Equium A60 Overheating Issues - thermal paste fix

Hi,
Recently, I have been experiencing the same overheating problems seen by many others on this forum. I even discovered this forum by looking for a fix for the problem.
**This posting is to be used as a guide only - repairs are undertaken at your own risk**
Now, my laptop is sitting beside me, idling at about 50 degrees - which is a massive improvement over the 64 degrees it was running at yesterday!
To solve this, I used the method of blowing out all of the dust from the vents (covered in numerous posts in this forum). However, I also ventured to take apart the laptop and give it a THOROUGH clean. This is quite a long, complicated process - but not beyond everyone. Firstly - I used this guide found here to disassemble the laptop - http://www.irisvista.com/tech/laptops/ToshibaA65/satA65_1.htm - be careful to retain *ALL* parts removed!
Once this is completed, you will be left with the main board exposed. After this, I undid the screws holding the TFT on the hinge, and separated it from the chassis, so it was in two parts. I then carefully removed the TFT connector from its place on the motherboard. There is a tiny screw, securing an extra wire from the TFT ribbon to the chassis - I left this on, as I couldn?t remove it! Next, I removed the ribbon for the touchpad (with caution!), and carefully lifted the whole silver plastic part, right off of the chassis. Next, I disconnected the power switch from the motherboard - and completely took off the plastic part.
Now the whole heatsink assembly will be displayed. From here, it gets slightly more complicated - and involves removing your heatsink, and processor chip. If you are not willing to do this, or just think that you don?t want to fiddle around with the 'inner workings' - then have a good clean around the parts that are exposed, and replace all the parts which you have taken out. For people who are having worse overheating problems - the following steps did work for me quite well.
Exposed will be the heatsink and fan assembly. The silver screws on the metal heatsink are numbered - and I took these off sequentially. Next, I disconnected the fan power cables, and removed the screw to the far right of the large fan. The heatsink assembly should now lift clear of the chassis, exposing the processor assembly. Next, I took the processor off of the chassis. You should now have a processor, and a heatsink in front of you. On both should be a gunky, grey paste. This is known as thermal paste, and provides heat dispersion from the chip, to the heatsink. On my parts, the paste had bubbled from the heat, and shifted to the sides of the chip - away from where it was needed most. Now, I didn?t actually have any spare paste when I took it apart last night - so I got a guitar plectrum, and smoothed the paste from heatsink and chip, on to the surface of the chip. Once I covered the chip in a level amount of paste, I placed it back in the chassis, and refitted the heatsink. Finally, I replaced everything I had taken out - and the laptop powers on fine.
I realise that this might not work for everyone - I had nothing to do last night, and this was a last ditch attempt to improve the heat management of this laptop. Luckily for me it worked. I am looking into getting some thermal paste today, so that I can do a proper application of paste on to the chip before I re-assemble it again.
Obviously, if you have a warranty on the laptop, it is not a good idea to open it up, and perform this method. I only recommend people who are confident at performing this procedure to attempt it - it?s not dangerous - but you can mess up the insides of the laptop/ your processor, if you are not careful.
Good luck!
Sam

Thanks for the kudos.
Yes - just to re-illiterate - Do Not attempt this procedure if you do not feel confident, or have no experience. If in any doubt, find your nearest Toshiba service centre, and take it there. There is a potential to cause damage to the laptop if you do something wrong whilst having the chassis open.
Also, if the laptop is still under warrenty opening the cover and performing this procedure will void the warrenty

Similar Messages

Equium A300D - Overheating issue

This laptop has been back to PC World Techguys twice and the fan has been cleaned - a local PC engineer has also had the laptop and cleaned and tested with cooling devices but still it is not working - he suggests it is a hardware issue.
Can anyone help?

> Can anyone help?
LOL
What to say now?
I mean if the notebook technicians say its a hardware malfunction and has nothing to do with overheating, the notebook must be repaired and you have to pay for this if its not under warranty anymore.
I think nobody here can help you. Its an user to user forum only and if the hardware is malfunctioning, it needs replacing. Thats fact!!!

Equium A60 - sound issue

I have been having an irritating sound problem since getting my A60. Every time I start one of the games I have installed on the laptop the sound effect manager always changes to the 'Quarry' setting and I have to minimise the game and manually change it back. It only does this with this one particular game and it seems to change to quarry as soon as the game loads. It never does this when launching any other program. I have tried reinstalling the game but it makes no difference.
Any ideas would be very much appreciated.

Hi
I agree with Michael. In my opinion the game is responsible for the wild changing.
I dont know if its possible but you can check the game manufacturers website for some patches or further informations.
Bye

Equium A60-199 randomly shutting down -could it be overheating issue

Hi I am posting on behalf of a friend who has been experiencing her A60 laptop shutting down unexpectedlly.. ( she said it shut down after a few mins or when she tried opening Firefox)
Syst Details
Toshiba Equium A60-199 Model No: PSA67E -00J00C8J
18 GB Free & 19 GB used
512MB RAM
Celeron 2.93GH processor
Running WinXp Home
NIS 2006
I have had a look remotely and was using it for about 30 mins opened FF with No issues using logmeinitreach software ..There was nothing showing in the event manager log, for the time of day it was shutting down earlier on..so I was wondering if it is a faulty power supply?
Everythng looked fine had just clicked on the Norton Internet security Full system scan which has not been run in a long time and the PC shut down NOW it won't reboot at all.??
Apparantly she can hear some whirring but nothing else happens..( which I guess could well be the fan kicking in)
Advised her to leave it for a bit and about 2 hours later she was able to turn it on again.. I am wondering if it could be overheating.??
Apparantly 3/4 months ago this was happening then stopped happening and has now started again..
Please can you give me some advice on how to clean it - other than taking it to a hardware workshop
I have downloaded the A60 users manual and have asked her to confirm what the indicator lights are showing - so as to try to verify of overheating
is the issue..
I have also read online "You can spray compressed air into the air intake vents but not the air output vents to help get rid of the dust and debris." I have looked at the manual and can see 2 lots of vents ..One is on the side and one on the bottom, is th eintake the one on the side ? Do I literally point the air at the side vents and spray ?
When asking her if she knows when teh fan is always on, sometimes on, never one etc she seemd to think ot is ALWAYS on.. which woudl again point to overheating..
Please advise
tamba1

Hello Cathy
I also believe the suddenly shutdowns are result of overheating. If the dust blocks cooling grill the air circulation is blocked and hardware can achieve critical hardware temperature very fast. Sometimes you can start any preinstalled application, the CPU usage goes to higher level and notebook will suddenly shuts down.
The notebook must be cleaned as soon as possible. If you do not have experience with disassembling procedure I recommend you to contact nearest service and the notebook should be cleaned on professional way. It costs a little bit but you can be sure that you can use notebook for a longer period of time.
If you need addresses and phone numbers for contacting ASP (Authorized service provider) please visit http://eu.computers.toshiba-europe.com > Support & Downloads.
Bye and good luck!

FYI: Fixing your own Thermal Paste Problem

If you "fix" the thermal grease .. umm... abundance yourself, per AppleCare you void your warranty.
So if your cutting tape/removing noticable ammounts of paste, yes you warranty technically no longer exists.
HOWEVER, you can open up your MacMini and upgrade ram, HDD, etc. and they are cool with that.
Why I don't really know. It's a shame too, because I have my whole little set of tools and ArcticSilver 5 plus cleaner and solvent ready to go. Perhaps if everyone sends in the MBP for repair on this issue they will allow individuals to fix their own machines to reduce the load? Doubtfull.

Mr. PurplePirate,
I again must disagree with you. As far as apple is concerned this modification (not "opening the case") voids the warranty. As per the terms and conditions of said warranty they have final say.
All that being the case even if this ONLY voids say the logic board warranty, yea still no thanks.
Also your analogy is incorrect:
Tere is a good bit of established case law on this topic, especially from auto manufacturers attempting to deny warranty claims because of aftermarket modifications to their cars, however, just as with computers, the manufacturer must demonstrate that the particular modification caused the failed or defective product.
Do you think apple is going to take the time to demonstrate that fixing the thermal paste isnt what damaged your CPU 8 months later? Or that the fact the heat is now dissapating differently inside of your case than as designed (yes the gobs are to design spec) that the DVD rom, or RAM, or Hard Drive failing couln't have been caused by that? No, they arent. They are going to say item (e) says you cant change design, well you did. Tough.
Also unlike a car say that after your fix the CPU fails. You cant just gob on the paste then send it back in for repair and have them be all ahh okay now theres thermal paste to spec, lets fix this. No.
Trust me I have been dealing with this individual at apple for a few months now on various items, he knows what he is talking about, and he knows what resouces to check.
I honestly don't care what others do to their machines. I for one am not going to make any changes w/out written permission from Apple or have Apple resolve the problem themself. This machine is too critical to me, my education, and my business flat out. Yes it gets hot as ****, but it works and if the current design end up burning out the CPU in a year and a half, the warranty is there and they have to fix it.

Equium A60: Blue Screen issue

I've got a Equium A60 Series (PSA667E), reconditioned. There's a blue screen apearing sometimes, when I start up, sending me a message of error. I've tried to upgrade my BIOS, as the website indicated. But a message tell me that I dont need, because its already upgraded. So, I've got the correct BIOS but my blue screen problem persist. What can I do....

Hi
Sometimes the blue screen appears because of serious software error or a hardware malfunction (memory). Well, its not easy to say why this message occurs in you case because we dont have detailed informations. Usually the OS installation solves commonly the blue screen errors. But if there is a hardware fault so only a ASP could solve this issue.

Why apple has not fixed or atleast responded to users on LION Overheating issue???

I am having a MacBook Pro 13 bought last year.
I was happy with my snowleopard but, my friend sugested to upgrade to LION, paid all money and upgraded to LION,
Within a week overheating started, and it was difficult to keep it on my lap.
I have tried all the tricks mentioned in apple communities and other websites to solve this heat ,, sorry OVERHEATING issue .. but no benefit....
My MacBook Pro 13 had been thouroughly checked in apple serivce centre and no hardware issue had been found for the heat issue... so its LION only...
Also to mention that i use very less number of applications opened at a time, like firefox, chrome and itunes. So the heating is not due to usage of heavy applications .
After searching the whole interenet and apple community forum, i am surprised to see that there is no response from anyone in apple.. dont they periodically check what apple users are facing.. ?? dont they monitor the apple community so that they can fix the issues before it gets out of hand.....
I think Apple doesnt care on whats happening in Apple community portal, so we all are on our on...
I had a very good impression abt apple. until before upgrading to Lion... crap my MONEY IS GONEEE.
For anyone who got solution for this issue, other than the trick to delete Citrix plugin, disable spotlight etc, I am ready to welcome any new WORKING solution for this OVERHEATING...

@@ds store i am thinking the same now...
@@Eric. i did trying that 2 weeks back itself.. no improvement
@@OGELTHORPE i already have the iStat Pro. this we can monitor the heat. thats it.. this wont solve the issue.
hmmm dont know.. if i dont get a solution by today i am gonna go back to snow leopard...
Why to burn my aptop hardware due to the stupid LION's overheating....

Equium A60 - AC adaptors issue

Hi all,
My Equium A60 keep blowing the power unit.
It has blown 4 so far - 2 were cheap rubbish but 2 were branded so should have been reliable.
I recently upgraded the ram to 1.25 GB and upgraded the HD from 60GB to 80GB and it had been overheating and cutting out.
Would this be causing the laptop to blow the adapter?
Geoff

Hello
This notebook model is pretty old and who knows in which condition the hardware is. Have you ever cleaned it up?
Upgrade should not have any negative influence. Overheating means the notebook cannot be cooled down properly. In most cases the cooling vents and cooling grill are blocked by dust.
So I am afraid it is the time for professional cleaning.
About AC adaptors I cannot say much but be careful about that. Dont make some experiments. Protect yourself and protect the area where you use the notebook. the best way to do this is to contact nearest Toshiba authorized service provider. they should check the notebook to see what is wrong there.

Thermal Paste - Heating Issues

I've read many places that the new 2011 MBP's are too hot! I've also read that Apple is using far too much thermal paste on the CPU and GPU and that is what is causing the overheating. Apparently the first Core Duo MBP had too much thermal paste as well and many people reported that their GPU's were literally "cooked". Should there be concern over this in the newest MBP's?

My experience is that yes, they are getting too hot. I bought a 13" macbook pro about three weeks ago and less than half a month later, the even newer "Sandy Bridge" chipped MBP's released. I was pretty upset, but luckily Apple let my exchange my "old" MBP for the newer one. Believe it or not, after two days I took it back and swapped back for the 2010 machine! While I enjoyed the speed bump in the newer model, I did not enjoy the heat the computer seemed to be giving out. Just doing fairly light Photoshop work, the fan sounded like an aircraft engine. Even when surfing videos on YouTube I began to notice the fan kicking in. This never happened in my 2010 machine. In fact, one of the things that most impressed me most about the 2010 MBP was how quiet and cool it was. So I went backwards and traded back to the 2010 I had just swapped I'm pleased as punch. The 13" MacBook Pro with the 2.4 Ghz Intel Core Duo chipset is fine for my needs. No problems at all with heat and quiet as a church mouse. In addition, I also have found the NVIDIA GeForce 320M graphics card inside the 2010 MBP to be superior to the integrated Intel graphics chip inside the newer model. I actually saw a step backwards with the newest MacBook when playing intensive games like WOW and StarCraft 2. Those games move better on the 2010 model and the fan doesn't sound like a hair dryer. I don't mind waiting a TINY bit longer in Photoshop for things to render in return for cooler fingers and faster gaming. Am I nuts??? Part of me wishes I had kept the 2011 machine but the coolness factor and better graphics card in the 2010 model won out for me in the end.

Was there ever a resolution to the thermal paste issue? Worth reapplying?

Last time I checked these forums was a month ago and people were debating whether there was any concrete benefit to popping open the MBP and reapplying thermal grease. For each guy that said it helped, another said it did nothing. Was there ever a consensus or official resolution to this debate?

Save your money. Besides if you take the computer to an authorized Apple repair center they will not do the work unless you have an authorization from Apple Customer Service. They will not authorize the work unless there is something specifically malfunctioning. If you really want the thermal paste re-applied you will have to do it yourself. This requires a complete disassembly of the computer and some special drivers.
If you read the article I referenced you will note that there is little point to replacing the paste.
You can download and install an extension called Speedit.kext along with a companion program called CoreDuoTemp (www.versiontracker.com, www.macupdate.com, or www.increw.org) and use it to monitor the CPU's core temperature. Unless it's running hotter than "normal" there's really nothing to worry about. Normal temps typically range between 50-75 C under loads varying from 2-30 percent or more.

Equium A60-191: Modem issue - Only analog phone lines are supported

My Equium A60 was powered up when lightning struck nearby and caused the electricity supply to go off and back on.
The OS is XP Home and my ISP is AOL. When I try to access the Net by DUN, I receive the repeated error message:
"Connected phone line is not compatible with this modem. Only analog phone lines are supported."
My desktop computer, which also uses AOL, still connects to the same phone line without any problem.
I have rebooted the A60 several times; changed and tried out 2 phone connnection cables - both work; the phone line works fine; I have reinstalled the driver provided on this site; removed the tick from the box that says to wait for the dial phone; checked out that the modem is in working and on the Device Manager list. All of this is to no avail.
Troubleshooter is suggesting that COM 3 is not enabled. I cannot see COM 3 listed in Device Manager, under Ports.
I have tried Google and ASK with the error message. There are not many posts and it appears that the Toshiba modem is in fact an Agere. This makes seems to be the subject of some of the complaints.
Finally I have uninstalled the driver/modem, AOL and one other DUN connection. I rebooted and went through the process of installing "New Hardware" and AOL. Whilst the modem is enabled and allegedly working... I am still unable to connect to the Net. I reinstalled an additional 'pay as you go' ISP. When I try to dial out on that it generates the error 680. It does this even when the box is unchecked, for wait for a dial tone.
I would be most grateful if anybody could help. I have run out of ideas.
Many thanks.

Hi
You are right, the modem support the Agere Modem Chip.
You will not find the COM3 in the device manager because the modem uses not real com port. Its a virtual com port.
I think you should start the diagnostic tool test and check if the Modem has no malfunction.
Additional you should delete the connection in the Region Select Utility and after new reboot create a new one.
I found also the useful Microsoft article about the Troubleshooting network and dial-up connections.
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/trouble_all.mspx?mfr=true
and here you will find info about the DUNS error 680:
http://www.modemsite.com/56k/duns680.asp
http://php.iupui.edu/~aamjohns/trouble.html#No Dial Tone

Early 2011 MacBook Pro- The thermal paste discussion.

It is my goal to clear up the questions and concerns Apple customers have been having regarding heat or fan related concerns with Early 2011 MacBook Pros. If your MacBook Pro was produced within the last few months the thermal issue has been resolved and it will likely not be in issue for you. If you are still wondering if your computer is effected or what the real issue is keep reading.
The MacBook Cools itself by 2 main methods: active and passive. The active cooling is via a fan that blows air through a heatsync and into a tube called a heat pipe which leads to the back of the computer where the hot air is discharged through a vent at the bottom of the screen behind the hinge. The fan lowers the air pressure inside the case causing outside air is drawn in the case, displacing the hot air inside and helping to cool the other components.
The computer uses passive cooling to remove the residual heat from the processor which comes mostly in the form of radiant heat. Passive cooling is also used to cool the other components of the computer (memory, disk drives, battery etc). Passive cooling works by conductive heat transfer ie. syncing to the case of the computer. Some of the heat then is radiated. Some of it is transferred from the outside of the case via convective cooling; the foot pads on the bottom cover are designed to raise it up just enough to allow air underneath for convection to occur. (Convection is the process in which hot air to rises and is displaced by cooler air.) The rest of the heat from the bottom cover is absorbed by whatever surface you have the computer on.
The processor will not sync to the case very much if the board is assembled properly however the other components of the computer will, requiring the case to be in open air to allow for passive cooling to take place.
If you have some sort of covering such as a plastic snap on case it will likely interfere with passive cooling in all of it's 3 of it forms, this will cause the computer to be abnormally hot. I recently saw someone in the Apple store with a MacBook Air experiencing abnormal heating due to a plastic snap case so this particular problem is not unique to MacBook Pros and it is not the cause of the issue being discussed here. I do not recommend the use or anything that covers the computer while it is running with the exception of something that covers the back of the display panel only. If you are worried about your computer getting damaged go and buy a laptop insurance policy from Worth Ave group. The insurance does not cover cosmetic damage or misplaced items but will cover accidental damage including spills. This insurance also covers theft, vandalism and natural disasters, is quite inexpensive and the claims process and deductible is similar to most phone insurance plans (which they also offer).
User induced overheating can also occur when the computer is placed on an improper surface such as a couch cushion, car seat, bed, pillow etc. Doing this can interfere with both passive and active cooling.
As I mentioned earlier In all likelihood if your computer was produced after May it is not affected. I personally have been in posession of 3 MacBook Pros, one produced before May which had the problem, one after which had no problems and one produced more recently that has mind blowing thermal performance way beyond all of my expectations.
So the question at this point is exactly what is the problem, how can it be diagnosed and how can it be rectified.
After extensive research and testing I have determined the issue to be related to improper application thermal paste. I involuntarily became involved in this pursuit as a result of the problems I was experiencing and I did not initially come at from an objective viewpoint but rather one of cautious skepticism. I had anticipated before purchasing my computer that there may be a thermal issue. This anticipaion came as a result of reading an article on ifixit.com about the disassembly of the brand new early 2011 MacBook Pro. When the technician performing the disassembly removed the main heat sync he expressed concern about how much much thermal paste was present, expressing that it seemed excessive. This lead the technician to question wether or not it would cause heating problems.
Proper application of thermal paste is critical to the functionality of the active cooling system and when applied improperly will not properly transfer the heat to the heat-sync which in turn gets cooled by the fan. Proper application of thermal paste insures the heat is removed from the case as efficiently as possible. Doing this both reduces the speed at which the fan needs to run in a lot of situations and prevents too much heat from the processor needing to be cooled by passive means. If is is not applied properly it will eventually lead to overheating of the case as well as the other components of the computer. This can cause damage firstly to the computer's battery and can also significantly shorten the life computer. (Or any other kind of electronic device for that matter.)
The problem can be diagnosed by testing the computer using a program called System Load or any other software that will put your computers proscessor use up to its maximum and keep it there indefinitely. Placing full load on your GPU at the same time during the test is also recommended. Keep in mind, if you are using your computer the fan will spin up if needed for additional cooling. You should expect the fan go up to its maximum speed during the test, it is not in of itself an indication of a negative result. Make sure to have the computer plugged in, fully charged and on a proper surface. A desk or other flat surface should be fine. Exceptions would include the top of a refrigerator since it has insulation just underneath the metal exterior or any surface that is heated by any means such as a dryer or other appliance.
(The temps to follow are in ºF)
Run the test for up to 1 hour. If the case of the computer breaks 93 degrees your unit is likely affected. Expect the unit to even possibly reach temps approaching and exceeding 100º, if this happens immediately abort the test. Also look for the processor temp shooting up to around 180 in the first 30 seconds and the fan spinning up right away. Typically on a properly functioning unit the temperature of the case will end up being somewhere in the neighborhood of 88-91º. If this test is preformed in a room with a normal ambient room temperature of about 68 degrees. Even after an hour the case of the computer should not be significantly hot, just warm to the touch. On a normally operating unit the fan will start to kick in within 90 seconds or so and may not reach full speed even after several minuets.
At one point the case of my computer actually reached 95º during normal web browsing.
This is a problem that I have had successfully corrected twice by reapplication of thermal paste. The first time was on a machine produced prior to may and the second was after a logic board was replaced at the repair depot. (I suspect the inventory turnover is lower for boards than whole computers resulting in a board from the initial production run being installed in my computer.)
If you forget everything I just wrote remember this. #1 if you are using your computer hard enough the fan will end up running at high speed at some point. #2 This problem is not in any way related to the design of the MacBook Pro, or its use/application. #3 This mostly not a problem of the CPU being too hot; these Sandy Bridge CPUs are rated for 212ºf and will routinely be in the neighborhood of 200º, this is hotter than other chips but well within design limits. #4 I have done everything in my power to make sure that this problem has been corrected and I have every logical and evidenced based reason to believe it has been resolved in machines produced after may. #5 This is not an Apple acknolidged issue. Technicians will tell you that there is no problem because these higher temps are normal and within operating limits and if they weren't the machine would shut itself off. (This is a bit extreme; just like a lot of other devices such as electronics, toaster ovens and space heaters with thermal overload protection this automatic shutoff is intended to occur when damage or risk of fire is imminent because the device is WAY outside of normal operating paramaters.) They will also not tell you when asked what these limits are, that they know what they are or in some cases that such figures they even exsist.
I stake my personal and professional reputation on the accuracy of my findings, it is my job as a private consultant to help my clients to resolve complicated and expensive issues just like this one.
Bottom line if you are having a problem and Apple won't fix it on warranty don't ditch your machine, just pay to have it done yourself. In most cases you can pay have it done at the Apple store. It will probably cost you less than 100.00, and it will not void your warranty as long as the work is done by Apple certified technician. It will be well worth it; after all in spite of this MacBook Pro's are hands down the best portable computers on the market, with an industry leading warranty and support to back it up. On it's worst day Apple's service and support is better than any computer/ consumer electronics company, even on its best day.
I hope this helps to clarify this issue! I also hope it will help anyone affected to resolve the problem instead of resorting to a refund and settling for something else.

hello all
you can try this:
Go to system preferences > settings > built in display > see bottom of window.
check "show mirroring options in the menu bar when available". then click "airplay display" > and select your device.
That's what happened to my MBP - 15-inch, Late 2011 model.

Equium A60: graphic problems and more

ive had so many probs with tis equium a60. it was overheating, stand by wasnt working and now the graffics were messing up! I rung this place pcworld recommended n they said try formatting it (great). so anyway i restored it to the factory settings so it was exactly how it was when i first got it. stand by is now working properly :) but it is still overheating (i mean it really does get hot) and the graffics still are messing up.
what happens is the screen freezes for a few seconds and then it goes to the worst display settings possible, so everything is massive and the colours are all wrong. and a pop up says windows as encountered an error please reboot.
This just happens at random times, i dont understand why ive formatted. I dunno if the graffics card itself is knackered. any help or ideas much appreciated. cheers

Hi Dave,
I think it must be assumed that your problems stem from the over-heating. It is very common for dust and debris to build up and block the passage of air through the CPU Heat Sink. I would suggest trying to remove any such accumulation either by blowing through the heatsink (towards the cooling fans), or by sucking out any debris with a domestic vacuum cleaner. If all else fails then you can remove the heatsink and clean the dust out before replaceing it. Beware that this may invalidate your warranty.
Normally a thermal trip will shut off the power if it detects the CPU getting too hot, but this does not mean that some other problems may not arise.
If you still have problems with you display after you have dealt with the over-heating issue then please post again.
HTH

MBP and the Thermal Paste Discussions

I've read with interest the postings on this web site regarding the MBP heat issues and the possibility that too much thermal paste is causing that problem. I've spent quite a few years designing computer motherboards using Intel processor chips, and want to share some thoughts on the topic. I only mention my background because one thing this business has taught me is that we can all be easily mislead by our test data if our process for gathering the data isn't rigorous (and, believe me, I've learned that lesson many times).
First, the excess thermal paste is definitely a problem, regardless of whether it is the root cause of the heat issue. Some of the photos posted on the various web sites show thermal paste covering bypass capacitors on the chip carriers (the green fiberglass boards that carry the CPU and GPU die). Thermal pastes can cause stray capacitances that can interfere with circuit operation. Standard industry practice is to use only as much paste as is necessary to achieve a layer that is about as thin as a single layer of tissue paper (or less). The amount used by Apple is far too large, particularly because the paste in coming into contact with other electrical components and conductors. A common failure mode associated with degraded bypass capacitors is random (and unrepeatable) crashes due to corrupted digital data in the processor chip.
In addition, all thermal pastes contain various types of fluids. Over time, these fluids evaporate, and frequently they condense elsewhere inside a computer. When CD drives were first introduced years ago, a common cause of mid-lifetime failures was condensates on the optics of the laser. The condensation fogs the lens and interferes with the ability of the laser to focus while reading and writing data. The contamination was traced to outgassing by thermal pastes, greases, sulfurized elastomers, and similar items used to build the computer. (Note that the Apple service manual for the MBP refers to the thermal paste as “thermal grease”.) Consumer electronics manufacturers learned to minimize the use of such materials in computer designs. The amount of thermal paste shown in the Apple service manual is very large, and I wouldn't rule out that it might contribute to future DVD drive failures.
It is difficult to say, based on the available data, that reducing the amount of thermal paste actually contributes to improving the thermal behavior of the MBP. Part of the problem is that the procedure to remove the pastes involves disassembling the laptop, and this introduces the possibility that the disassembly/reassembly process is inadvertently fixing the problem.
First, the high case temperatures could be the result of loose or poorly placed thermal sensors. If the disassembly/reassembly process fixed a loose sensor, or loose sensor electrical connection, or placed the sensor in a better position, you would get lower case temperatures, and possibly (inadvertently) attribute this to less paste.
Second, the cooling system design in the MBP requires that the die caps on the chip carriers be pressed tightly against the pads on the heat sink, so that heat is transferred efficiently. If the MBP is not assembled properly, (i.e., if the logic board mounting screws are not properly torqued, or the logic board is not mechanically aligned properly to ensure a tight fit to the heat sink), it is possible that this will manifest itself as high case temperatures. In the Intel processor chips there are two paths for heat to travel – out of the die cap, and through the electrical contacts to the motherboard. If the die cap isn’t properly cooled, heat will instead go into the motherboard, and the case temperature will rise. There is a possibility that the disassembly/reassembly process will fix a loose or misaligned logic board problem, with the result that the case temp will be reduced.
Also, if you work through the details of the thermal model that results from excess paste, it's hard to see how it would result in more heat to the case and less to the heat sink. Most of the photos on the web appear to show thin paste on top of the die, indicating that there was probably a low thermal resistance path to the heat sink prior to disassembly. The excess paste to the sides will simply further reduce the thermal resistance between the chip carrier and the heat sink. I may be missing something, but it's hard to envision how this lower thermal resistivity between the CPU and the heat sink drives more heat into the case. But it is also possible that the disassembly process destroys evidence of the actual connection to the heat sink, so this failure mode is hard to judge.
The best way to determine if removing the excess paste is actually helping would be to measure the exhaust air temperature from the cooling fans before and after removing the excess paste. I haven't seen such data, but if it were taken, and showed that the exhaust air was at a significantly higher temperature after the fix than before it, then we would know that the fix worked. If not, then the heat is going elsewhere, and it is possible that fix has actually made things worse.
Finally, all the symptoms we're seeing can be explained by poor software calibration and/or incorrect software control of the CPU clock speed. I wouldn't rule out a software fix at his point.
I'm not saying removing the paste is not a fix, only that there are still open questions that remain to be answered. It would be hard for me to recommend that anyone rework an MBP for the thermal problem in the absence of additional data.
For myself, I own an MBP, and though I have access to an electronics lab and some great technicians, I intend to buy Applecare, and in the meantime wait for a fix (or at least more information) from Apple.
Best of luck to everyone who has this issue - thats what we get for being early adopters.
G5 2.5 DP Mac OS X (10.4)
G5 2.5 DP Mac OS X (10.4)
G5 2.5 DP Mac OS X (10.4)
G5 2.5 DP Mac OS X (10.4)
G5 2.5 DP Mac OS X (10.4)
G5 2.5 DP Mac OS X (10.4)

Well I replaced my thermal compound and the temperature on my cpu went down and the temperature of my case went down also. The fans also kick in sooner leaving me to believe that the heat is being properly distributed the heatsink whereas before it was not as there was too much thermal compound making it act like an insulator.
I cannot say if the exhaust air is any hotter, but I know overall my laptop is much more cooler and never gets extremely HOT. Even under heavy loads the areas where it used to get really hot, above f keys, palm area, underneath the MBP are not hot to the point where someone could burn themself at all.
I really do hope that Apple does address this issue because I could not live with the heat before, I always had to hook up an external keyboard because my hands got too sweaty from the palm rest and the keyboard. Now everything is operating like any other laptop I've owned and I am a very satisifed Apple user. Let's hope that Apple is really looking into it and will have a reasonable answers for all MBP users in a reasonable amount of time.

Whether or not to change stock thermal paste on early 2009 unibody 17" MBP CPU?

I have a first generation (early 2009) unibody 17" MBP, now out of warranty / Apple Care. It's been working fine in general, however I've been increasingly concerned about the CPU temps when I encode with Hand Brake, and some times when doing things in VMWare (Win XP) and in OS X at the same time. Under those two sets of circumstances, my CPU temp (as read out by iStat Menus 3) routinely hits 100 C. (I've never seen it hotter than 102 - 103, it'll hang around 100 for a while, then eventually cool down to mid 90's as a new equilibrium seems to be reached. Will hang there until the processor intensive task is done, then quickly cool off.) Generally idles in the 40's.
I've looked and looked, and found no reassuring consensus on whether or not changing the stock Apple glob of thermal grease for a thin application of Arctic Silver will help this situation. I've found as many no's as yes's on the matter, and about as many different views on the details of MBP cooling as posters expressing them.
So, what I'm really looking for is whether or not anyone's collected a lot of data points on the subject, and can paint any sort of trend based upon a large denominator of users reporting their experiences. I did find links to a website that apparently did this in 2005, or thereabouts, but all those links are dead, and that was well before the dawn of the unibody anyway.
Was wondering if anyone knew of a source of knowledge on this issue that draws from more than educated hypothesis, or one's own experiences.
I'm already planning on routinely jacking up the fan speeds when doing these CPU heavy tasks, and I elevate the computer off the table to help with ventilation. Also, I've seen several people say that the CPU was made to handle these temps, however, I looked at the Intel data sheets on these processors (<http://download.intel.com/design/mobile/datashts/32012001.pdf>, page 102), and the max tjunction temp is 105C, which I'm getting awfully close to whenever I encode.
Thank you!
early 2009 17" MBP (very good condition)
2.93 Core 2 Duo
8 GB RAM
750 GB HD
latest Lion

I say go for it. About a year ago I had to replace the fan system on my old Dell i8200. To do that I had to take the complete system apart. So while I had everything out of the case, laying there in pieces/parts (including taking the heatsink system completely off the CPU/GPU) I cleaned everything and applied Arctic Silver to both CPU/GPU. System ran cooler then the first day I took it out of the box new.
Personally I would disregard the comment above. Yes you can use WAY to Much thermal paste but if you cover the complete CPU with a thin even layer (even if it is a little to much) it will still work fine, as long as you move the heatsink around when resetting it to even it all out.
From reports from other Mac users, the one that have Baked there logic boards to fix the 2008 NVidia problem that Apple refuses to stand up for, that when they took there systems apart there was thermal paste everywhere. Clearly Apple assemblers think that if a little is good a whole bunch is better. Which isn't the case. But what do they care. The assemblers need something like Macdonald's has for dispensing Ketchup. One squirt and you always get the same amount.
Go For It.
Good Luck.

Equium A60 Overheating Issues - thermal paste fix

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