Compaq_CQ60 Before RepairCompaq CQ60-215DX Overheat Repair
Compaq to the right was idling at a high 85+ celsius, which is overheat range. Bottom of laptop was extremely hot. Customer brought it in thinking it was virus related. Customer stated “it began running very slow for weeks ago and shutting down on it’s own, and would not start back up right away.” I felt the bottom of laptop, and installed a temperature program and ran a simple disk cleanup while the customer was still present.
Simple disk cleanup shot the temperature from 85-96 celsius. The laptop was overheating, this was the main problem, viruses were detected and removed later after the repair.
Basic Symptoms Of An Overheating Laptop: bottom of laptop very hot, keyboard palmrest area hot, screen lines or distortion, laptop periodically just powers off, cpu & gpu temperature of 70-80+ celsius.
Another blog article here: Temperature Monitoring Software. Install one of these programs, if your CPU temperature is 70+ celsius your running to hot, if it’s 80+ celsius your laptop is overheating.
Long term, excessive overheating will damaged the motherboard. Excessive heat will damage the hard drive, and the data you store on that drive. If you own a laptop, make sure you have ANY important data backed up, ALWAYS! Overheated laptop sually ends up with a damaged video graphics chip resulting in no display, black screen on laptop.
Compaq_CQ60 Fan HeatsinkTo the right, is the Compaq CD60-215DX motherboard, heatsink and fan assembly on this laptop. Attached by 4 screws, the copper tube covers the video graphics chip which runs to the fan unit.
The fan is suppose to cool this heated copper tube (heatsink), exhaust hot air out of laptop, thus cooling the cpu & graphics chip. The 2 main heatsources in a laptop.
Looks clean doesn’t it?
Few photos down you’ll see it is not so.
Compaq_CQ60-215DXPhoto here to the right is the fan heatsink assembly removed.
The factory thermal compound has poorly applied, and deteriorated.
The blue thermal pad covers the graphics chip, when heatsink is in place. Thermal does not transfer heat very well, So that will be removed. Plus all the old thermal compound cleaned off also.
Compaq CQ60-215DXPhoto to the right >>>>
The Compaq CQ-215DX cpu copper heatsink contact area. Old thermal compound all cleaned off, polished with a very fine wet grit sandpaper and cleaned good with alcohol. The smoother the finish on the copper surface contact area, the better heat transfer & cooling properties. The small silver square was also cleaned & polished, this is the graphics chip contact area on the heatsink.
Impurities, scratches, lines, bumps even the smallest in the factory copper contact area, can produce an very small air gaps, which can produce extra heat.
Compaq CQ60-215DX FanFan Removed From Heatsink >>>>
Still wondering why your laptop feels very hot, and is shutting down?
Yes, that is dust, hair and what ever else. At one time, the laptop pulled air into through the laptops cool air intake vent, and is suppose to exhaust the laptops internal heat out of the laptop. Not happening anymore with this Compaq CQ-215DX laptop, with what you see here.
Compaq CQ60-215DX FanSame heatsink exhaust (last photo above) now clean. >>
When build up is very thick, as you seen in last photo above, this can only be cleaned by dis-assembly of the laptop. If you are able to blow out from outside grill area, the large dust clumps have no where to go but right back into the fan exhaust area, which will block the exhaust again very quickly. It might even jam the fan up with the dust clumps!
Compaq CQ60-215DXNvidia Graphics Chip & CPU Processor Chip >>>
Cleaned And polished, ready for fresh thermal compound.
That is Kapton heat tape (yellow tape) placed on the ceramic outer area of the video graphics chip. This will prevent the outer contact area on the chip from making any contact with the copper shim, from possibly shorting out.
MozyHome remote, automatic daily computer data backup $5.99 per month
Compaq CQ60 Thermal PasteArctic Cooling MX-2 Thermal Compound Applied >>
- Non Conductive
- Spreads easily with an old credit card
- No Cure Time
- 8 Year Durability
Compaq CQ60 Copper ShimHP’s Thermal Pad Removed Off GPU >>>
Copper Shim Installed On GPU.
Will also add thermal compound to the backside of this copper. This side makes contact with the heatsink once the heatsink is fully installed back to the motherboard & this hardware.
Compaq CQ60-215DXFan Heatsink Re-Installed >>>
This is the Video Graphics Chip, thermal pad removed, copper shim and thermal compound applied.
Compaq CQ60 After RepairAfter Compaq CQ60-215DX repair, and first boot >>>
- CPU booted up at 48 Celsius (Before repair 85)
- Video Graphics booted up at 47 celsius (Before repair 90)
Motherboard Bio’s updated to current version dropped temperatures down a few more degrees to 39-42 celsius.
That is an average 40-45 degree drop in temperature! Good range now!
Under full load stress test, I could not get CPU temperature any higher than 54 celsius. Stress test or “Burn In” test ran for 3 hours straight, full load, 100% on the CPU. Full load before repair was 95-115+ celsius!
Just extended the life of this Compaq CQ60-215DX!
All HP laptops are prone to overheating due to the use of the thermal pad on graphics chip, and poorly applied thermal compound by the factory. Combine this with a blocked internal exhaust, and it’s only a matter of time before laptop fails completely.
Main Problems I Find In Overheating Laptops:
1 – Blocked Internal Fan Exhaust
2 – Poor Quality, Poorly Applied Thermal Compound By Manufacture
3 – Use Of Thermal Pads By Manufacture, Or Some Type Of Silver Tape Paste
4 – The Environment Laptop Is Used In & How You Use Your Laptop
Few other notes on this particular Compaq CQ60-215DX:
The rear exhaust vent is angled down and almost under the laptop. When the screen is open this also blocks the exhaust vent some what. The cool air intake vent on the bottom is about 2? away from the exhaust. Due to the location of this exhaust vent, the cool air intake might be pulling in the hot air from the exhaust being so close, and on bottom. Another poor design by HP! Plain & simple,, they are designed to fail after the first year, just out of warranty.
What I recommend in the future: keep your laptop vents clear and clean, and stay away from ANYTHING that has “HP, Compaq, Presario, Pavilion, or Hewlett Packard stamped on it! Poor design, poor defective products, poor service, and battery recalls for overheat sometimes resulting in fire,, all from HP.
Heat is the ultimate death sentence for ANY laptop! High heat, cooling problem needs to be corrected BEFORE the graphics hardware, or entire motherboard fails completely due to the heat. Hard drives do not like heat either, they will fail quickly to. If you are here and reading this article, make sure your important data is backed up, ALWAYS! If your setup with already with MozyHome Remote Backup $5.99 Per Month your data is backed up, no worries and you can recover your files at any time if disaster strikes.
How To Keep Your Laptop From Overheating Article
PCTech Computer Repair Augusta GA
Performs This Internal Cleaning & Cooling Modification For $75.
Parts Labor Included.
FREE 2GB On Line Remote Backup To Try Compliments Of MozyHome
Siteground Web Hosting $9.95 For 1 Year!
MozyHome Remote On Line Computer Backup, Automatic, Safe and Easy! $5.99 Per Month!
Article Source: Augusta PC Repair
0 comments
Post a Comment