That time my cousin told me to use thermal paste on a laptop CPU and it actually worked

Last month my laptop started overheating and shutting down after 10 minutes. My cousin said to just clean the old paste and put new stuff on. I thought he was crazy because I figured laptops were too delicate for that. But I was desperate and bought a $5 tube of thermal paste from Amazon. I opened up the old Dell, cleaned the chip with rubbing alcohol, and put a tiny pea-sized drop on there. Put it back together and now it runs cool for hours. No more crashes and I saved at least $100 from not taking it to a shop. Has anyone else tried this and had it fix their overheating issues?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_david4d ago

Wait, you just did a pea-sized drop? I've always heard you need a grain of rice size for laptops, not a pea! But hey, if it worked, it worked. I did the same thing to my old HP last summer and it was a lifesaver. My fan was running nonstop and the bottom of the laptop was hot to the touch. After cleaning off the crusty old paste and putting a fresh dot on, it ran like new for another year before I upgraded. The key for me was being super careful with the tiny screws and not forcing anything when I opened it up. It's honestly one of the easiest fixes for a common problem, and I'm surprised more people don't try it before giving up on their machine.

linda_butler284d ago

Swear by the pea size myself. A grain of rice never seemed enough to cover the whole chip, and I'd rather a little extra squeeze out the sides than leave a dry spot.