changing T22 motherboard - thermal?? liquid on Intel chip?

[jkn]

Hi all
after a recent enquiry here about my T22 freezing from time to time, I managed to find a new motherboard at a good price and I'm in the process of swapping the old for the new.

I've got to the point in the HWM of removing the old motherboard; on looking at the underside of the PCB I see that one of the chips - the large Intel BGA device next to the S3 Video chip - has some sort of oily liquid on it!

I also see that there are some sort of sponge pads on the unit base, which seem to be connected to a heatsink plate. Is this liquid some sort of oily thermal conductor? To the best of my knowledge I haven't exposed to T22 to any liquids.

If this liquid should be there, do I need to 'top up' the amount present in the intermediary sponge when fitting the new motherboard?

Thanks
Jon N

[joester]

FWIW:
I remember nothing of that sort when I had my T21 opened up for some PCB surgery.

[aditya1956]

I also have never seen anything like this "sponge and oily thing" on any of the T2x mobos in my experience. My own 20 has nothing like this. May be the previous owner had done some modifications. Other members' contributions here will throw in more light.

[jkn]

Hi Chaps
Thanks for your replies.

To clarify ... the pads seem to join between two of the chips on the bottom of the baseboard, and the Alu sheet which thermally connects to the heatsink & fan arrangement on the base of the T22. The two chips are the S3 graphics chip, and the large Intel BGA chip - part of the PIII chipset I'm sure.

The pads are spongey with a pink surface. The one 'supporting' the intel chip is thibker than the S3 one, and is the one with the liquid. The other, thinner, pad, seems to have no liquid.

There is no evidence that the T22 has been modified in any other ways, and as I bought it from a corporate source I'd be really surprised if this was the case.

Since I write this I've bitten the bullet and fitted my new motherboard, without making any modification to the pads. Touch wood, all seems well! I was pleased with how relatively easy it was to strip down the T22, compared to a Dell laptop of similar vintage I tried to work on recently. With the new laptop it seems to be working fine!

If I have to open the laptop up for some reason I'll take a picture of the pads and put it up here.

Thanks again
Jon N