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A retired tech in Reno gave me one piece of advice about thermal paste and it cost me a $180 callback
So about 3 years ago I was doing a bunch of laptop repairs out of my garage and a retired tech named Hal, who used to run a shop in Reno, kept telling me to always replace thermal paste on any machine that came in hot. I figured he was just old school and skipped it on a gaming laptop that was hitting 95C under load, I just cleaned the fan and called it done. Two weeks later the guy brings it back, the paste under the heatsink was rock hard and crumbly, and the chip was throttling so bad his games were unplayable, so I ate a $180 callback and re-did the whole job for free. Now I keep a tube of Arctic MX-4 in my bag and I re-paste anything over 2 years old, takes 20 minutes and saves me a second trip every time. Hal passed away last spring but I still think about that one, he knew what he was talking about and I brushed him off. Anyone else got a piece of advice from an old timer that you ignored until it bit you in the wallet?
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elliotm3722h ago
Man, my buddy Dave had the same thing happen with car stuff. An old mechanic told him to always swap the brake fluid every couple years, and he laughed it off until his pedal went soft on the highway and the whole master cylinder needed replacing for way more than a flush would've cost. Old guys ain't wrong just cause the advice sounds boring.
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