I recently had an issue with my new laptop. It is a slick little HP TX1000 and I loved it. The problem started just after the warranty expired. The first symptoms were that the internal wireless card stopped working. I went through a series of steps to try to resolve the issue starting with calling tech support. Of course I was charged for the priveledge of speaking with them about the problem. They diagnosed a bad wireless card over the phone and so I ordered a new card. When the card arrived I installed it only to find out the new card did not help the problem. Now I was out the money for the phone call as well as the cost of a new card and I still had my original problem.

To their credit HP gave me the phone number of an engineer who refunded my money for the call and the card. At that point I was just out the time and trouble and still had a laptop with no wireless capability. The engineer also told me I would have to replace the motherboard at a cost over $500.00 which was almost half the cost of the laptop. I opted to buy a wireless dongle at a fraction of that cost and went on my merry way thinking I had solved my problem but still a little unhappy with the resolution.

Several months later I started having problems with power on the new laptop. If I ever turned off the computer it took an act of congress to get it going again. I would have to sit in front of the computer toggling the power switch on and off repeatedly until the computer finally powered on. Little did I know that this new symptom was related to the original problem. My wife and I were about to go on a trip to Ukraine and I had no time to do anything to fix the problem before the trip. I had a horrible time with that laptop during the trip and when I returned I took my laptop to Fry’s Electronics. I paid them $69.00 to diagnose the problem and guess what??? They told me that I was going to need a new motherboard at a cost of over $500.00.

If you think I was unhappy, you would be correct.  I found, by doing a little research, that this was a common problem. It is caused by the GPU, or Graphics Processing Unit, overheating and separating from the motherboard. The final result is no video. All the lights come on but the video never does in my case. This little GPU also happens to be  the Northbridge Chipset. It’s kinda important and this is also the reason for the earlier loss of the wireless card. I got on eBay and found a company in Florida that would repair my motherboard for $80 and $12 shipping. I jumped at the chance. I got online and found a service manual for my computer and proceeded to take it apart. I sent the motherboard off and a short time later received my motherboard back all repaired… Or so I thought.

When I powered up the computer it started right up. I was ecstatic. Then I plugged it in the wall. The fan sped up to full speed and a short time later the computer powered down. I finally discovered that if I changed the power profile in windows to conserve the battery and sacrifice performance, the computer would run. It seemed like a heat problem. I took the computer apart again and pulled off the heat sink. I found a mess. Aparently the original thermal paste was still on the CPU and there was a thermal pad on the GPU because there was a wider gap than the one between the heat sink and the CPU. I cleaned off all the thermal paste and the pad. I put new Arctic Silver thermal paste on the CPU and I ordered a special copper shim on eBay that was made for this computer which I placed on the GPU also with thermal paste. The computer runs cooler and quieter than it EVER has and everything works including the wireless card. I was happy beyond words.

With a few skills, which are not really difficult to acquire, it is not that difficult to learn to fix a computer and a laptop is no exception. I have worked on computers for years but only recently have I discovered that there is no real mystery to fixing a laptop. The biggest problem is getting into the computer. If a service manual is available it is a piece of cake. The manual will usually give you a look at which screws are necessary to remove and step by step procedures to remove and replace any component in the laptop. Thanks for listening.

Gary R Turner