HOWTO: T2010 disassembly and applying new thermal grease

[Frank]

So the BIOS works, the HDD spins, a few LEDs light, you can access the BIOS? You can move the mouse in the BIOS screen?
Does the BIOS recognize all RAM modules, HDD, CPU, ...
The BIOS has a self diagnostic routine. Run it, maybe it reports the failure.

Try to remove all RAM modules, install only one and try to boot, try both slots, then try the other module in both slots.

[wafun21]

I solved it by installing the 2GB RAM stick back which I replaced by another 1GB. These RAM sticks work perfectly... I do not know why installing 2 1GB RAM sticks causes the problem.
Thanks for your reply...

[Vomeo1691]

Is there a similar guide for the T5010?

[Frank]

Is there a similar guide for the T5010?

No, but in the hard drive upgrade tutorial is everything explained you'll need to get access to the CPU, too.
HOWTO: Upgrade Hard Drive on the T5010 (PICS)

[cxln]

I've had the T2010 for about half a year now, and I've found that the fan problem has gotten worse and worse. The reviews don't seem to do the amazing fan noise justice; it's amazingly noticeable, especially in a small class in a really acoustically-happy room.

Since I wasn't that willing to shell out fifty dollars for a fan, I figured that trying the computer fanless wouldn't be a bad idea. The only problems so far (and it's been a day, mind you, so not a great sample size) are that on bootup, the thing'll error (but you can just push f2, I think)... and that it's just about as hot as normal, at least feeling-wise.

Monitoring the thing, it might peak at around 80 degrees Celsius at really intense things, but it idles at around 60 degrees on battery. I've got it on a dock when it's not on battery, and the dock has a fan, so it typically also idles 60-65 there too. If it weren't on a dock, I'm sure it'd get to around the 80 degrees mark. I know this isn't a great temperature to be around, but if it takes one or two years off a CPU life of five years, I don't mind...

I'm returning to Asia soon, so hopefully I can find a cheapish fan that at least works better than this one. I'll report back, hopefully, with success. But! For anyone else who's planning on running fanless because it's just that unbearable, it's very much possible, especially if you rarely hibernate/shutdown--no errors whatsoever!

Hi, just wondering how your T2010 has borne up under fanless operation over the last few months. The fan noise on mine is driving me nuts, and I'm considering doing the same especially since the replacement fans are now going at $89... Unless someone has developed a software solution to throttle the fan.

[linj]

Uhm. It's been okay; I applied Arctic Silver to little use (probably as expected), and it idles at around what I said before.

That said, sometimes it spikes up to 90+, which is really really bad, but that only happens when I'm using it in tablet mode on a squishy surface (i.e. carpeted or something), which is the least optimal setting.

It's only if it's really really irritating... Oh, note that if you open it up too many times, you might end up breaking some things (my middle and right click don't work, there's a piece of item on the hinge that I don't know what to do with that fell off), so.. I recommend only doing it ever once. Make your decision and stick with it.

[hydrocyanic]

bought the new fan, bought arctic silver

installation was a bit of an hassle with all those different sizes screw but all sorted out

edit a little on the impression...

the new fan can be as noisy as the stock under high load, but duration of that is much shorter comparatively, and more quieter on average. the sound isn't as obtrusive either, sound isn't as high or light than stock
temperature hasn't changed much, same high, 1C lower on average

70 is still a little much for the change, but still a welcome change anyways... i would be much happier if it cost 40 in total...

ps. i didn't take the metal top off as i though it might help on passing heat further to the fan's side. and i will not do this all over again -_-'

[zunq]

I've had the fan swapped for a long time but I know that I made the right choice. Even at max it's bearable, whereas on the old one just the fan accelerating and decelerating made me go nuts; at full speed it was definitely louder.

[WellThen]

First of all, a huge thanks to Frank for posting this how-to. I would never have attempted to do surgery on my baby without it. Frank, you saved me $50!

As Frank and others have suggested, I replaced the T2010 fan with the one from the T4220 after removing the metal plate from that fan. For all intents and purposes, it is now silent! Even when the fan is running on high, the sound is such a soft white-noise that's it's barely noticable.

I do have one question. I wasn't sure how much thermal grease to use. I used some Arctic Silver 5 that I had on hand. I followed their recommendation of using a grain-of-rice-sized amount on each processor. I didn't try to spread it around, since I wanted to make sure that it made good contact with the heat sink plate. Was that the right amount?

I didn't install RMClock until after the fan upgrade was completed. After running overnight, I'm now running 45C when on battery at idle, and 48-49C on A/C at idle. I was expecting lower numbers. Do you think I need to re-do the thermal grease? I don't really care about the exact numbers - if these temperatures won't damage or shorten the life of my processors, then, I'm happy.

Thanks for any advice you can offer.

[SimsHsia]

Hi WellThen,

I have a T4220, but since you have the T4220's heatsink/fan in your T2010, what I did with the AS5 is the same: put a rice sized amount on the processor die (the blue part), but I spread the grease on that die as thinly as possible.

AS5 takes about a week to set, so I don't think you'll need to reapply it just yet. Just wait and observe. However, if the temperature does not drop a bit more in a week from now, you may need to re-apply AS5.