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Thread: The devil really does make work of idle hands

  1. #1
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    The devil really does make work of idle hands

    I have a dell laptop that weezes like crazy, with the fans permanently on (its an inspiron 5160 if you're interested).

    I read on the forums that a good way to stop it weezing is to remove the cpu heat sink and give it clean... No problem I thought...

    Never done this before, bare in mind.1 hour of trial and testing I find the heat sink. Try to remove it by undoing some screws and pull it off (with a bit of force).

    What came off was the cpu itself!! and the heatsink. The cpu had welded itself on to the heatsink.

    After cleaning it and tried to fit it back together roughly where I thought the cpu went (if you've ever sitted cpu's then the way I did it would be like a cowboy trying to do your plumbing).

    Anyway started it and nothing (as you'd imagine). I thought I probably bent all the pins on the cpu. Removed the keyboard and gave it one final push (the heat sink) and prayed.

    Started it on and it works!! (With the missus watching over my shoulder as I had all her work on it!!).

    On top of that its stopped weezing, but looking back on it I would never have touched it if I knew best.

    Moral of the story, keep yourself busy on a rainy weekend and don't try to fix anything!

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    boop, got your nose stevie lee's Avatar
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    Re: The devil really does make work of idle hands

    interesting story. sounds a bit like what i did recently.

    i have been reading for a while on these forums about how aftermarket CPU coolers are better at dissipating heat than the standard coolers you get with the retail CPU. i managed to save up enough to get an external hard drive (the 1tb hitachi zk1000.B that zakks so pleased with) and had some spare, so i thought 'why not get a xigmatech red scorpion'. one quick order to SCAN later and i thought, 'ooh this looks shiny'.

    but alas, all was not to be so smooth sailing as i thought.

    my cpu bracket on the mobo only allows horizontal mounting of the cooler and it wouldn't fit because of the ram - the massive corsair ram with big silver heatsinks. i couldnt shift the ram oover to the other slots, because i have 4 sticks of it.

    what to do.. what to do??

    cable ties. those wonderful plastic grippy things called cable ties. but how to fit them? no problems, the xigmatech comes with the intel mounting kit and 2 screw holes in the base. screw the screws in, wrap around the cable ties under the mounting bracket and around the screws. plus one over the top to stop the cooler falling forwards and bobs your uncle.

    according to the akasa all-in-one's temp probes, the temp has gone from 44celcius to a nice chilly 27celcius.

    Moral of my story, buy everything you need for a complete PC upgrade in one go and don't tinker with it unless you really really have to.

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    Senior Member Virtual Monkey's Avatar
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    Re: The devil really does make work of idle hands

    Haha, I've had many occasions where trying to fix something only makes it worse, but I'm glad it all worked out for you in the end!

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    Senior[ish] Member Singh400's Avatar
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    Re: The devil really does make work of idle hands

    Haha, awesome mate. I did something very similar way back, that sinking feeling in the stomach wasn't nice at all. But man when I fixed it (thank god!) I was well chuffed.

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    Re: The devil really does make work of idle hands

    I haven't yet killed a PC in this manner. I have had a few disasters when taking cars apart though. Mostly stripped threads, back in my younger days. Thankfully my grandfather is a whiz with a tap & die set.
    Someone at work has a CPU cooler on their desk as a reminder not to attempt DIY server repairs!

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    Re: The devil really does make work of idle hands

    Quote Originally Posted by pipTheGeek View Post
    I haven't yet killed a PC in this manner. I have had a few disasters when taking cars apart though. Mostly stripped threads, back in my younger days. Thankfully my grandfather is a whiz with a tap & die set.
    Someone at work has a CPU cooler on their desk as a reminder not to attempt DIY server repairs!
    ha, I think I need some sort of desk reminder

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    Jay
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    Re: The devil really does make work of idle hands

    I once cut a blow hole mod in my case, it was really good and went really well. The case was in the floor next my desk, green glow from the fan, temp really low. I was really happy with it untill that very day I knocked my water off my desk and it went through the blow hole and killed my the P4 system inside.

    The temps where fine before the blow hole, i just had nothing to do that day. The case was class though.... shame it was stolen from my work by some git.
    □ΞVΞ□

  8. #8
    Does he need a reason? Funkstar's Avatar
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    Re: The devil really does make work of idle hands

    When I worked in a local computer store, I used to have a habit of pulling memory or the CPU and cooler off our testbed system without actually shutting it down, just closing windows (stupid AT system had to be switched off).

    You usually got pretty colours on the Win95 "it is now safe to turn off your computer" screen. Can't say it ever did the memory, CPUs or motherboard any harm.



    (However I would never, ever do this now)

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    mutantbass head Lee H's Avatar
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    Re: The devil really does make work of idle hands

    Ahhh....

    I've done all sorts like this.

    Lost RAID arrays when drunk trying to do something else.

    Made stable overclocks unstable by trying to climb to faster speeds.

    Damaged a 5950 graphics card with static when removing it to clean all the dust from it.

    Broke intel's horrible push-pin connections when building my current rig. Luckily, I had a thermalright bolt through kit to use with the freezer 7 pro

    Dare I carry on... lol

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    Re: The devil really does make work of idle hands

    One of my friends broke his heatsink attachment thingy when trying to clean out his PC, bought a new HSF and managed to break his graphics card while installing the new HSF

    I've been pretty lucky with hardware breaking so far, just one failure (graphics card) in the past 8 years, and that was under warrenty (hope I haven't just jinxed myself )
    I don't mean to sound cold, or cruel, or vicious, but I am so that's the way it comes out.

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    Master Of The Universe CaseyV9's Avatar
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    Re: The devil really does make work of idle hands

    My first computer was a laptop. When I had that I had no clue what RAM and everything was.

    I remember opening up and unscrewing everything one day after the back light on the screen was buggered up. I had a look inside just to have a look.

    The fans really looked like fun to play with. I unscrewed the heatsink and saw the gunk underneath. I had no idea I was looking at the CPU or what all that gunk was on my hands.
    So I screwed the heatsink back on and everything worked fine. apart from the backlight on the screen. I had to twiddle a wire every time I turned it on
    But still, the laptop worked fine for a long time afterwards.

    It wasn't until about a year after when I got my first desktop PC that I realised what I had done.

    Still, good on you to mess around with the heatsink and paste. That is the one thing I have not taken apart on a PC. I fear I will apply the new paste wrong and do damage. One day though.

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    Does he need a reason? Funkstar's Avatar
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    Re: The devil really does make work of idle hands

    Just remembered, I broke the power supply (sliding) switch of my laptop when Installing RAM. I'm nor really sure what I did, but the slider was stuck, so I pushed harder and it snapped the little bit of platic that actually moves the switch. Now I have to use a sharp impliment to turn the thing on

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    Re: The devil really does make work of idle hands

    Quote Originally Posted by Lee @ SCAN View Post

    Lost RAID arrays when drunk trying to do something else.
    I hear that, not just lost RAID arrays, formatted the wrong drive, decided it was a good idea to try to update the BIOS via Windows etc etc . . . beer+tinkering = bad.
    "Don't wanna see your face, don't wanna hear your voice . . ."

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    Re: The devil really does make work of idle hands

    I once bricked a mobo by trying to flash a BIOS that I "hoped" was the right one. Fortunately, that was back in the days when you could get a socket A mobo for about £15, so not much harm done!

    I also managed to break a Dell Latty C600, but I still reckon that wasn't my fault - the power connector on the lappy is soldered to a small extension of the motherboard about 1cm square that only connects to the main mobo on one edge - I tilted the laptop backwards to get underneath it while the power cord was plugged in and heard a nasty little "crunch"...

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    Re: The devil really does make work of idle hands

    Quote Originally Posted by Funkstar View Post
    Now I have to use a sharp impliment to turn the thing on
    I went out with a girl with the same idea once...
    We're only here for the Banter - The Luvvies - Chewin' The Fat

    Violence and Lubrication is the solution to fixing everything, if it still doesn't work, you need more lubrication.

    Quote Originally Posted by this_is_gav View Post
    How do you change the height of them?

    I've just had a quick fiddle with the knob at the front :\

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