in the excitement of having a new processor(p4 3.4ghz dual-core) for my pc, i installed the processor without applying any kind of thermal paste with the heatsink...now the processor is fused to the heatsink, impressed? what can i do to get the ****** thing off?

i dont really care for the well-being for the processor or the heatsink as i was planning on upgrading again...i just dont want to have to buy a new motherboard.

please, some advice.

Hi benchWARMER!

Welcome to pchf.

The thermal greece does get a little sticky, but with a little bit of pressure, it does free. I usually use a small flat head screwdriver, and gentley wedge the CPU off. As long as you don't touch the pins, you'll be ok!

nono, i didnt apply any thermal grease, i just stuck the heatsink on without any grease...now the processor is FUSED to the heatsink...both the processor and the heatsink are still on the motherboard, i cant get them off without removing the heatsink first...hence, the dilemma.

Ah sorry, I read that wrong.

You might want to use the PC so that the CPU warms up to a hot temperature before you shutdown and try to remove it with some gloves. I would still find a small flathead screwdriver handy if you can reach, you can either levar the edge of the CPU or hold the cpu down (depending on the CPU), and use and lift the heatsink up from the same corner. As long as your gentle enough!

Apart from that, I can't think of a "safe" method I could post here to remove it. Maybe some of the other techies may be able to offer a better solution.

Just found this:

The Mother Board :: View topic - My CPU is stuck on the heatsink & won't yank off!

The hairdryer trick mentioned in the link above , that upgrader764 gave us, works good. I dont reccomend the screwdriver method that they mention. There are millions of transistors in there that are very fragile, and warping or cracking the silicon wafer, can ruin a good cpu. If you have to pry it off, use the widest tool(putty knife or similar) that will fit, and gently work it up and down, to spread the pressure over as much area as possible.