Question Is my laptop's GPU dead after repasting?

[Jõuluvana]

Info: So today I decided to change my thermal paste and clean the insides of my Legion Y540 1660 ti, due to poor thermal performance. Having done this before, I meansured time and it took 35 minutes.
In the cleaning I only used a vacuum to suck up some of the dust on the heatsink. On the CPU and GPU, I used isopropyl alchohol to clean off the old paste and applied new paste . I put quite a lot of it and I screwed it tight, and i later saw it was actually way too much. I used Arctic MX4 thermal paste.
Problem: When I turned on the laptop and ran some TS benches, I saw that the CPU was 20C cooler and using 3x the wattage, but the GPU was not detected at all.
When I ran the lenovo software, it didnt detect the GPU. Device manager said that the device had been stopped (code 43). When I tried uninstalling and reinstalling the driver, it no longer said that, but the GPU still wasnt detected.
Also when the PC was on, I heard some pretty audible coil whine in the region and when I disassembled and cleaned it, the GPU was kind of warm. There was thermal paste on the side bumps of the GPU. After thoroughly cleaning, reapplying paste and reassembling the PC, the same issue was still present and the GPU was once again warm after dissassembling (picture).

https://imgur.com/a/TOn47nT

View: https://imgur.com/gallery/TOn47nT

So yeah, is my laptop done for? I think maybe isopropyl alchohol may have shorted it, and when it really dries it might come to life (cope). What could I do to maybe get it working?
I really hope that it's not dead as I won't be able to afford a new one and the laptop has sentimental value to me.
TL; DR: After reapplying thermal paste, GPU is not detected. Am I screwed?

 

[Imperat0r]

Hello mate.
Cleaning electronic pieces and board with isopropyl alcohol was the right thing to do.
I also used it many times to clean laptops, video cards and even on phones.
But, for sure that wasn't the cause for error 43.
That is caused when windows try to access the GPU thru the drivers and it fails.
That on the other hand point to some hardware fault related to GPU.
You said in your post that ...and i quote :

I put quite a lot of it and I screwed it tight

Well i suspect that was a bad move.
If you twisted too much there is a chance that you broke something on the GPU area. Maybe even the GPU itself could have been cracked from the cold solder.
As i said, error 43 is related to GPU.

 

[Jõuluvana]

Hello mate.
Cleaning electronic pieces and board with isopropyl alcohol was the right thing to do.
I also used it many times to clean laptops, video cards and even on phones.
But, for sure that wasn't the cause for error 43.
That is caused when windows try to access the GPU thru the drivers and it fails.
That on the other hand point to some hardware fault related to GPU.
You said in your post that ...and i quote :

Well i suspect that was a bad move.
If you twisted too much there is a chance that you broke something on the GPU area. Maybe even the GPU itself could have been cracked from the cold solder.
As i said, error 43 is related to GPU.

It wasn't that tight, no force was really used, I just turned em until i couldnt easily turn it anymore. Seems more likely the thermal paste shorted it too hard and it died? Is that possible?

 

[Imperat0r]

If you used Arctic MX4 then it was not the cause.
It is one of the best solution you can choose from.
Here is a test :
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/thermal-paste-performance-benchmark,3616-7.html
It is clearly stated :

Electrically Conductive

No

 

[Jõuluvana]

If you used Arctic MX4 then it was not the cause.
It is one of the best solution you can choose from.
Here is a test :
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/thermal-paste-performance-benchmark,3616-7.html
It is clearly stated :

Electrically Conductive

No

Well that is good to hear but also depressing :/ . Well i guess i destroyed something in there.

 

[Eximo]

Doesn't appear that you knocked any of the SMD components off the substrate. And the actual GPU still looks okay. Nothing obviously missing from the motherboard.

A few motherboards for sale with 1660Ti, about $250 if you need to replace it. Otherwise, you can get like RTX 4050/4060 laptops for about $600-700

You may be able to sell your working chassis/display.

 

[Jõuluvana]

Doesn't appear that you knocked any of the SMD components off the substrate. And the actual GPU still looks okay. Nothing obviously missing from the motherboard.

A few motherboards for sale with 1660Ti, about $250 if you need to replace it. Otherwise, you can get like RTX 4050/4060 laptops for about $600-700

You may be able to sell your working chassis/display.

Hm. Thanks.

 

[Jõuluvana]

Doesn't appear that you knocked any of the SMD components off the substrate. And the actual GPU still looks okay. Nothing obviously missing from the motherboard.

A few motherboards for sale with 1660Ti, about $250 if you need to replace it. Otherwise, you can get like RTX 4050/4060 laptops for about $600-700

You may be able to sell your working chassis/display.

I guess I'll be looking to buy a new one when I have enough money. I saw a Dell G16 with 4070 for $1170 that even shipped free to my country, so when the time comes a good deal will exist probably.

 

[Imperat0r]

Hello again.
Is there any repair shop in your area ?
I wouldn't throw it away yet.
If it was my laptop i would have try 1st to repair it.

 

[Jõuluvana]

Hello again.
Is there any repair shop in your area ?
I wouldn't throw it away yet.
If it was my laptop i would have try 1st to repair it.

Sure there are. I emailed a shop but it's the weekend so they haven't replied yet. Currently using it with the iGPU. Honestly it can barely run my main game with this one. It might not be worth it to repair, but rather to buy a new one sometime. Especially considering repairs often aren't very long lasting and it'll probably cost more than an used laptop of this same type.
Edit: but for sure I aint throwing it away. Currently it's an overpowered regular laptop to me.