I have a beat up Dell 15" here that *several* people have tried to fix, so I am told. Symptoms: Not booting properly, would shut off after a minute when it did boot, fan ran on high all the time.
Opened the case to check things out, clean it, reseat everything, new CMOS batt, etc., and I am greeted with the strangest stuff I've ever seen on a CPU. Check out the pic.
Metallic gold in color. I did a google on it and found out there actually is gold thermal paste, so I guess that's what it is.
Question: Do my fellow techs feel that the previous guy applied enough?
It was even under the cpu, in the pins/holes. I removed the board, sprayed well with electronics cleaner, tapped on it to coax out any residual gunk. It was on there like glue, took a bit of doing to remove it all.
Reassembled, booted, has been running for over an hour now, so far so good. I just can't believe the work some guys do...
Thought sure it was done for when I saw all the paste under the CPU and in the socket holes.
Crossed my fingers and prayed on this one...
Opened the case to check things out, clean it, reseat everything, new CMOS batt, etc., and I am greeted with the strangest stuff I've ever seen on a CPU. Check out the pic.
Metallic gold in color. I did a google on it and found out there actually is gold thermal paste, so I guess that's what it is.
Question: Do my fellow techs feel that the previous guy applied enough?
It was even under the cpu, in the pins/holes. I removed the board, sprayed well with electronics cleaner, tapped on it to coax out any residual gunk. It was on there like glue, took a bit of doing to remove it all.
Reassembled, booted, has been running for over an hour now, so far so good. I just can't believe the work some guys do...

Thought sure it was done for when I saw all the paste under the CPU and in the socket holes.
Crossed my fingers and prayed on this one...
