Problem...

[NoctisReitop]

I just reapplied the thermal compound on the cpu and video card of my lap top, and now none of my fans will come on. Even the fan for the ram won't come on, which is an area that I did not touch... Any idea what could be going on???

[Phosphorous]

Any dust or anything in the fans? I know it sounds obvious, but it's possible. Maybe you bumped a power connector that controls the power for the fans?

[NoctisReitop]

Nah, I cleaned my fans real well when I reapplied the compound. I made sure to fit the connectors snug, but what's wierd, the fan for my ram (I didn't even open the ram bay) will not work either.

[Lead Head]

What about temperatures?

[NoctisReitop]

Problem solved. I suppose this post was premature. But to answer the question of temps, they got hot (didn't record them) within seconds of powering up. Seems something happend with my bios. Called tech support, and they gave me an upgrade for the bios. Fans cut right back on. I didn't call them immediately because I was afraid of having a warranty issue with me disassembling my computer. But everything's fine. Thanks anyway, guys. Sorry about this.

Edit:
Well, it turns out that there was a square of metal (aluminum or possibly silver) between the GPU and CPU. I always took for granted that the silver colored material was the contact plate for the heat sink. In the past I just added the thermal compound to the silver looking plate because that's what they told me to do (long time ago, was the first time I had to deal with it). Wrong. When I took my graphics card apart, I noticed that the, what I thought was the contact plate, was wrinkled. I picked at it, and it peeled up! I peeled the whole thing off to find that there was more (and very poorly applied) thermal interface material between the silver colored square and the golden copper (real) contact plate. It was that plastic wax kind of stuff that melts into place eventually. I cleaned both the contact plates (processor and heatsink) to the best of my ability, then lapped the sinks on both the cpu and gpu. Applied Arctic Silver 5. Bolted it back together, and I've never seen my laptop at these temps. It's at least 10 degrees Centigrade cooler. My processor actually hit temps in the forties. My old idle temps have become my new load temps. I can't believe that I didn't do this years ago.

Here's how much thermal compound was between my cpu and my "tin." This is before I cleaned it...


Here's the "tin"


You guys ever deal with a tin like this? And also, if I were to separate the heat sink and processor after applying the new thermal grease, is that grounds for reapplication? I'm not sure if that would allow air bubbles into the grease and ruin the efficiency of the heat transfer.

[OCNoob]

If I ever saw a heatsink shed some skin, that'd be it.

Sounds to me that some jerk in assembly didn't do what they were supposed to.

[NoctisReitop]

Originally Posted by OCNoob

Sounds to me that some jerk in assembly didn't do what they were supposed to.

Amen... Except this has been happening CONSTANTLY. I really don't have words. So many components and aspects have gone this way. You can check this post for everything else that's happened like that.

[Sumgai]

That's some tough luck, but hey, nothing broke and your temps are down! Gald you got it all sorted out man.