Laptop MoBo change

I usually document here my adventures in software/hardware land, for future prosperity and because somebody might learn something.

So over the weekend I started to mess with the old/broken laptops. One 17" died 2 years ago, and it was most likely the MoBo causing the early death, probably because of over heating. My guess is that the series wasn't designed very well, and there wasn't enough aircirculation for the heat created.

Anyhow, 2 years ago getting it fixed would have costed around $300 or more, and for a 100 buck more I could have got a new one, so I didn't see the point of fixing it. I went on ebay, and looked up the Mobo prices. Generally they dropped a lot, around 140-160. That wasn't so bad, but again, this is just an educated guess that the Mobo caused the death.
Anyway, I thought, I would give it a try and try to take it apart. Just as it is, it was a piece of garbage (I used the memory for an other laptop) so messing with it couldn't cause more damage.

I looked up on Youtube how to change a laptop mobo, then got the tools and started the surgery. I kept documenting what I was doing, because I actually want to put the thing back together. Occasionally I took pictures, and took extensive notes. After an hour or so, I actually managed to take it completely apart, hopefully not breaking anything. There was only one confusion at disconnecting the WLAN wires, I wasn't sure if I have to pull, twist or plug them. It was plugging...

Then on Ebay I found a cheaper Mobo for $100 and ordered it. Just in case, I ordered heat sink pasta too, because that is one of the most important thingy, to make sure the heat is taken away from the CPU. So right now I am just waiting for the delivery and hoping that it was indeed the Mobo.

Just out of curiosity, I looked up CPU prices, and I was pleasantly surprised that the CPU is only $30-50. So as a last resort, if after putting it all back the laptop is still dead, I might try a CPU change.

I have already done a mobo change in a laptop, the only difference was here that laptops are more complicated, there is less room, and the wires are more fragile. But other than that, common sense, a little tinkering ability and healthy curiosity usually do the job.

So if it works, I will have a fairly new and huge display laptop for about $120 when the used ones still sell for $500. Let's keep our fingers crossed...

P.S.: Funny thing, but plenty of mobos are aviable from China, for around the same price $140-180. But because the Chinese New Year is this week, I didn't want to wait extra time, so I went with a US seller.

 

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Here is the thing, after the open heart surgery:

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That's the problem when you start to rebuild them. They are OLD and have assorted problems so that when one item is fixed another one soon breaks down due to age. I had a friend who tried doing that with his and after replacing the MOBO he found that the screen went dead as well and until he hooked up the new MOBO he couldn't know that. A used screen for his went for over 200.00! So if you think about the time and money you put into rebuilding and it may or may not work for long then it just makes better sense to buy new stuff because prices aren't that bad today and you get a warranty.

 

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Well, time isn't an issue, because I did it as a hobby project, I like to tinker and learn. Not to mention so far it has been only 2 hours.
The computer was hardly used, I think it went dead in less than a year, so I felt sorry because of it. I generally want a laptop to last 3 years. So there is very little wear and tear so far.

Now to the cost. The seller has an exchange policy, so if after exchanging the mobo it still doesn't work, I can send the new mobo back, and only shipping was lost. This is the masterplan so far:

1. When mobo arrives, put it in and see if it works. It works>>> cost was $120 with heatsink paste included.

2. Mobo is put in, but laptop is still dead. >>> order a CPU and put that in too >>> cost +$30

3. If after both the mobo and CPU change the laptop is still dead, declare a loss, send whatever can be sent back. Cost should be only heat paste, shipping and maybe CPU>>>> less than $80

So as I see it, if everything fails, I lose around $80 and a few hours of my time, but I learn valuable skills with laptops and if I need to do it again, I will know what to look for etc.

The risk/reward return in the whole project is rather good, I might lose less than a hundred bucks, but gain a $500 hardly used laptop and some skills. That is a pretty good deal in my book.

 

But for how long before another component goes bad? That's always the problem when rebuilding anything, other parts can and do go bad after you fix the primary problem. In todays market you can find a good new laptop for about 400.00 or less if you go with a notebook instead and as I said before you get a warranty with it so if it fails you get a new one.

 

Oh I see. Sure, that is a gamble, but again, I looked at the problem as a challenge, not particulary as a practical or money saving project. If I get 1 year out of it, I say it was worth it.

We already have too many laptops at home, I don't need another new one. I have just realized that the other one with a little display problem just runs fine with Linux, so I am keeping it upstairs, so I don't have to carry a laptop.

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So I got the mobo this morning. The heatsink paste is still in the mail, but of course I couldn't wait. So I put it together, it was actually rather painless, I just had to follow my notes.

I smeared a little old paste on the CPU, just in case. I turned it on, and the power button was flashing, the DVD player making noise, the fan spinning, but otherwise the same old big dark nothing on the screen. Oh well, I said, it was too good to be true.

So I went online and tried to find what the symptoms are for a dead CPU. One guy mentioned don't forget to connect the CPU's 4 pined cabel. I didn't remember doing it, or if there was such a cabel. I took the heat sink off and took a look. Sure enough there was no such cabel, but I forgot to tighten the srcew on the CPU that makes the pins real tight. So I did that, and pushed the power button.

AND THE COMPUTER TURNED ON LIKE NOTHING HAPPENED IN THE LAST 15 MONTHS!!!!

It is working beautifully, bringing up the last websites (the damn kid was messing around with it) accessed back in 2010 October. I was yelling and screaming, I was so happy!!!

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I am now a certified computer technician! Well, not really, but that was a major surgery...

So the cost of the mobo with shipping was $104, and I am still waiting for the heat paste to arrive, just to be sure.

One thing I liked about that laptop was its huge screen, it was like watching a small TV.

Anyhow, I am happy and waiting for the next electronic device to break down....

 

Well that's great, I have a broken down old IBM laptop I need repaired, can I send it to you?

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Sure, although if it is old, it is not worth it usually.

The reason why I wanted to save this one was because it was hardly used (less than a year) and 17" huge screen. It still costs 450-500 bucks, used.

 

Glad I could help.

 

Right now I am checking the overheating situation. So far showing 67C for GPU and 44C for the Core. I remember this laptop used to got so hot that it was burning my lap. We shall see.....

 

OK, so now from the fixed mobo issue, we move to the cooling issue. I use this board as a short of journal. I remembered posting about the overheating issue and sure enough this is the old thread:

http://sciforums.com/showthread.php?t=98473&highlight=overheating

Apparently, the temperature got up to 85C. I am 100% sure that one killed the video chip, thus the dead mobo. I guess I should have got the Cool Master earlier.

Right now on the desk the temperature of the GPU is 68-73C (41-44C for the core), the fan keep coming on and off. Generally I don't want the GPU to be above 70C, so I am going to order a cooling pad for large laptops:

http://www.amazon.com/Cooler-Master-NotePal-Notebook-R9-NBC-8PCK-G/dp/B003ZMF27G/ref=pd_vtp_e_4

This one got excellent reviews and the fans (3 of them) can be placed everywhere where the heat is generated.

So what did we learn here? Keep your laptop cool, and you can avoid a mobo change. Of course I blame it on the kids, they left it on the couch probably and that's when it died. So keep your laptops away from the kids!!!

P.S.: One other good program beside Speedfan 4.46 is CPUID Hardware Monitor to measure the temperature.

 

Wait...the new mobo you replaced is dead?....or were you talking about what killed the old one?

 

What killed the old one.

Now I have ran into an interesting question. What is the normal average working temperature a particular laptop? I looked up, and looks like that this Acer Aspire's average temperature is rather hot, but that is normal. So if 70C GPU is normal, then it might not need extra cooling.

My other laptop's working temperature is lower for comparison. The core is 35-37C. One reason is that it gets air inflow from the sides, so even when it is sitting on a bed, the air can go in and out.

I have been looking at cooling pads, but first, I don't need them to be angled, but I need it to be rather large. So far I haven't decided, but again, I am not really sure I need one, as long as I keep the airflow moving under the laptop. Just to be safe, I am probably going to get one just out of curiosity, but again, it might be operating at its normal (although high) temperature.

So anyone have an idea how to figure out a normal operating temperature?? By normal I mean that the laptop can run for 3 years, shall we say. I guess I can google the brand and see what people using the same model say...

 

Alright, the thermal paste has arrived, read the instructions, and applied it, including cleaning the surfaces with the 2 special liquid. After having it used for a good 20 minutes, I don't see much difference. If anything, it is slightly warmer. GPU is between 70-75C most of the time, core is 48-52C.

I think I figured out why the GPU gets so hot. The heat rod is screwed down to the CPU, but after that there is no other tightening. So when it reaches the GPU, it is above it, but it is not pushed down so it would touch it, no matter what. I guess when I put the cover back, it hlpe to push the rod down, but when I first removed the rod, I could see that the paste wasn't smeared completely, thus no full contact.

Anyhow, still researching and testing. I wonder why can't the fan run all the time? Would that be a problem for a laptop? I don't think so, so why don't they make them running all the time?

 

I think they do it save battery life. You were talking about getting a cooling pad...maybe that would be a good idea.

 

You probably had a thermal "pad" between the GPU and the heatsink itself... they used them in place of thermal paste sometimes... if you replaced that with paste, it's a no-go...

 

Hm, you might be right. I am trying to remember what it was. I think it was still paste, because I found paste leftover on it, if I remember well.

I am blowing air at different part of the bottom, just to see which openings needs cooling. Funny thing is that one blow got the GPU down nicely but increased the core's temperature.

I guess the plan is that tomorrow I buy a cheapo cooling pad and see if it works, and if it does, I order a nicer one online... I am also considering to get a thermal pad (2-3$) and put it on the Nvidia chip, just to see it that helps. I really don't recall which one was on it, but yes, pad makes more sense, because of the gap between the surfaces...

 

Answer depends on a lot of factors. Intel or AMD? Intel iSeries? By far the coolest CPU's out there are the iCore's as they scale their clock speeds very well. Typically the CPU fan for them lives right on the brink though, if it's in the proximity of a GPU the default fans won't handle it. ASUS is a quality company, and likely took it into consideration. It sounds to me like you have one of the fashionable -- home-laptops. Systems which are basically designed to be used as desktops...all in the form factor of a laptop.

 

Maybe I am just worrying too much, since once bitten, and as long as the laptop isn't too hot on the bottom (checked by hand), there is no problem at all. Anyhow in the power management I set the CPU speed to low, thus it will run in the possible minimum heat generating mode.
I am trying to set the fan to always run, or lowering the kick in temperature, but so far I haven't figured it out how. I checked in the BIOS, but there was no fan setting, although this was supposed to be one solution. Also, Speedfan has a fan controlling feature, but for some reason that doesn't work on this laptop, simply it doesn't ashow any fans.

I don't care if the fan runs more often or even always, I just don't want it to overheat.

Edit: Since I have changed the CPU speed, the CPU's temperature is noticably lower, by at least 10C, it is around 50C right now....