Having immense trouble removing fan/heatsink

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dash7540 · #1 Post by **dash7540** » Mon Dec 10, 2007 9:16 pm

Just got my new fan, but removing the old fan seems to be an impossible task. I followed the advice in this thread: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... an+removal but it's not helping much. I've already gotten the contact between the CPU and the heatsink loose, but the GPU side is giving me so much trouble. I tried the floss method, but it still won't come off even with enough force to snap the floss.

The HMM makes this look so easy, but at the moment, I'm convinced neurosurgery is much more simple

#2 Post by **richk** » Mon Dec 10, 2007 10:34 pm

I don't want to be insulting, but I assume you don't still have a screw attached. There are 3.

dash7540 · #3 Post by **dash7540** » Mon Dec 10, 2007 11:09 pm

No, I took out those three screws of course, as per the manual. It's just that the black thermal substance IBM used is almost an adhesive; I don't want to use too much force to break the systemboard.

However, I haven't taken out the keyboard bezel, does that make a difference? The manual doesn't mention needing to take that out to remove the fan. I just assume once it pops off the CPU/GPU you can pull it towards the right, bypassing the bezel.

#4 Post by **richk** » Mon Dec 10, 2007 11:20 pm

If it is tight, I remove the keyboard bezel as well and lift from the outside edge.. In fact, I almost always remove the KB bezel if the board has the long fan. I thought you had probably removed all the screws, but I saw one sent for repair after some guy took out 2, leaving the one by the GPU, and then cracked the motherboard trying to pry the fan out.

dash7540 · #5 Post by **dash7540** » Mon Dec 10, 2007 11:45 pm

Bah, now I'm having trouble removing the bezel too

The right half of it comes off without a hitch, but the left half feels stuck; I've read somewhere there are plastic tabs holding it in place?

Again I've taken out all the necessary screws according to the manual.

This ThinkPad is going to be the most expensive paperweight I will have ever owned if I don't get this fan out.

#6 Post by **richk** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 12:04 am

There is a tab. I assume you took out the short screw near the fan. The tab slips down next to the case. Just poke something sharp (the tip of a knife or a sharp screwdriver) down between the case and the edge of the bezel by the little screw.

Brad · #7 Post by **Brad** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 12:20 am

I have seen the T42 GPU with the black cement almost impossible to remove. Keep working at and it will come loose. I sometimes very carefully use a flat screwdriver and ever so slightly help it along.

It will come apart even though it may not seem so right now.

Take your time.

Brad

Tim M · #8 Post by **Tim M** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 12:29 am

I had the same problem when removing the fan for a CPU upgrade. The seal between heat sink and CPU die broke easily enough, but I had to use a razor blade slid almost horizontally to free the heat sink from the GPU. Actually, I separated the heat spreader (metal square) from the four dies of the CPU, with the heat spreader and black thermal pad still firmly attached to the copper of the fan heat sink.

Some have been able to separate the black thermal pad from the heat spreader and leave the latter attached to the GPU dies, but I could not. Coincidentally (or not), my GPU temps seem to run a bit high (exceeding 100*C under heavy load), despite replacing thermal compound. Next time I have the laptop open, I might have to check to ensure that all three heat sink screws are tight.

dash7540 · #9 Post by **dash7540** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 6:04 pm

Thanks for all the tips guys. I guess I'm being a bit impatient; I'd rather have this take a week than have a broken systemboard.

Although I have an idea to get rid of the black thermal compound much quicker, but it's probably too risky. I have some of that Arctic Silver Thermal Compound remover - it dissolves that gunk in minutes. The tricky part is applying it with enough precision between the copper and GPU. The dispenser creates rather large drops however, so there's a good chance it'll drip and come into contact with the PCB. If I had some sort of syringe, it may theoretically work.

Brad · #10 Post by **Brad** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 9:11 pm

I would not apply any solvents near the motherboard.

I ran into your trouble recently and like I mentioned I was able to separate the heat sink with a small flat screwdriver by carefully prying up the heat sink from the GPU.

Seems like they will not separate but they will without breaking.

Brad

dash7540 · #11 Post by **dash7540** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 10:44 pm

I finally got the stubborn heatsink off!

I used a very, very thin steel putty spreader and applied steady horizontal pressure across the GPU until it stuck out on the other side.

However, this is not the end of my problem. It appears I've bought a dead fan, unless something is screwy with the systemboard. The new fan won't spin on startup, but I don't receive the fan error message and can boot as normal. I've ran stress benchmarks on the CPU to see if the fan will still spin when temps get high, but to no avail.

On the bright side, Arctic Silver cools much better than that preinstalled black gunk. Temps have dropped as much as 7C than before, but since the fan doesn't work, I need it cool as possible.

Edit: I may have been too optimistic about the temperature drop; the room I used to change and test the new fan is much cooler than the room I normally use the ThinkPad. The temps actually are about the same as before, but probably because I had to put quite a bit of AS5 in order to have the heatsink contact the processors.

Tim M · #12 Post by **Tim M** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 11:04 pm

^^ Is the "black gunk" the thermal pad between the GPU head spreader and copper heat sink assembly? If so, it's ~2 mm thick; you shouldn't be using thermal grease (Arctic Silver or otherwise) to fill such a large gap. Thermal grease should be for closely mated parts only.

agarza · #13 Post by **agarza** » Wed Dec 12, 2007 12:15 am

What I did to make the heatsink contact the GPU was bend a little the copper but at the same type after it contacts about 90% of the GPU core I put a folded piece of paper at the top of the heatsink so that when the keyboard is attached the heatsink would make 100% contact with the GPU.

I didn't quite test the difference in temps between the stock goop the heatsink had and AS5, but it barely reaches 85C at full load.

Tim M · #14 Post by **Tim M** » Wed Dec 12, 2007 3:56 am

^ I'm actually a little surprised that worked. My black goop is intact, but I replaced the thermal grease between the heat spreader and the GPU dies and get load temperatures well above what you have (I have an ATI Radeon 9600 FWIW).

Perhaps I should go in there and use AS 5 while also checking screw tightness for the heat sink.

Does anyone think that removing the heat spreader from the GPU dies might have seriously reduced the heat dissipation capabilities, even though the thermal compound was replaced?

ulrich.von.lich · #15 Post by **ulrich.von.lich** » Wed Dec 12, 2007 4:43 am

In my case, the "black gunk" is the stuff between the GPU and the thermal pad, which is pink in my T43 with X300. It took me nearly 1 hour to take it off. And I scratched the GPU with my student card. Now I can see some silver stuff on it. However it's still working. I think they should have applied something easily to be broke off, maybe it's because I'm not a patient person.

I didn't apply anything on the GPU and now its temperature is 3C higher. But that's all.

Having immense trouble removing fan/heatsink

Having immense trouble removing fan/heatsink

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