Dell Inspiron E1505 - Reseating Heatsink Question.

[GreyMachine]

Hello,

My 5 year old laptop has been running very hot and Ive had trouble streaming video. I opened up the system and removed a large amount of dust which helped but has not solved the problem so Ive decided to put some new thermal grease on the heat sink to see if i can drop my CPU temperatures.

I tried to read a little on line and came across this thread, which shows some pictures of the heat sink removed (pics are below).

http://forum.notebookreview.com/dell/187569-moterboard-replacement-6400-e1505-thermal-compound-pad-question.html

Here is a picture of the heat sink (with the CPU contact point, on the right, where thermal grease is applied and the MCH contact point, on the left, where a thermal pad is used).

And here is an image of the mother board where the heat sink contact the CPU and the MCH.

The guy in the thread removed the old thermal grease on the cpu contact point and removed the thermal pad on the MCH contact point, put on thermal grease, screwed on the heat sink, took it off and realized that the thermal pad was needed to make contact with the MCH. This makes sense because if you look at the picture you can see that the MCH is slightly lower than the CPU, and they contact the same heat sink, so the extra depth of the thermal pad is needed to make contact with the MCH.

What I would like to know is can I just pull off the heat sink, clean off the thermal grease on the CPU contact point, apply new thermal grease and use the old thermal pad? If i cant use the old thermal pad i guess the only solution would be to buy a new heatsink from dell, which should come with a new thermal pad. Any ideas?

Thanks in advance.

 

[N.Broekhuijsen]

You should be able to reuse the old pad, as long as you make sure that all the old paste is cleaned off it. Also make sure the pad makes good contact between the pad and the heatsink.

Once you have reapplied it, monitor your temperatures well, if its better, then good job, if its not... hmmm, go to a store and get some new heatsink pads. You should be able to find them someplace.

 

[beanoslim]

As above, just pick any small bits of dust etc off the thermal pad if there is any use tweasers if you have to, should be ok otherwise just buy a replacement thermal pad.

Apply a very thin layer of thermal paste to your cpu and give the cpu and heatsink contact point a good clean before hand.

 

[N.Broekhuijsen]

" What I would like to know is can I just pull off the heat sink, clean off the thermal grease on the CPU contact point, apply new thermal grease and use the old thermal pad? If i cant use the old thermal pad i guess the only solution would be to buy a new heatsink from dell, which should come with a new thermal pad. Any ideas? "

yes.

Wrong. No.
yes, you can use the old thermal pad, but you will probably get better results with a new one. However, to get a new one you do NOT need to buy a new heatsink from dell, you just get a loose thermal pad.

 

[N.Broekhuijsen]

i meant yes...
I'll make it more clear and go back and edit for you..

hey wow take it easy.. Just trying to help the OP ok?

Peace?

 

[GreyMachine]

Best answer selected by GreyMachine.