global Laptop and motherboard repair tutorial | Page 58
don’t use the dropper and dip a Q-Tip into the flux bottle to apply the flux.
Fan Mod
Modification of the Laptops Fan Thermal Control Feature cannot be done on all fans. Matter of
fact, there are few models that will allow this. The laptops CPU/GPU fan is thermal controlled, and
certain fans using a fourth controller wire can allow you to disable the fan speed control and run the
fan at full speed – full time.
Take for instance the fan used on the HP DV series (not all)(the TX,2000,6000,9000 models) use
a white wire (4 wires total) as the thermal controller wire. If you remove this white wire, the fan will
run at full speed the whole time it is powered on. If you attempt this on a different model and you go
to power it on but the fan doesn’t spin at all… You will not be able to Mod that fan and will have to
re-plug the wire back in… Doing this and having it not work will not harm the laptop or ―blow
anythingǁ.
To do the mod, you need your Micro-sized flat head screwdriver to pull the plug wire lock
upward to release the wire from the plug tip. Look on the white plug tip of the fan, you will see thin
locking tabs on only one side (the opposite side is the flat side). This is the tab you will be prying up
to release the wire from its housing. You will take the wire that you removed and bend it upward
securing it to the wire set using electrical tape or using heat shrink wire tubing (purchased in
electronics or home improvement stores).
Why A Thermal Pad Is Used, Not Paste or Shims
Laptop components such as the GPU and CPU and integrated RAM will generate heat when in
use. And the Laws of Science and Physics will tell you that any part that heats and cools will also
expand and contract. Why do you think the heat-sinks on the CPU/GPU all have some sort of spring
loaded mechanism to secure them, whether it is heat treated metal that will allow for flexing; or,
screws on Riser posts that have metal springs attached to them.
The CPU does not generate as much heat as the GPU and is why using thermal paste is sufficient.
Certain GPUs will generate more heat than others, and it is usually the GPUs that have the
Southbridge chipset integrated into them making the chip both the GPU and Southbridge Chipset in
one. It is imperative that a thermal pad is used. Again, why do you think the manufacturers use them;
definitely not to ―cut costsǁ; they’re used for a reason.
Thermal Pads are used on the GPU to allow for the natural expansion and contraction of the Chip
and the upper flip chip that is secured to all GPUs. You can’t physically see this occurrence, yet it
does happen. Laptop motherboard repairing deals a lot with Science and Physics along with
Electronics, so it is good to know a little of each of these categories of study, the more you understand
of each… the better.
If you replace the pad with something like a Copper Shim, you run the risk of applying too much
pressure to the upper ―flipǁ chip and damaging it or its BGA connection to the GPU chip. ―Yahǁ,
you will find a lot of people on the internet telling you that you should use a shim to replace the pad…
Yet they have no clue what they’re talking about… they do not know how these components operate to
educate anyone on the subject. A shim can be used on GPUs that do not generate massive amounts of
heat, like some Intel GPUs or certain ATI GPUs but I neither condone; nor recommend you do this.
If you remove the thermal pad thinking you can just apply some ―freshǁ silver paste to the GPU…
you are wrong. There is a ―gapǁ between the heat-sink and the GPUs upper flip chip, so if you use
only paste on the GPU, the heat-sink will not make contact with the surface of the GPU… the paste is
not thick enough, and the heat-sink must sit on the surface to properly dissipate the heat.