How to...M6850FX CPU swap.

That guide should apply to 15" from the M-series.

Please remember, I will not take any responsibility for any damage to the
notebook. Proceed at your own risk, only.


To make the CPU swap you will need;

- good quality thermal compound like Arctic Cooling MX-2 or Arctic Silver 5
- Isopropyl alcohol
- No. 0 Philips screwdriver
- small flat-blade screwdriver
- clean cotton cloth and/or cotton swabs
- grounding wrist strap and grounded work mat


Preparing the notebook and changing the CPU....

Make sure there is no disc in the DVD drive. Remove all peripheral devices.
Turn the power off, unplug the power cord, the modem and/or network cable.
Remove the battery. Turn on the power button to discharge electricity. Ground yourself using wrist strap.

Turn the notebook upside down. Loosen the CPU bay cover screw and gently lift the cover, then remove it. There are the tabs all around the cover, so be
very careful not to break them off in this process.


Loosen the seven screws that secure the heat-pipe, the four screws that hold it to the motherboard around the CPU and the three ones that hold the cooling assembly around the GPU. Use the number stamped in the metal next to each screw to loosen the screw in reverse numerical order. Start with 7, then 6 and so on

Try to not loose the screws while removing them, I recommend to use the
magnetized screwdriver to do that, if you don't have one, put a pinch of
thermal compound on the tip of the screwdriver to hold the screw to it.

Try to break the contact between the CPU and the heat-sink and at the same time carefully lift and move the heat-pipe away from the side of the laptop. Be careful not to break the cable that is attached to the system board. Carefully unplug the cooling fan from the board.

Remove any thermal grease residue from the heat-sink using isopropyl alcohol.
Do not discard the thermal pad and the putty from the chip-set and CPU. These ones should be reused if you don't have new ones. I reused them, but I will replace these two on the next opportunity with better quality pads.

To remove the CPU from the socket, use the small flat-blade screwdriver to
turn the processor lock screw about 1/2 turn counter-clockwise. You will feel
little resistance while unlocking the CPU and at the same time you will hear
a click when processor lock is unlocked. Do not try to pry the CPU with
screwdriver from its socket. Instead gently lift the old processor with your
fingers.


Place the new CPU into the socket making sure that PIN 1 on the processor
(indicated by arrow on the corner of the processor) aligns with PIN 1 on
the CPU socket (indicated by the absence of the pin hole in the socket),
then use flat screwdriver to turn the processor lock screw 1/2 turn clockwise,
to lock processor in place.

Clean the die (shinny part) of the new processor with alcohol and apply the
new thermal compound on the processor. Use only enough to cover the CPU die.
If you use the MX2 put a little in the center of the die, do not spread the
paste, it will spread itself under the heat-sink pressure. If you use the Arctic
Silver 5 spread the paste evenly on the CPU die. I used the Arctic Cooling MX2 compound.



Connect the fan cable to the socket on the motherboard. Reinstall the heat-sink, gently placing it on the CPU and GPU. Tighten the seven screws in the numerical order, from 1 to 7. DO not mix the screws, there are four and three different screws, there.

Replace the CPU bay cover and tighten the screw. Put the battery in. Restart
the notebook and let it install new driver. Also, you can boot into the BIOS,
to do that press F2 as soon as you see the startup screen. You should see the new CPU there. Exit the BIOS and let the system restart. Check that everything is working properly. Enjoy...