Fan error -> GPU stuck to cooling fan/heat sink

[dalailama]

About two weeks ago, my T42p came up with the common "fan error" message, so I purchased a new fan off of eBay, thinking it would be an easy fix. Unfortunately, after taking the entire machine apart, the heat sink assembly that is attached to the fan (the "long" part of the extended fan) is stuck to the GPU unit. Is this a common issue?

I've been trying my hardest to get it off, even mangling the old fan unit to an extent since I am replacing it, but it's still stuck in place regardless of my best efforts(see picture below). The HMM recommends getting a flat object in under the heat sink to get it away from the CPU, which is already done, but there is no easy way (that I can tell) to get anything out from under the unit covering the GPU.

If somebody could take a look at this and figure out if I'm being completely dense and overlooking something obvious, or if it's just being as stubborn as I think, it would be great. Based on the fact that the heat sink copper "sandwich" is actually separating in the bottom-left corner of the GPU, you can tell just how stuck the darn thing is.

Anyone have any experience with this happening? And if so, what did you do to fix it?



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[jimmy274]

I know what you mean... I have the same problem in my T41, but I just wanted to apply some Arctic Silver on the CPU, and eventually I laid off the darn thing.
The way that some people on this forum did it is by using dental floss. You just put it between the GPU and the heatsink (sandwich) and pull.
Bear in mind that I haven't tried this, but I'll have to try it soon - the cooler is getting rather dusty and noisy and I will need to take it off to clean it and do some oiling.

[FTC]

Hi,

The part of the heatsink that goes on top of the GPU is composed of two copper sheets, glued together (one being the big heatsink itself, and the other being a square almost as big as the GPU). Then under those there is a black goop which is not glue but quite sticky, and then a 'gum like' pink sheet between the goop and the gpu itself.

It may be the case that you or someone has removed the pink 'gum' sheet to get better contact and then it is quite common for the black goop to stick to the GPU.

BUT what I see in your picture is that you have beeen applying force to *separate* the two copper sheets. This is very difficult and not what you should do (they are heavily bonded). You should insert the fine screwdriver or whatever *under* both copper sheets but on top of the GPU and apply force very carefully avoiding damaging the GPU. maybe this way it is easier. You can also use a credit card under the screwdriver to protect the GPU...

[ulrich.von.lich]

I would recommend using a razor blade to separate them. It's from another forum member's idea which helped me out. Patience is the key here.

[Nick Y]

>>You should insert the fine screwdriver or whatever *under* both copper sheets but on top of the GPU and apply force very carefully avoiding damaging the GPU.

Lever the screwdriver gently up and down; don't twist the screwdriver -according to the h/w manual.

Someone else has suggested running the laptop for a little while to warm up the GPU and hence perhaps make the black gunge easier to remove.

My suggestion is to plug the new fan in, with it hanging loose, to check that it is the fan that is dead and not the motherboard.

(Speaking from lack of experience; only about 10 days to go before Lenovo send me my replacement fan -after nearly 6 weeks of waiting! Then I will gain hands-on experience.)

[Tim M]

Another option is separating the copper sandwich + black goop + whitish metal heat spreader of the GPU from the core + memory. I wound up doing this with a razor blade, but of course the risk of damaging the GPU is greater. I also suspect that I'm not getting as good heat transfer after separating the heat spreader from the chip, even though I carefully applied AS 5. Perhaps a thermal adhesive would have been better, as it seems this is what was originally used to attach the heat spreader to the GPU core + memory.