Michael Carter
10-04-2008, 02:14 PM
I decided today to start taking apart my failed computer system to see what happened.
After replacing the CMOS battery it did boot, but it wouldn't stay running.
I found that after removing the heatsink, there wasn't hardly any paste visible on either the die or the heatsink. In addition, the copper cooling fins were in bad shape flow-wise.
I used some electrical contact cleaner to completely clean the heat sink vents out like new. I also cleaned all of the fans (not too dirty though) and removed the ATI 9800 Pro card and cleaned it too and the fan. This looked fine too upon removal.
Now I was stuck. I forgot to buy thermal paste before this undertaking.
Off to Google to try and find a temporary substitute. I came up with toothpaste with zinc oxide as one of the ingredients. It turns out that the active ingredient in thermal paste is zinc oxide.
I found some Colgate white with this ingredient and then for good measure took the finest file I have and filed up a batch of aluminum power to mix with the toothpaste. It ended up looking very much like Arctic Silver after mixing in the aluminum powder.
The system has been re-assembled and started succesfully. It's running at a stable core temperature of 42°C at idle for the last hour and a half. :D
Unbelievable. :o
You can bet I'm going to be getting the proper paste come Monday. Nothing is open today and I live 40 miles from the nearest shop, but this sure did fix it for now. Nothing but a heat related problem.
After replacing the CMOS battery it did boot, but it wouldn't stay running.
I found that after removing the heatsink, there wasn't hardly any paste visible on either the die or the heatsink. In addition, the copper cooling fins were in bad shape flow-wise.
I used some electrical contact cleaner to completely clean the heat sink vents out like new. I also cleaned all of the fans (not too dirty though) and removed the ATI 9800 Pro card and cleaned it too and the fan. This looked fine too upon removal.
Now I was stuck. I forgot to buy thermal paste before this undertaking.
Off to Google to try and find a temporary substitute. I came up with toothpaste with zinc oxide as one of the ingredients. It turns out that the active ingredient in thermal paste is zinc oxide.
I found some Colgate white with this ingredient and then for good measure took the finest file I have and filed up a batch of aluminum power to mix with the toothpaste. It ended up looking very much like Arctic Silver after mixing in the aluminum powder.
The system has been re-assembled and started succesfully. It's running at a stable core temperature of 42°C at idle for the last hour and a half. :D
Unbelievable. :o
You can bet I'm going to be getting the proper paste come Monday. Nothing is open today and I live 40 miles from the nearest shop, but this sure did fix it for now. Nothing but a heat related problem.