Does my heat sink need to be replaced?

I recently sent my laptop off to be repaired. I was told that it had water damage to the heat sink. They say that the indication is the discoloring of the copper tubing.

So my question is, If water caused it to blacken then does that mean that the fluid inside wont cool like it should? or is it just simply a cosmetic issue?

edit:
A picture of it can be viewed here http://http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z114/eatumup72/heatsinkJPG.jpg

 

Nonsense. A heatsink can't get damaged by water, it's pure copper/aluminum or so.

 

The pic doesn't work for me, but if it's an air cooler there is no liquid inside it. As Michel said, the HS is just a chunk of metal, the only damage that could be caused by water would be any chemical reactions.

 

The picture won't work for me either And as notyou says, if it's a fan on it, and it got damaged, only the fan needs to be replaced!

 

Just remove the extra http// in the url.

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z114/eatumup72/heatsinkJPG.jpg

 

As long as the fan still works, than there is no point in replacing the heatsink.

K-TRON

 

Uh, its hard to make out anything. Possible to click a picture of it from a bit far away.

BTW, here is the picture for those who're having trouble viewing.

 

Question: Have you been dunking one end of your notebook in water and leaving it there for a couple of hours at a time? If not, you might want to revisit with this supposed repairshop the issue of this so-called water damage; that black coating is just too even, and terminates too abruptly, to be the result of anything other than long-term immersion in water or some other oxidizing agent. With all due respect, I think they took you for a bit of a ride.

 

Wow you guys are amazing. i got away to lunch and youve already found and corrected my error with the photo!

But Thanks for your comments... the fan still works fine. and if the discolorization is purely cosmetic then great! Oh and the bit about them taking me for a ride.. well lets just say ive already called t hem on that. short story is that its gone in twice, with the same "water damage" excuse. The first time they sent it back, they sent the computer back with physical damage done to the machine. But they wont do anything. as of now ive sent off a complaint to the executive office. But I dont expect anything to come of it.

so for now thanks to you wonderful people im down to 2 components that need to be checked. ive been informed today that bad Ram can give false things that look like a bad GPU. i got UBCD today. Hopefully that will give me some good results when i get the machine back from HP.

and no, unfortunately I didn't try and see if my computer could swim. would have been cool tho. also would be saving me from a lot of headaches with HP.

 

Last time I checked oxidized copper turned green... I'd be willing to wager that's a factory applied coating on that heatsink.

 

wait a minute,
most laptops on the market today have painted heatsinks.
The copper heatsink is electropainted black, so that it doesnt corrode, and it looks better.

Plus big mike is right, copper turns green and than into patina overtime. it never gets black unless an external chemical is added.

K-TRON

 

yeah ill never buy hp again. shame how customer service and the idea of standing behind your product has deminished over the years.

 

+1

10 chars

 

That's what I was thinking. I did a little checking, and copper can oxidize to other colors than green, depending on whether there are any other metals mixed in (i.e., it's really an alloy and not pure copper) and depending on the oxidizing agent and environment; however, even if one assumes that the discoloration was oxidation, there is no way on this Earth that it came from any so-called "water damage." The degree of exposure that would be needed would have wrecked the rest of the system as well.

To the OP: If they've tried to pull this cute little trick on you twice already, and in particular if the discoloration is really a factory-applied product (which implies that they know, or should know, about it), I would start judiciously using the word "fraud" or the phrase "consumer fraud" when discussing the matter with this company because, quite frankly, that's how their behaviour is beginning to smell.

 

Thanks. I've got a case manager with the case open for 30 days. when i get it back ill be able to tell if it is paint or dis colorization . I'm told that if its from liquid then it'll wipe off. If it don't wipe then ill be calling him and saying things like "fraud" and "lawyer". beyond that I really don't know what else I can do. at this point it's tech centers word against mine. unfortunately i don't think they will accept the findings of anyone who does not work under their payroll.