[Gllug] CPU heatsink question.

[Simon A. Boggis]

On Tue, 2002-01-15 at 16:55, John Hearns wrote:
> On Tue, 2002-01-15 at 16:41, Jackson, Harry wrote:
> >
> > 
> > We always used alcohol but this may be a problem for some ;-). Some cleaners
> > play havoc with the conformal coating on boards (I think that's the correct
> > spelling). 
> 
> A bit unrelated, but there was a thread on the Scottish LUG on 
> the use of WD40.
> Someone said that he had a noisy case cooling fan,
> and was advised to try a squirt of WD40. Someone else came
> back and said that WD40 had ruined his motherboard.
> Reason given was that it is conductive - I'm not sure.
> Do you know, Harry?

I wouldn't use WD40 - it's too light, and will probably act more like a
solvent (which would be good if you wanted to remove grease from the
bearing).

If you remove most fans, there will be a circular sticker covering one
side. Carefully peel it up, and there is a hole, thru which the bearing
spindle shows. A very small drop of light machine oil applied there
usually does the trick. I would still buy a replacement if available,
but this will often keep an old fan working for a while.

On the heatsink thermal contact compound, most of the ones these days
don't set (they have a silicone oil in them) and old stuff can be wiped
away, before applying some fresh compound. If it's a drying sort, then
brushing down and applying a sufficient layer of the non-setting sort
ought to do the trick nicely. I wouldn't put solvents very close to the
motherboard (and most solvents you can get your hands on won't dissolve
silicon based compounds).

Simon

-- 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Simon A. Boggis 					Systems Programmer
Department of Computer Science, 
Queen Mary, University of London, London E1 4NS UK.     Tel. 020 7882
7522

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