Rant: my old thermal paste trick backfired hard on a Dell XPS

I've been using the cross pattern for years, so I figured it was foolproof on this 2021 XPS 15. Thing ran fine for about 3 months, then started throttling like crazy during a BIOS update in Austin. Turns out the paste had pumped out because the die is offset, so I had to redo it three times with a pea dot before temps dropped to 78C. Anyone else run into a board layout that just ignores the standard application methods?

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1 Comment

the_wesley5d ago

BIOS update in Austin? That's the part that got me. You're sitting there sweating over a laptop that's cooking itself while the thing is mid-flash, that's a whole different level of stress. I've had paste pump out on a gaming laptop before, but never had to battle it during a firmware update. The offset die thing is wild though, three redoes just to find the pea dot works? That board sounds like it was designed by someone who hates repair folks.