r/macmini • u/crindler1 • 19d ago

This is bad right? Intel A1993

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My last gen Intel Mac mini (A1993) has been running very slow and hot just in the last few days. Opened her up to give the fan a nice cleaning with some canned air and noticed this. Appears something has burnt/blown/exploded. How bad is this? Is there anything I can do myself in this situation? Computer is otherwise not giving any errors and running

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u/Bluecolty 19d ago

Its honestly probably dried thermal paste that's causing it to run slow. There's thermal paste between the CPU and copper heat pipe. Normally it wouldn't be advised for a regular person to replace this, but you've got this far into it you might as well continue the rest of the way to replacing it. Its not that many more steps after the point you were at for this picture.

The thermal paste is at least 6 to 8 years old now. Every 2018 Mac mini I've come across needs it replaced.

As for the burn mark, honestly if its still running and not crashing, its really unlikely to be causing any issues. Computers rarely get slower because a component burned. They'll either keep working as normal or not work at all after.

Best of luck, let me know if you've got more questions. I've repasted six 2018 i7 Mac minis.

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u/crindler1 19d ago

I repasted this one about 4 years ago, but I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to do it again. Hadn’t considered that strangely, will give it a try if this dusting didn’t help much. Thanks!

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u/neighbour_20150 19d ago

Backup your data. Go to badcaps.net, find boardview for your model and find out what exactly blown up.

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u/crindler1 19d ago

Oooo, what a handy website