Acer Aspire 5739G Video Card Issues

[bunkkray]

Hello,
I own an Acer Aspire 5739G. Some time ago the video card, which is a Nvidia Geforce GT 130M started to overheat. It eventually burned out. I realized it was my fault later because while reapplying artic silver I did not reapply the thermal pads. I bought a new 130M and some new thermal pads. I installed the new card and replaced the thermal pads and grease. I applied the grease following artic silver's instructions. But now the card doesnt seem to work as correctly.
The newest drivers cause the laptop to boot into a black screen. I found some older ones (286.16) which allowed the computer too boot up properly but games don't play like they used too. I even upgraded the gpu firmware but it still didnt help. The laptop used to play games like Left 4 Dead 2 and Amnesia perfectly but now it just lags really bad on any settings. Just about all games lag now. Even ones like Worms or Sideway New York. Ive noticed the card still runs hot.
Idle is usually 68C and on load it goes over 100C. Everything else stays cool though. On idle the cpu is around 40C and on load about 70-80C.
I tried cleaning out all dust, reapplying grease and even drilling more holes into the case near the gpu and running a small computer fan under it but it still runs hot.
I asked on the Nvidia and Acer website but with no help.
Has anyone had similar issues with a laptop doing this? Do you think something else was damaged from the first gpu becoming damaged? The only thing Nvidia and Acer said was to try 3rd party drivers which I did but they still didnt help.
Thanks for any help. This is really perplexing me.

 

[C12Friedman]

I'm going to suggest replacing your HSF. I've noticed that laptop fans seem to die slowly (ie. slowing down and losing effectiveness) rather than dying completely - check to see if you have hot air blowing from your exhaust vent (placing your hand 2-3" from the vent, you should feel heat - do not use additional fans for that test). If you do feel heat at 3" then your fan is working properly and replacement isn't needed.
Other than that, I might suggest reseating your HSF with fresh thermal compound.

 

[bunkkray]

I can still feel it blowing out hot air. So I don't think its the fan.

 

[C12Friedman]

You know that really has me stumped, you might check to see if the (I'm kinda reaching at straws here but) heat vapor pipe is not kinked anywhere and is sealed and intact. Other than that, I can only suggest turning all your performance options to economy (or at least normal) until you can get it figured out - it'll at least keep the heat down some.

One thing I found (which I thought was weird) was that the last (fourth disassembly of the same laptop for a heat issue) time, I got everything right but I didn't know it because the computer was still acting up (Turion II was running at 96C and would not idle). I wasn't about to disassemble it again because I knew there was nothing else I could do inside. I changed a few settings to minimize CPU usage (including putting on econo) and about the third time I went in to change more settings, it went back to it's happy self (I can't say exactly what I did but my theory revolves around "waking up" the mobo/BIOS interface by changing those settings). I've since put the settings back to performance and it runs no hotter than 70C - very strange.
Again, it is reaching but...

 

[bunkkray]

Ok Ill play around some more with the settings. Ill see if the newest drivers work since its been about a month since I tried new drivers. Before I knew it was the gpu I tried undervolting my cpu and it did help the cpu out some but then I realized it was the gpu overheating and not the cpu.