Tried fixing an overheating laptop GPU - questions

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Hey,

I have an old Acer Aspire 5950g that has a GPU overheating problem. Opened it, cleaned fan and reapplied thermal paste, still overheats to the point where it shuts itself down as the GPU temperature shoots up to 100 ºC within minutes if playing things like LoL or Skyrim. Re-opened it to see what could be the problem, and saw many things I don't quite understand.

Two of the components coded R36J are connected to the heat sink with thermal pads, but the third one is not. Similarly, of the two grey blocks next to the round, pink-topped elements, one is connected to the heat sink through a heat pad, and the other one is not. Is that normal?
V87bWYf.jpg

It looks like the board is missing an element on the right side of the CPU. There's a thermal pad above it, but it touches nothing. I'm guessing it would be another "R36J" element, whatever that may be, because the code on the board next to it is similar (PL20X). Any idea what this element could be? Something important?
raGS1ga.jpg

Finally, as I was remounting the laptop, I noticed some thermal pads on the top side of the motherboard. I'm guessing this can't have anything to do with heat transfer because the only thing above them is the keyboard. Is this supposed to be like this?
FOLA9vz.jpg

This was my first time reapplying thermal paste, but from what I can tell it should be fine: the paste layer in the middle is very thin and the paste spread to cover the entire metal part. After the GPU temps didn't get better I thought I should try replacing the thermal pads and the fan too, as it doesn't seem to be blowing as much air out as it did when it was new. What do you more experienced guys think?
 
Can we see a picture of the GPU itself?

The thermal pads below the keyboard look like they're on RAM chips to me.

Did you clean the radiator/heatsink next to the fan? That's where dust and fluff collect, blocking airflow.

Thermal paste application looks decent. Did it make a good impression on the heatsink contact surface?

The empty space by the CPU looks ok to me. Take a close look and see if you think the solder pads have been ripped off there. Looks like bare copper to me.
 
The GPU is here:
zuy5v7V.jpg

I blew the dust that was in the heatsink with some compressed air, but there wasn't much from what I can tell. Can see through the channels without anything breaking the silhouette.
The heatsink side:
Qj98iPL.jpg

You're right about the empty slot, I can't see any sign of anything having been there.

The fan does spin, but the air flow going through it feels smaller than it was when new. I don't know if this has anything to do with anything, but the fan speed always says 30%. However, I can hear it spin more or less depending on the computer's workload.

Thanks for the replies so far, and Merry Christmas!
 
Stupid question: what's a hold?
I didn't see anything wrong with it, but it could be that I just didn't know what to look for.
 
Should have said hole
Stupid auto correct

You are not blocking the air intake when using it?
I mean using the laptop on your lap or bed etc?
 
What kind of hole are we talking about? I didn't see anything unusual, the only thing that comes to mind is the fan enclosure possibly not being sealed well. In theory that could cause some pressure loss and weaker air flow, but I don't know if that's such a big deal. I can take a more thorough look tomorrow if I know what to look for

Not blocking the air in take in any way, it's always on a flat solid surface
 
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I have only seen it once or twice but if the heatpipe gets punctured or split the liqued/gas stuff inside evaporates and is no longer effective so temps rise
If you cannot see a hole or split it sounds like the heatpipe is ok
Actually how hot is the air exhausted from the laptop?
It is possible it is a faulty sensor....maybe
 
Just had a thought this morning
Was there originally a thermal pad on the gpu chip?
Although the thermal paste `looks` to be ok,is it possible that there is not a good enough contact between the heatsink and gpu chip?
Maybe get a new pad to try?You would have to decide how thick the pad would need to be :)
Best of luck and Merry Xmas :)
 
When I repasted, I was getting poor temps, and it turned out the gpu side fan was properly plugged in after I reseated, after sorting that I got proper airflow from both fans, and the temps dropped for both the cpu and gpu.

Also, if you are applying new pads, make sure they are the correct thickness, too thick and they will impede contact from the gpu/cpu die to the heatsink.

I needed different thickness pads for the various things being cooled as they were various heights from the motherboard.
 
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