Laptop Locking Up

[Austrai]

own a Toshiba Satellite P755-S5265 laptop, purchased almost 3 years ago. Recently, it randomly started locking up and occasionally shutting down. I figured it was time to clean it and sure enough, the heatsink was clogged with dust.

After cleaning the heatsink pins and the fan with compressed air, I replaced the thermal paste with Dynex Silver Thermal Compound from Best Buy.

The first couple of hours was fine, no lockups or anything and then I went out for a bit, came back, and the laptop was locked up. I hard reset it, and loaded up Illustrator to finish some work, which resulted in a shut down.

I thought maybe the thermal paste didn't spread right, but upon removing components and the heatsink, I saw that it had spread to cover the whole surface of the chip. I reapplied it after removing the old paste and loaded back up, but, still getting the same problems.

I also applied some paste to the GPU core. I noticed on the heatsink, the GPU area doesn't have the shinier contact area that the CPU area has.

I'm not sure what to do after I've done this.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

well hopefully ya silver conductive paste didn't spread and reach any electrical contacts....clean w/ 99% isoprophyl alcohol and try again

 

[Austrai]

I finished doing that as I was posting this from a different computer and had a freeze as soon as I loaded and ran OCCT GPU test. When the laptop is idle, it's fine. Freezes seem to occur only when I load a graphic intensive program that causes some high CPU load.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

temps when that happens ?

Use OCCT (CPU & GPU) or Furmark (GPU) /prime96 (CPU)

 

[Austrai]

Running OCCT: CPU OCCT at 100%, for 5 minutes, the max temperature was 84ºC, averaging 80ºC.
CPU: LinPack at 100% for 5 minutes showed a consistent 79ºC.

The GPU:3D test at 4 shaders, dX11, and non full screen showed 64ºC for the CPU, and 71 - 78ºC for the GPU. It ran for about 1 and a half minutes before locking up.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

84C is too hot

 

[Austrai]

It only happened once during the whole 5 minutes. The rest of the time it was hovering around 77 - 80ºC.

 

[THSNOTLEK]

Can one of you help me? http/www.tomshardware.co.uk/answers/id-1789070/universal-power-supply-work-laptops.html

 

[JackNaylorPE]

The default test period is 60 minutes ..... max temp is when it's going to have problems..... on those old CPUs I get nervous at 72C

 

[THSNOTLEK]

JackNaylorPE can you look at my question and help me?

 

[Austrai]

The default test period is 60 minutes ..... max temp is when it's going to have problems..... on those old CPUs I get nervous at 72C

So I should replace the thermal paste again? This would be about the 5th time I've replaced it.

I could run the test for the full hour and see how it fares, but like you say, at 84 degrees, I was getting kind of worried. I think the max for the CPU I have is 90 degrees.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

http/www.amazon.com/MASSCOOL-G751-Shin-Etsu-Interface-Material/dp/B000S35TB4/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

 

[Austrai]

Is the G751 better than Arctic Silver 5 or Arctic MX-4? If it is the thermal paste that is causing problems, I'd rather go with something that I know many people use with a lot of success if it works better.

I have been told that MX-4 is actually a little better than AS5, but only by a couple of degrees. Amazon has them for about the same price, a couple pences more for MX-4 than 5.

 

[THSNOTLEK]

Artec Silver 6 is out isn't it. I heard its suppoused to be good?

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Have ya ever read Artic Silver's home page ?

http/www.arcticsilver.com/as5.htm

Important Reminder:
Due to the unique shape and sizes of the particles in Arctic Silver 5's conductive matrix, it will take a up to 200 hours and several thermal cycles to achieve maximum particle to particle thermal conduction and for the heatsink to CPU interface to reach maximum conductivity. (This period will be longer in a system without a fan on the heatsink or with a low speed fan on the heatsink.) On systems measuring actual internal core temperatures via the CPU's internal diode, the measured temperature will often drop 2C to 5C over this "break-in" period. This break-in will occur during the normal use of the computer as long as the computer is turned off from time to time and the interface is allowed to cool to room temperature. Once the break-in is complete, the computer can be left on if desired.

http/archive.benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=138&Itemid=1&limit=1&limitstart=5

So by my estimation of this statement it would take almost a year of normal use to properly cure the AS5 compound, or almost nine days of continuous power cycles to meet their recommendation. Benchmark Reviews feels that this is a characteristically unreasonable requirement for any TIM product, and we do not support it. We want products that perform without the burden of sacrifice on our time, especially with some many competing products offering performance without this extra requirement.

http/archive.benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=150&Itemid=62&limit=1&limitstart=12

uniq TX-3 (0) Aluminum Oxide Moderate 37.65°C A+
Gelid GC-Extreme (0) Aluminum Oxide Low / Thin 37.65°C A+
Thermaltake Grease A2150 (4) Polysynthetic Silver Low / Thin 37.65°C A+
Arctic Silver 5 Polysynthetic Thermal Compound (4) Polysynthetic Silver Low / Thin 37.55°C A+
Shin-Etsu MicroSi G751 (0) Aluminum Oxide Moderate 37.55°C A+

Each product tested received the curing time recommended (see below), or approximately one hour of thermal cycling prior to testing when no cure time was specified.
(0) No Curing Time or Special Application Suggested
(4) Arctic Silver 5 Application Instructions (up to 200-hours recommended curing time)

So we see that Shin Etsu has the exact same thermal performance as AS5 .... ya just don't have to wait around a year for it to get there

 

[Austrai]

I have heard that the curing time takes about 45 cycles of powering up and down to reach the optimal standard. I'll buy a tube of the G751 and post back results.

Thanks for your help JackN.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

5 minutes warming up and 5 minutes cooling down is 10 minutes

10 minutes x 45 cycles is 450 minutes or 7.5 hours .... 192.5 to go

 

[Austrai]

For a .5 - 1ºC difference, 200 hours is a pretty lengthy period, don't you think?

On a side note, I ordered the G571, should arrive in 2 - 3 days. I'll let you know how it fares.

 

[THSNOTLEK]

why you no help me...