In an attempt to remove the heatsink/CPU from a dead motherboard, I pulled a wee bit too hard on it and took the CPU right out of the socket while the lever was still down (can't get to it.) Now it won't come off of the heatsink. I've tried dental floss dipped in isopropyl alcohol to try to separate it but it didn't work. How can I get it off without damaging anything? Before you suggest it, I don't own a hairdryer.
Also, will I need new thermal paste if I can get it off?
Yeah you'll need new thermal paste, take a flat head screw driver and pry it off. Insert it between the CPU and Heatsink and twist it.
It sucks because thermal paste can act like glue sometimes, especially if it was on for a long time.
Might be a terrible terrible idea, but you can try double layering it in a zip-lock bag with a piece of chalk or rice or one of those silica moisture absorbers you find in food packaging or wherever and then put it in the freezer for a few hours. The cold may make the paste brittle enough to shatter apart with some light force when prying with a screwdriver.
You can also triple or quadruple bag it, and put it in a bowl of warm to hot water to soften the paste.
[editline]3rd May 2011[/editline]
[QUOTE=Shadaez;29597272]Yeah you'll need new thermal paste, take a flat head screw driver and pry it off. Insert it between the CPU and Heatsink and twist it.[/QUOTE]
If it's stuck anyway like I think it is, then this won't work. I worked in a warehouse reselling computer goods, and a common problem I came across were CPU's glued to the heatsink. Prying it with a screw driver only chipped the silicone outside.
[QUOTE=Shadaez;29597272]Yeah you'll need new thermal paste, take a flat head screw driver and pry it off. Insert it between the CPU and Heatsink and twist it.[/QUOTE]
A magnetic screwdriver wouldn't fuck with it would it?
Any suggestions for thermal paste?
Eh I don't think so, it shouldn't. Any thermal paste will do, Arctic Silver's apparently good, but the differences between them all are pretty negligible.
Alrighty, I got it off but now I'm worried I might have got some of the old thermal paste on the pins...Safest way to clean the pins?
[QUOTE=longears34;29628660]Alrighty, I got it off but now I'm worried I might have got some of the old thermal paste on the pins...Safest way to clean the pins?[/QUOTE]
Probably methanol and a cloth?
[editline]5th May 2011[/editline]
I'm pretty sure that turpentine would work in getting the paste off, but I'd leave that to the last option.
Did you try twisting the CPU one direction? I find that works on even the most stuck CPUs to heatsinks.
Derp late.
always twist the heatsink free when the cpu's in the socket!
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