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A little story with a lesson to be learned.

Tags:
  • Homebuilt
  • Heatsinks
  • CPUs
  • Systems
Last response: in Systems
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May 22, 2007 4:55:28 AM

:lol: 
Here is a story of mine that I feel compelled to tell because it taught me a lesson, and IMO its an OK story. I am sorry 'bout the length. :( 

For starters, I have a MSI K9N SLI Platinum MOBO and an AMD Athalon X2 5000+. You will see why thats semi-important in a sec.

Today I decided to fully take apart my computer, clean it off and put it back together better. I had left off some of the brass spacers on the back of my mobo and my hd activity indicator never worked.

Everything went smoothly except for the removal of my heatsink/CPU.

When I went to pull the heatsink off of the CPU, the CPU came with it. :(  Ug...now my CPU is ice cold and stuck to my heatsink.

No biggie right, just stick it back in the socket and let her run for a bit, and I'll be in business. No go. :evil:  Powered on and all I got was whirling of fans, some light's, and a spinning hd.

:idea: I realized that I needed to properly lock the CPU in place. To do that I needed to somehow remove the processor from the heatsink.

I tried for about two hours to gently pry/push it off the heatsink. I tried to get a razor blade in between the two. All with no avail. :evil: 

Ok, now I think, "How can I get this sucker hot??? I know!!! :idea: "

Now guess what I decided to do...Toaster oven. 8O (I know, What was I thinking? It seemed like a good idea at the time)

So I turned the oven on to 100 deg f and put the heatsink w/ CPU attached in the oven.

2 or 3 min passed agonizingly slow as I dread what could be happening to my processor in the oven. :?

I take the assembly out of the oven. "Dam thats hot!!!" I carefully pushed on the CPU to try to free it from its heatsink prison. Alas Its free!!! But it doesn't end here. :?:

I probably pushed a bit too hard and the CPU flew off the heatsink and landed with a deafening thud upon my kitchen floor. :evil: 

I quickly picked it up to asses the damage.

To my relief no pins were bent at all!!! :lol:  ...NOT!

One whole row of pins was extremely bent and all four corners had some bend-age. :evil: 

"@Q#$ #$@# $$@@#$"

To google I go!! Search for 'bent cpu pins'

The first match:
http://www.wikihow.com/Fix-Bent-Pins-on-a-CPU

Hmmmm...Credit card to fix my cpu? Mechanical pencils...? :?

Ok I guess I'll go for it.

So I take out my debit card and start carefully and meticulously fixing all of the bent pins. Most of them were way too bent to slide my card through, so I hand-bended them back with the utmost care.

50 min later I was ready to test out my CPU in it's socket. No-go. :cry:  It didn't fit. Back to bending. Another 30 min later I felt I was ready to try again.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!It fits!!!!!!!!!!! :p 
I guess that really doesn't mean much seeing as how I had been beating it up for about 4 hours now. :( 

Stick it in, lock it in place, heatsink on. Plug in the computer and press the power button.....Success!!!!!!! :D  :D 

I couldn't believe my eyes. So after a toaster oven, and severe bend-age an AMD Athalon X2 5000+ CPU can still run perfectly in a rig. :) 

So, I guess what I learned from this are the following:

-AMD rox (IMHO)

-Never try to remove your CPU cold

-Never ever put a processor in a toaster oven!!!(even if it seems like a good idea at the time) :roll:

-Get a credit card, it may save your (processor's) life :roll:


*Thanks for listening. I'm just on cloud 9 right now cuz I thought I was out about $250.*

More about : story lesson learned

a b B Homebuilt system
a c 88 à CPUs
May 22, 2007 5:43:04 AM

Wow, you got lucky. BTW, next time don't go for the oven. Grab a hair blow dryer and point it at the back of the heatsink. (not the CPU.) The heatsink should warm up, and allow the CPU to come off. Stop every 15-30seconds to see if the CPU is loose.

How bad was the computer that you needed to take it that far apart. If it was that dusty, you should clean it more often.
May 22, 2007 6:09:36 AM

Meh, It wasn't that dirty, I was just bored.

The blow dryer sounds like a great idea. I will try that next time I do something so uber-ly stupid.
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May 22, 2007 6:31:00 AM

Quote:
... I was just bored.


You need not say anything else. Whenever I'm bored and I'm not playing video games, I usually look for something to optimize my computer somehow, or clean up my hdd, or turn it off and open it up, just to clean everything out and see if there's anything I can do to make it better in there.

yeah, another thing you could do if you try to take it off cold is to twist your heatsink back and for a bunch of times while pulling slightly, it's what I always do if my computer's been off for a while (not very likely, folding ftw!).
May 22, 2007 6:54:46 AM

The old addage "If it isn't broken" springs to mind here. Mind you recovery to get it working again
May 22, 2007 7:09:22 AM

The things you can get up to when bored... hey whats in the oven? ahh its just an amd athlon... of course...
May 22, 2007 2:27:35 PM

Quote:
The old addage "If it isn't broken" springs to mind here.


I guess that one slipped my mind for a short time.

Never will I forget it again though.


A question:

I am idling at about 46c and about 56c at full load.

Should I get an aftermarket HSF and paste, or should I be OK with these temps?
May 22, 2007 2:44:24 PM

I had the same thing happen to me but I was able to slide the cpu off the heat sink. What kind of thermal paste did you use? Sounds like it hardened to the point where it actually glued the cpu to the heat sink. 8O
a b à CPUs
May 22, 2007 2:51:24 PM

Funny story. You are one lucky little geek!
May 22, 2007 3:00:28 PM

wow, very lucky, maybe im missing something( was a quick read :)  ) but arent all CPU's locked into place with the lock for the CPU socket, or did that come off too? thankfully ive never had that problem( i guess it depends on thermal paste used too or was yours using the AMD thermal pad ) and ive removed my core 2 so many times it makes me worry that it might fail someday due to all the messing
May 22, 2007 3:15:19 PM

Sounds like you learned a sh*tload!
while risky it seems like pure gain to me!
8) :lol: 
May 22, 2007 3:36:20 PM

I really thought the story was going to end with a bad ending, damn. You are lucky.Now thats what i call 'A Series Of Unfortunate Events'.
May 22, 2007 3:41:32 PM

on a related note my CPU did exactly the same thing coming out of my k8n diamond (maybe a MSI manufacturing issue) except mine bent on the way out. i managed to wiggle the CPU off the heatsink and then took a jeweler screwdriver to the pins and after about 1hr it fit back in (thankfully) TBH i dont think ill ever take it out again after that
May 22, 2007 3:52:23 PM

I have had simmilar problems and have used a blow torch to heat the HSF and then pry the CPU off. I have also used an oven which I find gives the best results with the least hassle. And damn did you get lucky! AM2 pins are a B1TCH to unbend.
May 22, 2007 3:59:59 PM

Another hint for cold CPU/heatsync separation.

Screwdriver. Place in between and twist forcing the CPU off the HSF.
I do this all day long and the processor is very strong and will not break.
And it beats putting a processor in the oven.


Nother idea for this situation.
Grab the ends of the processor and twist. This is very effective.
May 22, 2007 4:23:56 PM

im in class reading this and i just burst out laughing lol.. i was actually happy for you that that worked... because im a noobie with computers and have "fixed" my laptop and computer in funny ways

my laptop charger plug (inside my laptop) broke once because i jammed my plug in the wrong way and the male receptor inside that was mounted on the mobo snapped off...

how did i fix it?

open up my laptop...

grabbed the technically most advanced adhesive near me... which happened to be super glue... and super glued that sucker back together

!!!! =D working for 6 months no problem lol and i am way more careful about putting my charger plug in my laptop... =D

i feel ya with the crazy fixing =D

jae
mlb
May 22, 2007 4:32:58 PM

Man I would have been so freaking out if that had happened to me. I'm way too anal when it comes to my computer to put it in the oven. lol Glad it worked out for you though.

In the future you should video tape these cleanings that would have been a funny video to watch. lol
May 22, 2007 5:15:49 PM

There was no reason to remove the cpu or the heatsink in the first place.
May 22, 2007 5:26:15 PM

I was replacing a very loud OEM intel heatsink on a friends computer, and like the original poster, found the chip 'bonded' to the heatsink.

Popped it in the oven at 150 degrees for about 10 minutes, and it just dropped right off. Cleaned it up put it back in the motherboard, with a fresh application of thermal compound, and installed the new sink. It's been running trouble free, and virtualy silent ever since.

For an encore, we decided to change the cooler on his graphics card as well, and again found the old cooler was too well attached. So we put the entire graphics card (Geforce 6800GT) into the oven. 10 minutes later, and the rather hot card had parted from the heatsink. Left it to cool, fitted the new cooler, and it to has been perfect ever since.

Short duration exposure to high temperatures is nothing special, as long as the chips arnt powered up. Its not like its going to melt solder, or burn the silicon. Need considerably more heat to do that.
May 22, 2007 5:34:39 PM

:roll: man , you suck hard ass , get a women or two
do you think thats cool , now you know it isnt , is as lame as your mother old underwear .

now you think - why my mother? jerk!
i think - Wemen , Wemen is the answer of all problems


no offense , i dont have anything to do :roll:
May 22, 2007 5:44:03 PM

thats the best tech story that ive heard in a long time.... kudos
May 22, 2007 6:58:21 PM

ahhhh, some stories have a happy ending lol
May 22, 2007 7:37:53 PM

I'm glad that I'm not the only one that baked their processor.
!