Cooling element graphic card broke!

Geminis

Geminis

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http://home.planet.nl/~abels102/fotos/card.jpg
http://home.planet.nl/~abels102/fotos/elementje.jpg

I had trouble with a Mac after installing second drive and memory.
When I replaced the Mac to antoher location within the same room, I suddenly heard a weird sound from within the machine!

I opened and found the little red element and after a while I figured out it broke off the grapic card. What's this? I am sure nothing happened with the Mac that can explain it. But the only thing is that I've openend the machine a lot of times. (but again, I always am very carefull with computers)

Ok, enough talking myself out of any blames :)

Can I glue this back on? (I can see what the exact position is, cause of a small portion of mirrored text from the processor it belongs to).

Any tips would be very gratefull!
 
Thats the heatsink for the video card. The aluminum touches the black chip, this way the heat travels from the chip into the aluminum and keeps it much cooler than if it had no heatsink. I wouldnt want to really run the machine without the heatsink in place because it may lead to damage of the video card.

My suggestion is to try and carefully scrape off as much of the residue glue from the heatsink and the black chip with a razor blade and then re-apply some kind of thermal adhesive. My suggestion is arctic ilumina. See link http://www.svc.com/araltherad.html . There is another product called arctic silver which is good but it conducts electricity so if you make a mistake applying the stuff and it touches things its not supposed to touch, you could end up with a dead card. Arctic alumina is almost as good but it doesnt conduct electricity so its much safer to play with.

Anyway make sure after carefully scraping the glue off that when you run your finger over the chip and the heatsink surface, it feel smooth to the touch. The idea is to make sure that as much of the aluminum makes contact with the chip.

Mix a small amount of each tube together until the color looks uniform. For example if one tube is white and one is black, put an equal amount of each and mix it until it looks grey. This way you know you've mixed well. You dont have too much time until it begins to harden so after mixing, put a thin layer of this stuff on top of the chip (thickness of a sheet of paper) and then put the heatsink down on the chip. You probably want to press down a little on the heatsink so that it makes good contact with the chip. A small amount of compound may ooze out from between the chip and heatsink when you press down. This is normal.
Set the card aside and let it dry overnight. The next morning, the heatsink should be firmly attached to the card. It shouldnt move at all. Note that these thermal adhesives are really strong. I'd say stronger than what came from the factory. Once its in place, it wont come off.

If the above is just too much work, then your alternative is to buy a replacement video card. I'm mostly a PC guy so I cant tell you where you'd get the best price but I'm sure someone can point you in that direction.



Geminis said:
http://home.planet.nl/~abels102/fotos/card.jpg
http://home.planet.nl/~abels102/fotos/elementje.jpg

I had trouble with a Mac after installing second drive and memory.
When I replaced the Mac to antoher location within the same room, I suddely heard a weird sound from within the machine!

I opened and found the little red element and after a while I figgurd out it broke off the grapic card. What's this? I am sure nothing happened with the Mac that can explain it. But the only thing is that I've openend the machine a lot of times. (but again I always am very carefull with computers)

Ok, enough talking myself out of any blames :)

Can I glue this back on? (I can see what the exact position is, cause of a small portion of mirrored text from the processor it belongs to.

Any tips would be very gratefull!
Click to expand...
 
The heat sink looks like it just came loose. If your system is still in warranty or under AppleCare, then take to an Apple Authorized Service Provider for a replacement.
If not:
Step one: There's a good reason for the heat sink, don't use the card without it in place.
Step two: A simple glue job MIGHT work, but you need to use a glue with 2 criteria:
1. Must be able to pass heat to the heat sink
2. Must be able to withstand the heat that the GPU chip will produce

Best to take the vid card and the broken heat sink to a computer repair shop (A PC place may have what you want, doesn't have to be an Apple repair shop)
 
contoursvt and deltaMac, thanks for the quick and very helpfull replies!
The Mac is 3 years old, no warranty.

Still one question: Is it 'normal' that they fall of? It scared the hell out of me.
 
To be honest, its not normal and I can think of a reason why it would have fallen off like that. Its generally quite difficult to pry the heatsink off once any adhesive dries. I dont think that would happen again if you clean the heatsink/chip and re-glue it with the right thermal adhesives.

Deltamac had a good idea too. If there is a PC sales/repair shop around, they may have the right adhesives to attach the thing. I'd be more inclined to trust the small mom and pop type shopes myself.



Geminis said:
contoursvt and deltaMac, thanks for the quick and very helpfull replies!
The Mac is 3 years old, no warranty.

Still one question: Is it 'normal' that they fall of? It scared the hell out of me.
Click to expand...
 
card_fixed.jpg


..and fixed!

I bought Perma Bond Acrylic Adhesive, and it was really too easy, after following the steps from you people! Card still works, hopefully it will stay that way :)

Thanks again!
 
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