Movie version
(Part 1/4 already has english subs, other parts will have them soon).
Before watching, You can go below and read about the causes of overheating of the laptop and about the disassembly of the Acer Aspire 5738 ZG.
The movies are in polish, but soon I will put english subs into them. But now You can read below, what I wrote about it.
Film was divided into four parts, five minutes each. I hope that you will like it and that ii will be helpful in repairing computer hardware, which you have.
And I hope I will not make too many mistakes in english text, and that it will be easy to read.
Part 1/4
Part 2/4
Part 3/4
Part 4/4
Part 2/4
Part 3/4
Part 4/4
Laptop heats up - causes
After a few years of using a notebook, it may happen, that the laptop will heat up too much, than in the time, when Your computer was new.
There are two main reasons:
-thermal compound no longer fulfills its function
-too much dust on the heatsink.
Thermal compound is between the hea tsink and the components such as CPU, chipset, GPU, other smaller integrated circuits.
After several years, it becomes brittle and does not conduct the heat to the heatsink, so the laptop heats up very quickly, and even using cooling pad doesn't help.
Too much dust in the heatsink is also a problem, because it blocks the outlet of warm air.
Disassembly of a laptop - general info
Each laptop is unique and there are different ways to access to the components inside the enclosure. Very often at the bottom there are cover flaps, which give access to the hard drive, wi-fi card or RAM.
Sometimes there is also an access to the processor and the cooling system can, by removing a cover flap. However, there are models, where to get to the inside, unfortunately, you have to disassemble the whole laptop.
Model Acer Aspire 5738ZG gives you an access to wi-fi card, RAM and hard drive, but to get to the processor You must "unbolt" the whole laptop.
Disassembly of Acer Aspire 5738ZG (5738 ZG)
1. You must turn the laptop off.
2. Remove the battery, by releasing two latches.
3. Unscrew the two screws from the flap that protects the RAM. Take the flap off, but leave the memory chips, where they were.
4. You can clean this flap from the dust, because under it there is a little heatsink.
5. Unscrew the 5 screws from the cover flap, which protects the hard drive and wi-fi card.
6. This flap has 3 "slide-hinges", so You need to remove this flap from the right side.
7. Now. it's time to pull out the hard drive. First, unscrew the marked screw, then eject the disk by pulling it into Your side. You can use this black "tongue" or Your nails.
8. Now You must remove wi-fi card. First, disconnect the two cables (wires), then release the latch and remove the card.
9. Now it's time to unscrew the 12 screws, located in different places of the enclosure. The arrangement you can see in the picture.
10. When You have unscrewed all of the screws, rotate Your laptop, open it and take a small, flat screwdriver with thin tip, so You will be able to lever the flap with loud speakers, right behind the screen. You don't need to rush, be careful to not break anything.
11. If You have lever all of the latches, You can remove this flap, but You need to notice, that there is a strip located underneath and attached to this flap.
12. Now we need to release this strip from the latch. How the latch works, You can see in this short movie.
13. The next step is to remove the keyboard, begin to lever it from the upper-right corner. When You will do this, You also must disconnect the strip. The principle (rule) of the operation is the same.
14. When You "got rid" of the keyboard, it's time to remove the cables from the wi-fi card. They are black and white. You have to pull them out carefully, as they are guided by many small "tongues".
15. Disconnect the plug, connecting the monitor and the motherboard. Here You must be very careful, because the socket is placed over the outlet (mouth) of hot air, which probably caused that cables were not in the best condition and seemed slightly damaged and they may be easily devastated.
16. At the end unscrew 2 screws and You can take the screen out and put it aside.
17. Now disconnect "mini plugs and strips" shown in the pictures below.
18. Unscrew 3 screws, and then You can proceed to remove the cover. Of course, first You have to lever it from all sides, so it will pop out from the latches.
19. You are close to Your goal, but You must first unscrew the screw number 1.
The little board does not pop out itself, because it is still connected to the motherboard via the connector (see picture below). Just lever gently.
Then disconnect the connector labeled as 2, then unscrew the screw number 3.
20. Now You can remove the motherboard from the casing. Turn it, and You will see the purpose of Your disassembly - radiator and the thermal compound under it.
Unscrew the screws marked in the picture, disconnect the power supply of the fan (next picture) and take off the heatsink.
21. To clean the heatsink and the propeller (turbine), unscrew the four small screws. Then clean it from the dust, everywhere that's possible.
22. Now it's time to replace thermal compound. Firstly, remove the old one. It is often so dry that it comes off itself.
Then You need to clean all of the surfaces on heatsink (on which there was an old thermal compound) and on the all of the integrated circuits under the heatsink.
To do it, use solvent (it can be NITRO - it's a polish kind of solvent, I don't know is it in other countries) or spirit (alcohol).
Then You need to clean all of the surfaces on heatsink (on which there was an old thermal compound) and on the all of the integrated circuits under the heatsink.
To do it, use solvent (it can be NITRO - it's a polish kind of solvent, I don't know is it in other countries) or spirit (alcohol).
23. When all surfaces are clean and dry, you're ready to apply the new thermal compound.
I used two kinds for different items. For CPU, GPU and chipset (the largest ones), I put Arctic Silver 5 (3.5 g), which is well-known product and has very good reviews, but now costs about 35 pln (~11 $).
For the rest of the items I used silicone thermal compound of the polish company AG Chemical 7g (about 1,5 $), but You can use any other cheap one.
For the rest of the items I used silicone thermal compound of the polish company AG Chemical 7g (about 1,5 $), but You can use any other cheap one.
You need to put the thermal compound in a form of little "rollers", each located next to the another one. Then smooth it, using rigid paper.
I don't know how high the layer of the thermal compound should be, but I rather prefered to put more, than less.
24. Now screw down the fan to the heatsink, and start putting all of the parts togather again, by doing everything inversely (just scroll this blog up).
Then I turned the laptop on and it worked corectly. Moreover the temperature of the CPU and other parts was much, much lower.
Example (CPU):Before:
-after playing the game for 5 minutes - more than 90°C (194°F)
-max temperature - 105°C (221°F)
After:
-after playing the same game for 5 minutes - about 50°C (122°F)
Now I don't even need to use a cooling pad, just during the setup of my movies.For several years I have peace of mind.
I hope You found this blog useful.
Dawid