Nicholas Ouimet

Anyone know what epoxy is used to secure the metal frame to the plastic cover? It's a green epoxy, but that's all I know. The same green epoxy is also used to secure the top case plastic to the metal frame

What camera does iFixit use for the photos?

Step 4 shows how to clean the old thermal paste off the processor. The rubber squares are thermal pads. Take care not to rip or damage them, or they will need to be replaced.

That is a thermal pad, not thermal paste.

Why would you ever need to remove the heatsink? Again I don't understand how you rate these on repairability. They aren't meant to be fixed. Would you like for EVERY IC to be socketed, every component to be through hole for easy soldering, a bottom cover held on with screws?

I mean a heatsink is a piece of metal. It isn't going to fail.

Looks like a terrible job of applying thermal compound. Its not china's fault though. Just how Apple tells foxconn to apply it. At least its better than the old worse issue in 2006. Apple's QC is declining.

Quote from jonahwy:

Swapping out the heatsink on my 15" MBP seemed to go fine. The instructions were clear and easy to follow. My computer had been shutting down immediately and was unusable. I did some research and it sounded like the heatsink was the problem. After reassembling the computer, when I started it up, there was a little puff of smoke from the back left of the keyboard... and... no screen backlight came on.

The repair solved the problem of my computer constantly shutting down, but now I can only see my screen if I shine a bright light on it.

Does anyone know what could have happened? If the thermal compound was touching some little wire or something, could it have caused a short?

Did you use Arctic Silver? It's possible something shorted, but I'm leaning more toward a lose display cable. Try re-seating the cable.

So far looking good. I'm commenting as you are making this teardown.

Quote from nicksmacandpchelp:

its a ;ow cost unit

You mean low cost unit? It was dirt cheap for what it does. Sadly, I can't fix the problem. I will keep it, because I enjoy taking things apart in my spare time. i don't want any 6 year old kid in Africa or china "recycling" this crap.

Some people apply a little dab in the center, and then install the heat sink. It spreads it evenly unlike a finger, and is much cleaner. I use this method on cpus with a heat spreader, and ones with the bare die. You can also apply a dab, and use a razor blade to spread it evenly too. The finger method tends to leave air bubbles, and doesn't spread evenly. I use Arctic Silver 5, but sometimes have to spread it with a blade as it is so thick. I hear that Arctic Cooling MX-3 is suppose to be better. I hate that AS5 can be electrically conductive. It makes me nervous that i will short something out. I hate AS5 200 hour curing time. MX-3 is claimed to not need any curing time, and not electrically conductive, So if you apply the amount that Apple did with the 2006 MacBooks, you will still have a working computer. If apple applied AS5, like they applied thermal paste in 2006, I bet the laptop would be DOA.

Just my little thoughts on thermal compound.