I'm switching my P4 to a new motherboard. When I tried to remove the heatsink from the old board, the CPU came out with it. Everything seems fine, and none of the CPU's pins are bent, but I can't get the heatsink off. I used the thermal pad that came with the heatsink, not thermal compound (I'm kicking myself for that now). I tried to wiggle them apart, but there is no movement whatsoever -- it's like they're superglued together. Is there any way to get them apart, or do I have to trash a perfectly good CPU?
I had a buddy who had the same thing happen to his CPU. We simply took a small screw driver and very gently went around all the edges just slowly loosening it from all sides. Eventually I was able to gently pry it apart from the heatsink and everything was "A" ok.
Though I've never tried it myself (mostly because I've never had the same problem at home)... I have heard putting the whole works in the freezer for a while will make the TIM brittle and you should be able to pop the processor off with no effort.
If twisting doesn't work(it normally does) then try the freezer method zoron recommended in a plastic bag. Just be real careful to avoid condensation when taking it out then simply twist to get them apart.
thanks to all the suggestions yall have provided...the one that worked for me immediatly, was to use a small flathead screw driver and apply a little pressure to the corner between the heatsink and cpu top (((...((( the corner is the Key point 4 seperation )))...))) this is when you pull out the heatsink with cpu stuck to it.
