I have an Acer Predator 17x
Model: GX-792-7448
I've owned this for a little over a year.
Yesterday I noticed some artifacting on my screens when I was playing classic world of warcraft, which prompted me to check my CPU/GPU temperatures. GPU was fine, CPU was throttled at 97C. Clearly something was wrong, so I began the troubleshooting process. Started with virus scans and software checks. Clean, and my CPU wasn't being bogged down by any programs. Next I checked the fans. Popped off the bottom, they all worked. Updated my bios (there was a minor new version available), nothing. Backed up my information, reinstalled windows, nothing. Alright cool, went to apply thermal paste.
Simple enough. Disassemble, take off the heat sink, apply a generic bulk paste I had on hand (just to see if that was the issue before I went out and bought better paste). A pea on the CPU, a pea on the GPU, and a nice little spill just under the GPU. Whatever, I thought, wipe it up. I don't have the steadiest hands, but I have 91 isopropyl alcohol on hand. Clean things up, but notice that there is paste stuck under the GPU, which is soldered to the board. Uh oh. The space to get in there is the most razor thin margin. I couldn't get in with the smallest sewing needle I had. So I soaked the area in alcohol and used a small bristle brush I had to scrape out the paste. Seems clean. Clean everything up, let it dry overnight just in case.
Today I reconnect everything, and the GPU isn't recognized by the board. I see television static on the login screen and permanent blue artefacts on the desktop.
My warranty is expired (and well past void anyway). I attempt to call an Acer repair shop somewhere near where I live and ask how much a new board would run me. They apparently didn't have any?
I'm now at a crossroads. At this point I believe I shorted it completely. Should I attempt to bake the motherboard? Would it be worth practicing my soldering skills and attempting to move the GPU chip and replace it with a new one? I did manage to locate a replacement GPU for somewhat cheap. Should I just call Acer directly and play dumb, only describing a shorted GPU and seeing if they'll repair it?
This was an expensive laptop. If it can't be salvaged within regular reasonable means, I'd still like to go to any means necessary to get it working again.
Side note, I checked the temperature of the CPU after applying new paste, and it totally was the previous thermal compound. It would be business as usual if I wouldn't have spilt and smeared the tiniest bit of goop into an uncleanable tiny area. Sigh.
Model: GX-792-7448
I've owned this for a little over a year.
Yesterday I noticed some artifacting on my screens when I was playing classic world of warcraft, which prompted me to check my CPU/GPU temperatures. GPU was fine, CPU was throttled at 97C. Clearly something was wrong, so I began the troubleshooting process. Started with virus scans and software checks. Clean, and my CPU wasn't being bogged down by any programs. Next I checked the fans. Popped off the bottom, they all worked. Updated my bios (there was a minor new version available), nothing. Backed up my information, reinstalled windows, nothing. Alright cool, went to apply thermal paste.
Simple enough. Disassemble, take off the heat sink, apply a generic bulk paste I had on hand (just to see if that was the issue before I went out and bought better paste). A pea on the CPU, a pea on the GPU, and a nice little spill just under the GPU. Whatever, I thought, wipe it up. I don't have the steadiest hands, but I have 91 isopropyl alcohol on hand. Clean things up, but notice that there is paste stuck under the GPU, which is soldered to the board. Uh oh. The space to get in there is the most razor thin margin. I couldn't get in with the smallest sewing needle I had. So I soaked the area in alcohol and used a small bristle brush I had to scrape out the paste. Seems clean. Clean everything up, let it dry overnight just in case.
Today I reconnect everything, and the GPU isn't recognized by the board. I see television static on the login screen and permanent blue artefacts on the desktop.
My warranty is expired (and well past void anyway). I attempt to call an Acer repair shop somewhere near where I live and ask how much a new board would run me. They apparently didn't have any?
I'm now at a crossroads. At this point I believe I shorted it completely. Should I attempt to bake the motherboard? Would it be worth practicing my soldering skills and attempting to move the GPU chip and replace it with a new one? I did manage to locate a replacement GPU for somewhat cheap. Should I just call Acer directly and play dumb, only describing a shorted GPU and seeing if they'll repair it?
This was an expensive laptop. If it can't be salvaged within regular reasonable means, I'd still like to go to any means necessary to get it working again.
Side note, I checked the temperature of the CPU after applying new paste, and it totally was the previous thermal compound. It would be business as usual if I wouldn't have spilt and smeared the tiniest bit of goop into an uncleanable tiny area. Sigh.