TM 8204 Fan and Thermal Compound Cleaning.

Hi everyone,
Recently, I wanted to do something about my Acer Tm 8204's loud fan and since it is now out of standard warranty for a while I wanted to give it a try and opened the bottom cover, removed the heatsink and fan. However, to my surprise CPU, GPU and Northbridge (i guess) were handled by the same heatsink. Anyhow,when I removed the crap thermal tapes from the heatsink and applied Arctic Silver for all the chips I could not get it into the Vista screen and fan started to roll at full speed. After a couple of lockups and restarts I reopened the bottom and checked if there was any misalignment or unscrewed screws however, I noticed that actually the heatsink was not even contacting with the gpu and barely touching the Northbridge chip. Now guys, I would like to ask if any of the Acer 8200 owners ever tried to reapply thermal paste and encountered similar problem. I guess, I need some sort of thermal pads or tape in order to fill the gap between heatsink and the chips. BTW, I have to congratulate Acer by doing a great job in the heatsink design. Unfortunately, this is the most ridiculous design I have ever seen in a cooling system.
Please feel free to give any tips or suggestions about this problem.
Any help will be greatly appreciated.

thanks in advance.

 

When I had to replace my fan (for the second time, ugh) I didn't tighten the screws down enough and the fan spun up to full speed really quickly - I turned my computer off really quick and tightened down the screws (in order) with a considerable torque. This may be your problem.

 

Unfortunately, screws are tightened all the way down, if I force it further I am afraid I can damage either screws or the chips. Actually, Acer had some sort of stock thermal pads which were filling the gaps between the GPU and the Northbridge. Maybe, I need something like the stock thermal staff however, I don't have any idea why Acer had them rather than a quality compound.
Any suggestions?

 

Perhaps you have to put the artic silver directly on the heatsink where the pads used to be?

 

I applied arctic silver on the chips however, I don't think it would change the result if I applied the compound on the heatsink rather than the chips, since there is an apparent gap between the gpu and the heatsink. And if I am not mistaken Acer had those thermal pads to fit the heatsink on the Gpu.

 

If the artic silver is as thick as the stock pads, then it should fit - unless the heatsink/fan assembly was damaged during removal or you're not refitting it correctly, I can't see what else could be the matter... pictures would help if you're still having problems.

 

Yo, it is a confirmed fact that there is a huge gap in between the GPU and the heat sink for the 8204. I actually fried my GPU because I was trying your stunt by replacing the thermal pads with Arctic Silver 5 as well. So after 5 trips to the depot (under total protection warranty) and with my new 8210, I've only replaced the thermal compound for the CPU. Good luck with that, but I also went WTF? when I did it.

 

I first thought that I made a mistake in relocating the heatsink but you confirm that there is a gap between the heatsink and GPU. I just don't know what Acer engineers were thinking in designing the cooling system, or is it a faulty design at all.
Anyhow, does anyone know where I can get the thermal tape that Acer had on the heatsink?

 

One more check for yourself. Put a small piece of paper (doesn't matter blank, lined, etc.) between the GPU and the heatsink. Tighten the bolts and what not. the piece of paper should be able to be removed freely. That's how I found out that there was an approximately 2-3 mm gap between the two parts. Sorry if you don't use the metric system, but I think its about 1/16 to 1/8 of an inch? I've learned to hate the Imperial system in engineering school.

Anyways, to help you with the thermal tape, google it up at some computer store.

 

I use the metric system actually, many thanks for the pointers.
BTW, I tried to search for the thermal pad however, I could not find anything matching. Does anyone know where I can find a thermal pad or tape whatsoever?

Thanks in advance.