Still problems after replacing fan

[stano5]

Hi,

I have a HP Compaq G56 laptop. Last week the screen started going black intermittently with the computer still running. I used a flashlight to check if the backlight had gone out and everything was still on screen. I put some pressure on the plastic bezel below the screen and on the corner of the keyboard and it came on again. It did this continuously for a while then it did shut down. It was getting very hot even the keyboard was heating. I switched it back on again and it said it was a thermal shutdown. I figured that the fan needed replacing as it just seemed to remain at the same low speed all the time so I bought a new fan and installed it but the screen going black is still persisting. Any ideas or feedback would be really appreciated.

Cheers.

 

[C12Friedman]

I think you're looking at two different problems in the laptop 1) Loose/faulty graphics cable - replacement ~$10-$40 and 2) heatsink/fan not installed correctly.
First the video cable, this is a known issue on some laptop models where the cable gets worn, replacing the cable usually corrects that.
Now to address the heatsink/fan assembly... when the HSF was replaced, was all thermal compound cleaned off and replaced with fresh compound? That is a vitally important step, also important is that the proper amount be applied, too much or too little can reduce the effectiveness of the compound. Was the screw pattern followed for tightening? I might suggest remounting the heatsink - there have been times in the past it took me three or four mountings of a laptop heatsink before I got it to work right

 

[stano5]

Hi C12Friedman,

Thank you for your reply and advice. I will be picking up some thermal paste this evening and will re-do the heatsink tomorrow. I've seen various videos on applying thermal compound, some advise using a credit card to spread it out, others go with letting the heatsink spread it out when the screws are tightened. Is there a correct way or are both effective?

Thanks again.

 

[C12Friedman]

There are different schools of thought on thermal paste application but often the method used is determined by the paste. Thicker pastes seem to work better with the spread method while thinner types spread easily from the heatsink mounting - It really comes down to personal choice here although I personally have been using the dot method more and more (it seems) lately

 

[stano5]

I finally got some thermal paste. So I've cleaned off all the old paste and used the dot method to apply the new. Put it all back together and it seems to have solved the overheating issue. I've been running a lot of resource heavy applications on it for the last 2 hours and it's running like a dream and the screen hasn't gone off once. I'm wondering would that have been related to the overheating? Thank you so much for your advice and help sir.

 

[C12Friedman]

The screen issue may have very well been related to heat - good to hear you're back up and running