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Mid 2009 Model A1278 / 2.26 or 2.53 GHz Core 2 Duo processor EMC 2326

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white chalky paste on Intel and Nvidia chips on my MBP 13

I have a MBP 13" Mid 2009 model, I spilled some red wine last week, but the laptop kept on working except few keys, but suddenly it stopped working, when I try to power up, I could hear the sound of fan and also i could see hard drive light, but didn't see anything on screen and not even that bing sound at bootup.

So I opened my MBP, and took out the logicboard, when I removed heatsink (I believe ), I saw the NVIDIA and Intel chips covered with white chalky paste, what is that stuff, Is it normal ?

Now I washed the board with 91% alcohol and soft brush, I plan to let it dry it out for 2 days and then re-assemble everything, what are my chances ?

Please help, I am not in a situation to buy a new MBP

Thanks a lot

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Hi there Fatboysam

The white chalky substance on the chips is called heat paste, or thermal paste. its a substance that fills in any minute gaps between the chip and the heatsink (often in laptops the aluminium case acts as a heatsink).

if there is even a small gap of air between the chip and heatsink, it can act like an insulator, and this will cause overheating. most systems handle overheating by making the chip run slowly to avoid damage, so you might not 'blow' your chip, but it will run like a 386.

My suggestion, is to buy some of this stuff: [linked product missing or disabled: IF179-010]

its cheap, and will save you heaps of trouble.

make sure the chip and heatsink are both clean, then apply a small amount of this paste to the surface of the chip. not too much, as it will spill over the sides once the heatsink and chip are mated. but you need to make sure that the whole of the chip heat surface is covered.

I hope this helps.

Regards

Ian

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