How do I replace heat sink with both thermal paste and pads?
I am reassembling my powerbook after replacing the display inverter. I want to put the heat sink back on the processor (and other chips as well below it?), but the thermal paste guide pictures and my situation look different. It appears that any paste is a bit more like a pad than I thought, though the stuff on the processor is likely some thick colored paste.
My main concern is with the pads: The pads seem about one or two millimeters thick. Would removing the pad and applying thermal paste lead to a gap and therefore a problem with cooling? If I end up reusing the pads afterall, would I then have to put thermal paste on the underside of the pad? Are there any issues with small irregularities in the pads' surface smoothness? What if the pads got a little bit of dust on them, probably during dis-assembly of the laptop? Does this present an issue? If so, would it be best to just get replacement pads or use thermal paste? Thanks for your time and effort answering my question.