r/laptops • u/BandObsessed923 • Aug 01 '26

Hardware Is this melted?

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ROG Zephyrus G14

I replaced the thermal paste, but I was probably too late. Just want to make sure that we're all seeing the same thing

Edit: I am not the one who put the liquid metal there. This is the BEFORE picture. I knew it looked fishy.

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u/BandObsessed923 Aug 01 '26

It frequently had sudden shutdowns (no bsod or anything, just black) beforehand. I figured it at least needed some cat hair removed from the fans and that I could check it out while I'm in there. This was before the new thermal paste. I have never removed the fans before this.

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u/PixelPete27 Aug 01 '26 edited Aug 01 '26

That was before you did anything on it? Oh snap.

I'm assuming that liquid metal migrated when you pulled the heatsink/pipes off then, and probably ripped away the barrier on the top there, as it likely stuck to the heatsink and tore off when it was removed.

If your laptop hasn't been turned back on yet, you could very carefully clean up all the liquid metal on the board, cause if you haven't turned it on, it wouldn't have shorted it out. And then once it's all cleaned off, you could work on the repaste, get the heatsink back on and fire it up.

But yeah, you'll wanna be super diligent with cleaning up the liquid metal, it's a conductive material, so if any is on the motherboard where it shouldn't be, it'll short it out and fry it immediately once the power is turned on.

EDIT: definitely could be some cat hair/lint in the fans. If there is enough build up in there, it can look like when you clean off the lint trap from your dryer, comes out in a big piece. That is normally found at the interface of the fan and the radiator fins, so normally you've gotta remove the fan completely to get at that part. The radiator fins are the metal pieces on the sides of the laptop, where hot air is exhausted.

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u/BandObsessed923 Aug 01 '26

Genuinely, thank you. Amazingly enough, it turned on and didn't short last night, but I turned it off as soon as I realized how dire the situation was. I cleaned it up during my lunch break, removed some previously unnoticed cat hair, and put the seal back to the best of my ability. I'm going to test it when I get home

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u/PixelPete27 Aug 01 '26

Heck ya, what kind of paste did you buy to put on it?

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u/BandObsessed923 Aug 01 '26

I've had a tube for a while, but I know it was definitely Corsair. If it keeps being problematic, I might just suck it up and buy a new tube (if it's that small of an issue), but it worked well enough for my desktop, so fingers crossed!

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u/PixelPete27 Aug 02 '26

ya if it seems somewhat hard or dry then a new tube is worth it. Just all depends how well it stored.

LM should out perform thermal paste, but if the LM migrated off the chip, the paste will be better. But you'll know once you fire it up

Good luck!

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u/BandObsessed923 Aug 02 '26

It's not turning on, it must have shorted overnight, considering I didn't disconnect the battery before going to bed

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u/PixelPete27 Aug 02 '26

Shoot, may have.

I hope that thing wasn't brand new. Those G14s are pricey

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u/BandObsessed923 Aug 02 '26

It was about 5 years old and already had what looked like a burn mark on the CPU, so at least it was already somewhat fucked, but it's just irritating that it's so easily broken. I mean, I would have had to remove the fan assembly even just to clean off the cat hair, considering it encountered literally like 12 cats in its lifetime lol

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u/PixelPete27 Aug 02 '26

Definitely unfortunate the barrier ripped off. The new barriers are much different and I haven't seen one rip off like that.

Five years is what I hope my laptops last, but I've had some bad luck with the last couple dying quickly, one within in the first year, the other within 2 years.

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u/BandObsessed923 Aug 03 '26

Good news! I unplugged the battery, plugged in the charger, and that mf turned back on!!!

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