HP Presario v6000 wireless problem

[mattbrad2]

Re: HP Presario v6000 wireless problem

I almost choked on my breakfast when I read the "penny" trick. I can't tell you how many times I've seen this come into my shop. The thickness of your shim is extremely important and the penny is about 4 times thicker than need be so the heatsink starts to crush the GPU and it doesn't sit evenly across the CPU or GPU. I would certainly recommend a copper shim but please don't use a penny.

[davg]

Re: HP Presario v6000 wireless problem

I almost choked on my breakfast when I read the "penny" trick. I can't tell you how many times I've seen this come into my shop. The thickness of your shim is extremely important and the penny is about 4 times thicker than need be so the heatsink starts to crush the GPU and it doesn't sit evenly across the CPU or GPU. I would certainly recommend a copper shim but please don't use a penny.

Thanks mattbrad it was my understanding from what I read that the penny was applied to the GPU. Ya it would seem rather thick. So applying a shim would have to go on both the CPU and the GPU to even out the pressure applied to the heatsink?

[999999999]

Re: HP Presario v6000 wireless problem

I almost choked on my breakfast when I read the "penny" trick. I can't tell you how many times I've seen this come into my shop. The thickness of your shim is extremely important and the penny is about 4 times thicker than need be so the heatsink starts to crush the GPU and it doesn't sit evenly across the CPU or GPU. I would certainly recommend a copper shim but please don't use a penny.

It can be done and work well, at least better than the original thermal pad did, but that still may not be enough to keep the GPU from failing later.

In fact the penny is only about 40% thicker than the factory silpad after being lapped, and there is no rigid screw-down point near the GPU, only a flexible spring mount an inch away.

On the other hand I suppose it's entirely possible that someone won't lap the penny flat enough, but I did and achieved lower temperature. If you had some come in with damage, it seems pretty likely it was simply not enough benefit, too little too late. Most people waited till their laptop exhibited problems and THEN tried the penny trick.

[999999999]

Re: HP Presario v6000 wireless problem

Thanks mattbrad it was my understanding from what I read that the penny was applied to the GPU. Ya it would seem rather thick. So applying a shim would have to go on both the CPU and the GPU to even out the pressure applied to the heatsink?

The silpad (silicone interface material) factory applied is quite thick, that was part of the problem. Both the CPU and GPU areas of the heatsink have flexible spring clip mounts but the 4x clip points over the CPU are a stiffer mount. Putting a shim under the CPU too would do little more than increase pressure on the CPU.

[davg]

Re: HP Presario v6000 wireless problem

The silpad (silicone interface material) factory applied is quite thick, that was part of the problem. Both the CPU and GPU areas of the heatsink have flexible spring clip mounts but the 4x clip points over the CPU are a stiffer mount. Putting a shim under the CPU too would do little more than increase pressure on the CPU.

Good point 999... So one would not remove the slipad on the GPU put just add a shim between the chip and the slipad??

[999999999]

Re: HP Presario v6000 wireless problem

^ No, the point is to remove the relatively inefficient silpad and replace it with (an old, so it's relatively pure copper) a penny + thermal grease (or grease between GPU and penny, thermal epoxy between penny and heatsink if you fear it will slip out).

I don't know the composition of Canadian coins but in the U.S. pennies were all copper until 1983, at which point they became mostly zinc with a copper plating on the outside. It's still fairly easy to find pre-1983 pennies in the US, maybe one in every handful would be pre-1983.

Certainly a piece of the correct thickness copper sheeting would be ideal since there is no lapping to do to it, but it might be difficult to find such a piece as metal sheeting tends to come in certain thicknesses with the ideal being a little under 0.06" thick, maybe about 19 gauge or 18 gauge if 19 isn't reasonably obtainable. Pennies are easier and cheaper but again, I don't feel it's a cure for a laptop already having problems.

[davg]

Re: HP Presario v6000 wireless problem

^ No, the point is to remove the relatively inefficient silpad and replace it with (an old, so it's relatively pure copper) a penny + thermal grease (or grease between GPU and penny, thermal epoxy between penny and heatsink if you fear it will slip out).

I don't know the composition of Canadian coins but in the U.S. pennies were all copper until 1983, at which point they became mostly zinc with a copper plating on the outside. It's still fairly easy to find pre-1983 pennies in the US, maybe one in every handful would be pre-1983.

Certainly a piece of the correct thickness copper sheeting would be ideal since there is no lapping to do to it, but it might be difficult to find such a piece as metal sheeting tends to come in certain thicknesses with the ideal being a little under 0.06" thick, maybe about 19 gauge or 18 gauge if 19 isn't reasonably obtainable. Pennies are easier and cheaper but again, I don't feel it's a cure for a laptop already having problems.

Thanks pal for your frankness and expertise. What a great peace of information for anyone having similar problems especially on those HP's. I have learned much. Thanks to all.

[davg]

Re: HP Presario v6000 wireless problem

Thanks pal for your frankness and expertise. What a great peace of information for anyone having similar problems especially on those HP's. I have learned much. Thanks to all.

I did mean piece of information?? So by placing a shim underneath the heatsink can extend the life of the unite IYO?

[999999999]

Re: HP Presario v6000 wireless problem

^ What are you asking and what is a unite IYO?

The laptop is already damaged, improving heat transfer with a shim replacement will only slow down further damage, it have no improvement at all if the shim is not flat enough with relatively parallel surfaces (lapped carefully). It's just a bad laptop cooling design overall and a shim is not a magic bullet even if you buy a new mainboard for it.

The best long term solution is to move on to a different laptop. It could be fairly inexpensive to buy something used and recoup some of the cost by parting out the v6000, or buying an incomplete laptop and reusing some parts like memory or HDD.

[davg]

Re: HP Presario v6000 wireless problem

^ What are you asking and what is a unite IYO?

The laptop is already damaged, improving heat transfer with a shim replacement will only slow down further damage, it have no improvement at all if the shim is not flat enough with relatively parallel surfaces (lapped carefully). It's just a bad laptop cooling design overall and a shim is not a magic bullet even if you buy a new mainboard for it.

The best long term solution is to move on to a different laptop. It could be fairly inexpensive to buy something used and recoup some of the cost by parting out the v6000, or buying an incomplete laptop and reusing some parts like memory or HDD.

Sorry by unit IYO I meant laptop in your opinion. You did answer my question and again I thank you very much and I agree with your suggestions. I think I may add the shim and wait until it dies completely and than use/sell the good parts.