How to clean the cooling module in Compaq Evo n1020
Today I will explain how to clean the cooling module (fan and heat sink) in Compaq Evo 1020 laptop. These machines are quite old, but if you have one, I think you will find this article useful, especially if your laptop shows the typical symptoms of overheating, as the presence of hot areas on the laptop’s body or increased noise coming from the cooling fan. I also recommend you to use the opportunity and change the thermal grease on the CPU.
CAUTION: Before you begin any of the following procedures, turn off the laptop , unplug the power adapter and remove the battery. Note that computer parts are very sensitive to static electricity so ground yourself before touching anything inside you computer by using grounding strap or touch a metal faucet pipe.
In this model the cooling fan is located under the keyboard, so it must be removed first. To do this you must remove the LED cover. It is easy because the only thing you have to do is to turn the computer bottom side up and remove the two screws that secure the LED cover to the base enclosure. See the picture below.
Carefully lift up the led cover using flat screwdriver.
Lift the back edge of the keyboard and place it upside down on the palm rest.
Although it is not necessary I recommend you to disconnect keyboard cable from the motherboard because a possible damage would mean buying a new keyboard. Release the ZIF connector to which the keyboard cable is connected by gently moving up the brown part (about 2mm.) and disconnect the keyboard cable from the motherboard.
Now you can remove the cooling fan and heat sink. As you can see the whole cooling unit is clogged with dust and needs a good cleaning. For this purpose it would be better to use compressed air. First you need to disconnect the fan cable from the motherboard and then remove three screws securing the fan.
Now remove all marked screws that secure the heat sink assembly to the motherboard.
As you can see the thermal compound looks dry and needs to be replaced. But first you have to clean the CPU and heat sink from rests of thermal compound that remain on both surfaces. You can use soft cloth dampened with alcohol or acetone.
