Clean a laptop heatsink

Ivan · Aug 2004

catrebligtx · Mar 2007

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for this article. I used to take my A35-S159 in for repair when this happened since it was under warranty. But now that I would have to pay for the work myself, I figured I needed to learn how to do this myself. I can take desktop computers apart and put back together in my sleep but this is the first laptop I've owned. Like some of the others who responded to this, I dropped screws inside the laptop and got a blank screen when I turned the computer back on. But it's working now, and it's great. I thought I was doing something wrong when reassembling but then I found this article that indicated that the cpu won't go back in with any resistance. I spent over an hour trying to get it back in thinking it was supposed to resist. So again, thank you. This article saved me a whole lot of time and frustration.

primesuspect · Mar 2007

You're welcome :) Hang around short-media, there's lots more good stuff where this came from :p

mrmac · Nov 2008

Thankyou SOOOOO much for the pics & info; laptop is now running like new AND I've got a new stick on goatee made of fluff.

You rock :o)

Mike · Jan 2009

Great howto, works perfectly. Just did it to my Toshiba Satellite for the first time since I got it 5.5 years ago. I'm pretty sure the performance is improved and it's definitely running cooler and quieter. I had to make due with a T10 instead of a T9 bit... if you do this, try to have the right tools on hand!

NorahBatty · Feb 2009

I was delighted when I found this article as my Toshiba A-30 was behaving just like all the others mentioned here. It is almost five years old. I did everything in the article but when I put it together again power came on but nothing else. The HDD light blinked once then went off. Went through process again and found one pin bent flat in the corner. Didn't have a dental tool like Audsnends but managed to lift it upright with a sewing needle. Only problem is it still has a curve in it. I'm such a neophyte I don't know if I should attempt to straighten the pin myself. How robust are the pins? Would it withstand using a tweezers to straighten it? Can anyone help please? The CPU seemed to move a bit on the paste but since it went back in o.k. I figured I had lined it up correctly but maybe not. I do hope I can get help on this as I reallly don't want to have to spend money bringing it to the repair shop.

Phil · Apr 2009

Hey, I have had my lappy shutting off like crazy, and now i know it isnt just a piece of crap, it is overheating wow!

Yaf · Jun 2009

Hi,
I had the same problem, my laptop is less than a year old. It would shut down after long periods of simple surfing, however whenever i tried to play a game it would shut down after about 5-10 mins.

I tried opening up the laptop, Satellite A300D but it was a little more intimidating then i thought it would be so i settled with blowing pressured air through the fan outlet and all the other openings and that seems to have done it for me. Now can feel alot more air coming out and its still cool after 30mins.

worth a try before opening it up, but thanks for the info.

Jay · Jun 2009

Thanks, great guide :)

Marty · Aug 2009

The CPU is definitely NOT glued to the heatsink.

The thermal paste may be dry and require heating up with a hair dryer and sliding a razor blade between the IHS and the heatsink.

Mine didn't even need this. Simply prying it off with a credit card did the trick. Cleaned it up, applied Arctic Silver 5 and put it all back together. No problem. No shutdowns.

Thrax · Aug 2009

It entirely depends on your heatsink, CPU, manufacturer, thermal grease, etc. Some thermal adhesives, particularly from OEMs, are part adhesive, part TIM.

Mozzman · Sep 2009

If you own a Toshiba and your having this problem, theres a very simple solution. Sell it and NEVER buy a Toshiba again. Overheating is a very evry common problem with Toshiba's for one of 2 reasons. 1. They dont know how to cool thier systems properly or 2 they consume way too much power overheating the CPU. I have run comparison tests with Toshiba's, Asus and HP laptops and found that the HP and Asus laptops would run at about 30 degrees celcius while the Toshiba ran at around 70. This was sitting idle. If you pushed it, the HP and Asus would reach around 40 degrees while Toshiba could get up to 100 and switch off. Its simple, stay away from Toshiba's as they have no clue how to build a laptop. I have an A70 and an A200 with the same overheating problem and have many clients with the same issues.

Aaron · Oct 2009

I don't have any thermal paste, canned air or isopropyl alcohol. I know I could troll about town finding them, but I'm just wondering if I can take the heat sink out, remove the bulk of the dust like a clothes dryer filter and put it back in without dealing with the paste etc.
Is that an OK temporary fix? I'm not really confident with hardware :)

Lincoln · Oct 2009

You can get by without the canned air probably - just suck it out with a vacuum. The thermal paste is ABSOLUTELY necessary if you remove the heatsink from the processor (you will DESTROY your computer if you don't re-apply paste afterwards), and isopropyl alcohol is like $1 at the corner drugstore.

Will T · Oct 2009

Thanks so much, this solved my problem after I had spent countless hours trying to fix an overheating A30

Armagan D. · Nov 2009

Greetings from Istanbul. Thanks a lot mcwc. I wouldn't have dared to touch any screws on my laptop if it weren't for this article. Having summoned my courage here, I found this: where they provide a hardware maintenance manual for IBM-LENOVO 3000 N200 (and N100) series . This manual makes stuff really easy, provided you read it thoroughly before you begin and follow the instructions verbatim. I cleaned a ton of grime and dust from my fan and now everything's good as new. (The only thing that made me a little uneasy was Lenovo's strict recommendation about using a set of screws, which are all nylon coated, only once. But who gives a flying ... !) Cheers and thanks again :)

Armagan D. · Nov 2009

Ooops! The web addresses I posted in my previous comment are sifted out. You can still get there from here. The title of the page is: Lenovo Support & Downloads - Hardware Maintenance Manual - Lenovo N100 (type 0689, 0768), N200 (type 0769). Just google it to download a 13MB pdf manual.

Frank W · Nov 2009

I've had my A30 for 5 years and it recently started freezing occasionally (a total halt or freeze type crash), usually when using Firefox. Updated RAM to 2 GB about a year ago, RAM seems OK.

Thanks mcwc, I used your info to clean the slightly dirty heatsink. Btw dental floss good for cleaning heatsink. Maybe the cleaning will get rid of the freeze. I saw some dust on cpu pins, maybe it was causing static & the freeze.

I read elsewhere that static electricity can cause freeze in A30 & similar Toshibas. Toshiba has a cure with a little mod but I don't have details.

I still like this notebook so might put in a 320 GB HD - WD WD3200BEVE.

ken · Dec 2009

hmm, i hav a toshiba laptop Satelite L200, hav the same prb, auto restart, but include with one more prb, screen display come with strange visual image like freeze. Having hard time disassemble it, do u hav any idea to do it?

ken · Dec 2009

hmmm...i hav a toshiba laptop Satelite L200, hav the auto-shut down prb and screen always freeze with weird visual. Having hard time to disassemble it. Any idea?

Angelo · Dec 2009

Thanks a lot very useful :).
Ciao

Chris · Jan 2010

This is a great method of getting your laptop back into working order. One tip for anybody who gets it all back together to find the machine won't boot, don't forget to lock your CPU after you put it back in. If it isn't locked it won't boot.

Sam · Feb 2010

Thanks for the article. Dead useful.

I found that when I put everything back together it wouldn't boot (see other posts above, black screen, fans whirring but nobody home etc).

Spent half an hour cursing before realising I hadn't unlocked the CPU in the first place. Go back in, unlock it and lock it back in. Booted up first time.

Thanks again
Sam

bahman · Mar 2010

hello, I want to run agame in my laptop Toshiba- satellite A60 , but as a massage which I receive it needs to A128 MB video card with support for Pixel shader 2.0 , so I don't know what's my video card and what should I do ?
THank you for your attention.

bren · Mar 2010

Great article. Thanks very much. The cleaning went just fine. However, I can't get the processor to seat properly despite multiple retries. It seems to be lined up OK and there are no bent pins. The machine won't boot up. Maybe the overheating has already damaged it ?. Again, many thanks. Best wishes, Bren.

batman007 · Jul 2010

Unregistered said:
Thanks for your instructions, but I need more help. I did as you suggested with the exception of taking off the CPU. However, I put it back together after cleaning, and I can hear my computer come on, and the fan runs, but I get nothing on the screen (as if only the electrical parts are running). Do you have any suggestions?

I have the same problem. Did you fin a soluyion?

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