I know this is a stupid question, but doesn't my 9400m need thermal paste on it?

Well I am up late trying to repair my R1. I took a look at the 9400 since it is running hot and I noticed there was not one drop of thermal paste on it. I just had the motherboard replaced so i'm guessing the tech should have applied paste to it. It just seems wierd because there is no signs of paste on the heat sink part either. I cannot find out the reason why my r1 is overheating but I decided to start with the 9400m since that starts out at about 85 celsius. I'm hoping I can get this thing back online so I can play that new splinter cell while I await my new r2! Thanks in advance to anyone who has any advice!

 

It should either have paste or some kind of thermal pad. If it's idling at 85C, I'd guess it has neither. Find out if it's a pad or paste and then DIY.

 

I had R1 and experienced the same problem. There was a thread here on this forum, dedicated to improving the 9400 temps. We ended up replacing the stock thermal pad with MX-3 paste and got the max temps (during gaming) well under 60C. AS-5 is not recommended as it's more bleeding and you absolutely must apply a thicker layer (there's 1mm gap between the heatsink and the 9400 crystal). So, - MX-3 or ICD-7/24 for best results. I had it for 5 months with very minimal bleed and the temps always stayed under 60C).
Good Luck!

 

Im going to pick up some thermal paste this morning. My 9400m had neither thermal paste or a thermal pad on it. There was just a brown thin clear film stuck on it that I pulled off (hopefully that was a good idea).I'm guessing that was some sort of shim.

 

Yes, keep that thing for warranty , just in case. When I had to send the system back, cleaned the 9400 from the paste and put the pad back
What paste are you going to try?

 

Well I was reading that the artic 5 silver was good so I will try that. I hope this gets me back in the game!!!

 

AS-5 might ruin your chipset, it's too bleeding! I tried it and almost destroyed the system. It's meant to be applied in a very thin layer and you need it 1mm thick to have a proper contact! Get a more "solid" product like ICD-7/24 or MX-3 (worst case scenario), otherwise you risk bricking the system.

 

ok thanks for the advice. Im about to head to fry's now to see what I can find!

 

Good luck!

 

I have heard people talk about their temps of their cpus and gpus. I was just wondering how do you measure the temps? is there some kind of special software for that or do you need a special thermometer? Sorry if its a stupid question but I am a little confused.

 

each component has a heat sensor to display heat so it core shuts down when its too hot. i use 'cpuid HWmonitor' to see my temps

 

Thanks. I will download it sometime today and try it out.

 

I find HWMonitor to work perfectly for the cpu and gpu(s). But it doesnt tell the RAM temperature unfortunately

 

Wow! It's amazing what a little thermal paste can do. I applied it and my temps dropped over 30 degrees! Now the 9400 sits at around 50 degrees at idle. I have not experience one shut down yet so I am happy! On a side note, I feel like a M17x expert after watching the Moo videos and taking the M17x apart a few times. I thought it would be difficult since there are a lot of posts here about techs messing up people's laptops. Hell, the last tech that replaced my motherboard messed it up. Maybe I should put in a application with Dell!

 

Hehe, good for you!
Those techs aren't from Dell, however. Those are 3rd party outsourcing companies hired by Dell to do the job. They seldom have the knowledge and skills for AW systems.