Is this a dodgy thermal pasting? Did it bake my SLI 880M's?

It looks like a bad job to me, bare shiny GPU die showing through on the worst damaged card and thermal paste splodge overload on both of them, but is that why my DC power jack shorted out and left me with one 880m that electrically shorts out and the other one with no GPU that any software can talk to but does show in Bios?


https://photos.google.com/share/AF1...?key=SS1HUndiWE9lWVBwS2FzRVZsemM1RmNUOFBWTDln


https://photos.google.com/share/AF1...?key=SS1HUndiWE9lWVBwS2FzRVZsemM1RmNUOFBWTDln

Or could the impact shock that damaged the Audio ports, DC Jack, and internally dislodged the magnetic lid sensor have also caused the DC jack and or the GPU card burn out?


https://photos.google.com/share/AF1...?key=alRjWW1ucGJCcHBjcEdtVGxCaU8tbG5ZSmpWZktB


https://photos.google.com/share/AF1...?key=alRjWW1ucGJCcHBjcEdtVGxCaU8tbG5ZSmpWZktB

Pictures are from my Alienware 18, which no longer powers on, because the SD card ribbon cable that connects the power button to the mainboard is frayed to the point that the little copper connector wires are falling off and has finally given up connecting properly after yesterdays foray inside to fix bits that were broken by the so called repair specialists.

I am currently repairing this and the other ribbon cable for the touchpad and it's tron lights with some sandpaper, some glasspaper, a scalpel, a metal ruler and some thin stiff plastic sheet. If it works, then I'll post pictures and then maybe it's worth trying to do something about the other issues but for now this really is just a post mortem question, why did my Alienware 18 meltdown whilst idling in Windows 10? It's important because the guy has offered a partial refund for the damaged ports but now things are getting wayyyyy complicated because it's since choked on my watch and he had the thermal paste done before the sale and he's a decent guy and even offered to take the return.

It's also a top scoring 4940XM Extreme CPU, a near perfect slice of silicon, and I just want it to work and to keep it all for myself, even if it's just with one dGPU - the card with the dead GPU can probably be revived by applying 120 degress Celcius of hot air to its die (not reballing or reflowing), and maybe even the other ones electrical short can be resolved with a hotair gun reflow.

and maybe my Lemon will grow into a giant Lemon tree that produces juicy Doom death-matches everyday...

oh, and in case you are wondering, a couple of weeks of Tomb Raider and other tame games on this Alienware 18 4940MX 880m SLI went swimmingly, it was a mere couple of sessions of the awesome Doom 2016 that brought her to the brink of burn out (whatever the underlying causes were).

Please comment, this has been a lonely struggle so far.

x

 

She Lives!

a sandpapered ribbon cable, and the power button works again.

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1...?key=YTF1U1VhUXpkQ29Ud0RBYzVCVUcwcHhTRnB4VHFn

But now she's died yet another way.
7 Dell Beeps on boot.

isnt that the 7 seven beeps of a dead CPU? how heck did that happen?
what can I do about that?

Please help with this one. I'm really stuck now.

 

Hmm, this looks like one tortured machine. That is definitely what you call a dodgy thermal pasting. 7 beeps can be hard to diagnose, usually just points to a hardware problem.

 

it vas something to do ith the daughter boards not being properly connected at the time.
the cables needed much more tidying. its functioning again except for some eys on the eyboard.
vhere to get those ribbon cables from? I thin I ill need ne ones.

 

I got one from Amazon that nearly matches the spec: https://www.amazon.com/20624-VW-1-1-5cm-Ribbon-Cable/dp/B07HWTWX53/

I was told that as long the number of pins and width of the cable match it should work just fine, it should be arriving anytime next week and I can post results if you want. But yeah like I said on my post where you commented what I am still missing is the clip.

Oh and if possible, a more detailed explanation on how you managed to make it work for a while with the sand paper could be given i'd highly appreciate it, i'm bored out of my mind without the laptop lol.

 

hey, yeah, I ordered some similar too (in UK), and I replied to your other post just now. I just re-repaired my cables too, to get a better connection and more things working. I've also put some gorilla tape on the ribbon cable over the fold where it is weak and damaged and even tried sticking a couple of tiny wires on it to bridge the gap between broken pins, it turns out it also gives it a bit of stiffness too that helps when fitting it which in turn reduces the wear and tear each time fitting it too. I should have photo it.
the generic cables we have ordered will need something like the blue plastic that is on the original ones, I cut out pieces from thin stiff plastic packaging.... and they have a lower heat rating, so careful with that if your rig runs very hot - even though they are a bit away from the hottest parts of the laptop, they are partially over the second GPU - which I no longer have a second one, it burnt out.