Change Thermal Paste for Acer Aspire 7741G

Hi all,

After playing some games on my personal laptop, an Acer Aspire 7741G, I observed that it's hot and also , from time to time after a shutdown , will not start until will cool-down.

So, i tried to disassemble it and change the CPU + GPU thermal paste

Tools needed:

1 small phillips screwdriver

1 small flat screwdriver

Technical Alcohol or Isopropyl alcohol or acetone (for cleaning old thermal paste)

Some napkins and ear sticks

New thermal paste (i used: Artic MX-4)

Before you start,

IMPORTANT: Unplug the laptop from the power source and also remove the battery

Use the phillips screwdriver and unscrew the 4 screws from the RAM/HDD/WiFi Module back panel.

Then use a hard plastic tool or your fingers to remove it from the whole laptop back-panel

Remove all visible screws and HDD. Notice that are some very small screws where the battery sits and also the same size for the battery.

After you finish above tasks, flip the laptop in normal position.

In order to remove the keyboard i use a flat screwdriver (you can use a hard plastic tool, but with a small end) and i push the plastic clips that holds the keyboard and in the same time pulled to me the keyboard. They are 6 small clips that can be pushed in order to free the keyboard.

Remove then the connector of it, unscrew the remaining 5 phillips screws and detash all the cables.

Use then a hard plastic tool with a small end (or a flat screwdriver) and release the base cover panel from the laptop by sideways.

First, remove the DVD-RW or HDD Caddy (in my case) by pushing it from inside to outside.

Remove then the cable of USB extension (bottom right )

Remove the cables of Monitor (left top)

Remove then the remaining screw.

After above list, you can lift the motherboard from the backpanel

Remove the cooler from the motherboard by unscrew the 6 screws and also unplug the FAN cable.

Take a napkin and some ear ear-stick and with help from "Technical Alcohol" / " Isopropyl alcohol " / "acetone" clean the cooler pads first and then gently clean the CPU and GPU.

Don't touch the other components if you don't have thermal pads to replace them.

After cleaning apply a small amount of Thermal Paste (i user Artic MX-4) in the middle of CPU/GPU and screw back the cooler in order written on the pads or cross pattern if they are not specified.

Assemble back the mother board and everything else in reverse order.

Good luck!