Post by hydraxl on Jan 5, 2008 12:27:34 GMT -5
I recently wanted to clean my old XPS laptop, 1st gen. I had never solidly cleaned it (other then the two vents an occasional blowout) so I took it apart in order to really get to the heart of it, as per the owner's manual.
Now this computer, while pretty old, was still holding it's own responsive and the like, and by no means obselete. Just the fans were out of control; I wanted to relieve the build-up.
When I got to removing the processor's thermal-cooling assembly, directly above the processor, what happened was the processor had become, over the years I guess, melted to the top of the assembly (unless they come glued that way, which I doubt). When I removed the assembly, the processor, pins and all, came up with it, on the underside. Now, looking at the manual, it details removing the processor separately in a different procedure.
I cleaned everything and saw that somehow a few pins on the exposed processor were bent and I realized: this is a bad thing. But I tried bending them straight and stuck the processor back in, for better or worse.
By now it should be obvious I'm not the most tech-savvy person but I wanted to reiterate that the cooling assembly shouldn't have brought up the processor in the first place. Needless to say the computer doesn't boot up any more just flashing the 3 status lights and then going dead. I'm assuming it's a dead processor at this point...
So my questions are:
Am I right with this diagnosis? Or could the problem stem elsewhere?
Is it worth reviving this thing?
On dell's site, the refurbished heatsink is 34.95 but the processor is a whopping 416.95! Are there any other cheaper processor options?
Is this my fault for the processor to be stuck like that? Seems like just crap architecture!
And, if it is dead, is there any way to part it out or sell it as is?
So much was spent on this thing I don't want it to go to waste.
Now this computer, while pretty old, was still holding it's own responsive and the like, and by no means obselete. Just the fans were out of control; I wanted to relieve the build-up.
When I got to removing the processor's thermal-cooling assembly, directly above the processor, what happened was the processor had become, over the years I guess, melted to the top of the assembly (unless they come glued that way, which I doubt). When I removed the assembly, the processor, pins and all, came up with it, on the underside. Now, looking at the manual, it details removing the processor separately in a different procedure.
I cleaned everything and saw that somehow a few pins on the exposed processor were bent and I realized: this is a bad thing. But I tried bending them straight and stuck the processor back in, for better or worse.
By now it should be obvious I'm not the most tech-savvy person but I wanted to reiterate that the cooling assembly shouldn't have brought up the processor in the first place. Needless to say the computer doesn't boot up any more just flashing the 3 status lights and then going dead. I'm assuming it's a dead processor at this point...
So my questions are:
Am I right with this diagnosis? Or could the problem stem elsewhere?
Is it worth reviving this thing?
On dell's site, the refurbished heatsink is 34.95 but the processor is a whopping 416.95! Are there any other cheaper processor options?
Is this my fault for the processor to be stuck like that? Seems like just crap architecture!
And, if it is dead, is there any way to part it out or sell it as is?
So much was spent on this thing I don't want it to go to waste.
