tube which I wrapped in kitchen plastic wrap and put that inside a small screw top plastic medicine bottle to prevent drying out. However, in the last 4 years or so I have read what RealBlackStuff has said about Thermal Grizzly Hydronaut Thermal Grease Paste. So I bought some of that about 2 years ago to replace the thermal paste on the CPU in my T42s.

I have some of that left and put it back into the black bag. I am looking at this ad from an eBay seller for Thermal Grizzly Hydronaut Thermal Grease Paste. The large size 7.8 gr is only $2.10 more than the 3.9 size ... so you get twice as much for only $2.10 more. My question ... I will have a lot probably left over in the tube. Will it keep OK in storage wrapped up in plastic wrap inside a closed small medicine bottle for years or will it break down or go bad in storage anyway? It should not dry out but I don't know if a good thermal paste will stay good with long term storage.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R ... acat=58058

My other question is using the thermal paste that I still have on hand from before as I mentioned above. I have some Noctua NT-H1 Paste and some Thermal Grizzly Hydronaut Thermal Grease Paste still left. The containers are so small and light, it's hard for me to know how much is left for the fan replacement. Could these two products be used or mixed together to finish the project? Is that something that people do if you have two good products? Getting back to the plunger tubes. There is still some room for the plungers to be pushed down. So they are empty when the plunger is pushed all the way down on the container I guess ... if that's the case, I may have enough to do this job and save some money for now on buying new thermal paste.
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[RealBlackStuff]

You only need paste about the size of a big rice corn or at the max. a tiny pea.
Old paste should last a few years when stored properly, so give it a try.
If it's dried up in the tube, then get some new stuff, but buy no more than what you really need.

FYI: today the 'in' thing is a Honeywell PTM7950 thermal pad instead of paste.

[Gonzaleitor]

Try it out and do a measure of temps. Surely it would be alright

[Callahan]

I appreciate the replies about the thermal paste question. That was almost seven years ago that I replaced a fan and I just didn't remember how much paste was needed under the fan to complete the task. I may also do the CPU if it looks bad. I guess I will just take a chance that I have enough good paste on hand for the job ... I probably do. Save a few bucks this time. Hope to get everything fixed tomorrow.

I checked out the Honeywell PTM7950 thermal pad on eBay. I see that Honeywell product comes in the form of a pad or paste. I don't know anything about working with a thermal pad or how long they last or how hard they would be to remove for replacement. I assume they also dry out in time and have to be replaced.

I will find some Youtube videos and check all that out.
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[Gonzaleitor]

I would stick with the thermal paste for the cpu.
For the gpu you may want to use a thermal pad. You have to be precise with the thickness of the thermal pad you are going to use, if it's too thick or too thin the heatsink won't do proper contact and it will lead to improper cooling.

[Callahan]

Gonzaleitor ... I appreciate the additional information. I think I will just stick with the thermal paste also. I seem to have had good luck with it over the last 6 1/2 years so I will just stick with something that has worked for me. I don't have to worry about what thermal pad thickness to buy. With the paste ... if I'm not happy with with how it went on, I can just clean it off with alcohol and do it again. Thanks for the input.
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[Gonzaleitor]

No problem, good luck with that!

[Callahan]

Update ... all went well with the fan replacement except at the very end ... there are four number 3 screws that hold the keyboard in place. Had trouble with one ... just went halfway in and was stuck ... could not remove it either so after some time I got the pliers out and did some radical removal surgery.

So there are only three keyboard screws in place but the keyboard seems very firm and the computer is running like it just came off the production line. When I turned it on ... nothing happened, the 'fan error' was gone but just nothing going on until four minutes passed and then it just started up OK. I had forgot that this happens ... it just seems to take that four or five minutes of nothing happening and then everything is back to normal.

What I want to mention is about the 'thermal paste' ... why I had it in my head that I might not have enough thermal paste is crazy. From memory of almost seven years ago I thought it had to be applied in two areas. Once I got the fan loose and looked underneath ... just one little area on the CPU for thermal paste. I had more than enough and more for the future, if it stores OK. Just a silly thing worried about what was needed. As RBS said: "You only need paste about the size of a big rice corn or at the max. a tiny pea". It's obvious I don't do much repair work on ThinkPads.

Still a little disappointed about not getting all four keyboard screws back in but there's a bright spot ... any future repairs or work should be a lot faster with only three screws to fool with.
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