Hello again.
I finally managed to get hold of a precision screwdriver set (it took a few goes), and I’ve got as far as taking out the hard drive, but I’m stuck on taking out the optical drive because it’s possibly a bit broken. I’m going to the computer shop tomorrow to see if he can help me extract it. I’ll then proceed and report back here!
Edit:
Hi @aibd - After a quick visit to the computer shop, where the chap there extracted my optical drive for me, I’ve spent much of today dismantling the laptop, and it looks like I have the non discreet type, the UMA graphics subsystem. The manual also says: “The thermal material must be thoroughly cleaned from the surface of the fan/heat sink assembly, the processor and video components each time the fan/heat sink assembly is removed. Thermal pads and thermal paste must be installed on all surfaces before the fan/heat sink assembly is reinstalled.”
There didn’t seem to be much paste anywhere, so I’ve cleaned up a bit (but will clean up the sides as well), and I will find and order some thermal paste this evening, and then wait for that to come before I reassemble. But - do I need to replace the pads as well?
The fan isn’t actually dusty much. So it looks like I have the same situation as @Ludix, and just need to repaste?
I would guess if the thermal pad feels resilient , flat and parallel sided it would be OK to reuse. When you reassemble the heat sink onto the CPU (dry with cleaned thermal pad) it should feel nicely square and nicely fitting without strain. The pad should not really degrade invisibly in normal use, so if it cleans up OK and has a sort of crisp sound look, keep it; if in any doubt replace it. Any replacement you would have to be sure was correct, the manual may say that it is only available with a replacement heat sink/fan assembly!
I am not sure I understand what you are asking, @Ludix - should there be anything other than paste between the CPU and the heat sink? If so, then no, there wasn’t.
@aibd - I’ve followed your instructions and it seems a snug fit, so I will have a go at just adding the paste and seeing what happens with that.
There is also this blue thing, which was a bit mucky (I’ve cleaned it since):
Hi @buzzears - slight crossed wires! I was referring to the thermal pad in my last reply. I had a concern about that as it was mentioned in the manual.
The blue thing is the thermal pad!
When this is cleaned and reused it should be in good condition. Does my last post make more sense in light of this?
The idea is that a pad in good condition helps you put the optimal amount of paste on, hopefully preventing it seeping around other components.
Oh! OK, well, this thermal pad is soft and it is covering a small piece of square metal. I just lifted it up and seen that. Erm, so does the paste go on this, as it seems a bit strange to do that? Or is the paste for between the heat sink and CPU? Both? Sorry, I am getting confused!
Hi @buzzears, not being able to see your actual setup, I will try to be a bit general.
Your CPU has two recognisable square “hot spots” standing above its main surface.
We want to carry the heat off both of those into the heatsink as effectively as possible.
In a laptop there is a crush for height! The heat sink may be larger than the hot spot but you want the hotspot nicely buttered with paste so that may be a very small bead of paste would be seen round the finished joint but not so much as to risk getting the product on other components.
Often there is no pad. In your case maybe the pad is specified to aid heat dissipation as there are two hotspots and an exact flat fit cannot be guaranteed, so the pad allows a small tolerance.
So we need the presence of thermal paste over the whole of the two “hot spots”, fully through the thermal pad, and fully present on the underside of the heat sink, where there is contact.
If this was done optimally, any small bead of excess paste would be held in the marginal area of the thermal pad, but with no paste free to contaminate anything else.
I hope that helps, but perhaps see if you can watch it being done on a video.
Okey-doke. I think I understood you correctly the first time then. That blue square complicated things - it is maybe not a thermal pad, or if it is, it is for something else, somewhere else. The local computer shop man is very kind too so I will hopefully have a chance to pop back and see him tomorrow and check things out with him, and maybe he’ll have some decent paste I can buy from him too (or just pay him for a small amount of whatever he’s got). It’s been fun opening up the laptop, and I’ll be interested if I can get it back together again! All being well, I will then update the BIOS and then see how the fan is after that. I will keep you informed! Thank you!
Following this conversation perhaps go back to the manual pp 77 to 80, and follow their procedure as far as possible. If you have a good enough relationship with the guy in you local shop, perhaps you can find a way to transport the parts and have him do it? It is quite tricky to do your first single heat sink and CPU in a tower PC, I can see this being hard without a nice applicator and hard to guess the technique right first time!
Yes okay. I will take all the parts with me and go and see him. Hopefully I’ll have the opportunity to watch how he does it. I’ll keep you posted. As always, thanks for all your excellent guidance and advice. ‘Speak’ soon!
So, the kind computer man gave me some IPA solvent and sold me some paste (the cheap stuff, I fear, but never mind), and after having a duvet day yesterday (due to the onset of an ear infection which makes chewing food painful) I spent today putting back the laptop together. I managed to use the wrong size of screw x 2 somewhere, but otherwise I’m chuffed to report it’s actually up and working, and no message comes up about the fan. Yip. I’ve left the laptop running and it does get warm under there, but the heat is consistent, and using the watch -n 2 sensors command results in about the same as before. The fan was pretty clean. It was beneath the keys in the keyboard that was most yukky - took me over an hour picking out over ten years worth of dust and fabric, so it looked like.
I have just read that if the laptop is working fine, then not to update the BIOS - what do you reckon?
I’ve checked the compatible usb cable I have here will let me upload photos from the S7, to see if it’s suitable for using with the Easy-Installer. I hope this is a decent way to check?
I’m now charging the phone, and when I am fresh and alert tomorrow, I hope to install /e/ onto it.
@aibd , @Ludix - does that sound right? Am I ready to go?
That is great news! (except the enforced rest!) You might leave the laptop running with some “heavy” activity like streaming, to make sure! My laptop is permanently lifted off my desk by 10mm, and sometimes more to ensure best airflow! I tend to agree that no need to interfere with the BIOS without an actual reason.
Fab - thank you, @aibd , for the speedy reply. I think you’re right about lifting the laptop up a bit, because when I lift it up with my hand against whereabouts the fan is, the air seems to want to come out directly out and down, and it might be my imagination but it seems to get a bit cooler when I have lifted it up for a while. I’ll run another TV show on it now, and see how it is.
I’ll let you know how I get on tomorrow. Thank you so very much again for all your amazing help.
I spoke too soon! The message about the fan has come back again! I wonder why? Update the BIOS? Oh no!
I always update the BIOS first if I get my hands on a device. These days, devices run EFI instead of the legacy BIOS and the update process is mostly straight-forward.
On legacy BIOS, especially with HP consumer devices, it can be a pain. Sometimes they just provide a Windows flash utility. Sometimes they provide a USB flash utility to update independently from the OS. Sometimes there’s a manual hidden in the readme that describes how to create a flash stick.
Why I recommended to update the BIOS? It’s the layer between the OS and the hardware.
A BIOS update often updates various controller firmwares, so it could fix your problem if it’s a bug in the firmware. It can generally improve thermal management and also stuff like power management.
Hi Ludix. Many thanks for that further insight. That’s useful to know.
I dismantled my laptop again (I thought I would go back and readjust the types of screws I used where), and now I can’t replace the system board, for some reason. It was fiddly the first time, but I have tried what seems like a zillion times since, and just - no go. I’m about to go to the computer shop (yet again!) and see if he has better luck.
Today I am wondering if I should just let the laptop RIP because there are so many things wrong with it, that I am barely using it. The screen is horrible (it got damaged years ago when I was given it for that reason), the keyboard is sticky (a bit better after I cleaned it), the battery lasts only five minutes at most. The main computer I am using is not really a computer, it’s a Raspberry Pi400, which was cheap to buy and I got it out of curiosity, as well as for back-up for my temperamental laptop, which I recently had to upgrade to a later version of Linux Mint, and I wanted to make sure my data was on another PC first.
I have seen how it can be possible to install Linux Mint on a Raspberry Pi, although it sounds like it might be quite a feat to achieve. I think I might look into doing it though if it can be done via a separate SD card? I don’t think I need two PC’s, and perhaps the laptop can be put together for me to use as an exploratory, experimental tool for learning on, as that’s how it is being used at the moment.
The Pi is not mentioned as being compatible with the Easy-Installer, but perhaps somebody here can tell me if it would be possible somehow? If not, then I’ll see if I can get my laptop fixed and then at some point have a go at installing Linux onto the Pi.
As always, I would appreciate knowing the opinions and thoughts of you clever folk here. (I will also check with the Pi community). Very many thanks.
Good news. I managed to install /e/ on the S7 via the Easy-Installer last night.
I did it with my laptop, because after reassembling it a second time, the message about the fan has never reappeared (yet!). However, on first turning it on I got a message about CMOS reset (502). Second time, the Terminal appeared and tried resetting several times, giving up as many times. The laptop then started up and I got a message sprawled across a black screen saying how the “… COMRESET failed (errno 32) and Ox18 disabled by module param…” and I can’t see what after that due to the screen not being flat enough for my camera.
Reading about the BIOS and I can’t find how to do it via USB, but I will continue to look.
The computer shop man sells refurbished motherboards etc., for a decent price, so I think I will use the laptop to muck about with, along with the Pi, and buy a new-to-me PC for everything I need.
Thank you for everyone here who went the extra mile to help me - going off-topic to do so! Back on-topic, I have to say that I think /e/ OS is awesome. I love it’s simplicity and elegance. I had the S7 left on Android until last night, and I found it had far more on it that is necessary, and the regular news alerts were very intrusive, I thought. Who wants to be alerted like that for no good reason so many times a day? So yes, /e/ is best!
I do hope your Dad gets on with /e/ OS, be sure to sign him up to this forum!
do it via USB
I am confident you will find an answer! Back in the day HP were supporters of Linux, I have an old HP, going strong; then something changed and their documentation changed, they seem strongly Windows only now. (It must save support team time.)
I saw several posts, I will not send you a link till I check if the posts which I am reading are relevant to your machine!
