# Processor came out with heatsink



## l4derman (Jul 1, 2010)

I was removing the the heatsink and trying to be as careful as possible, however the cpu came right out with it. I didn't have a chance to release the retention bracket either. The processor was really on there!

After inspection no pins are out of place. One pin, upon very close inspection, leans VERY VERY VERY slightly, in the tiniest of ways, to the left but when looking down the row of pins one seens a straight line. I'm probably being very paranoid here but I just want some advice or maybe someone who has done the same to speak up and tell me it's going to be OK.  

It's a new Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition so I'm sweating bullets here...

I'm RMA'ing the board I placed the processor in for other reasons but, like I said, kinda nervous. Putting together new parts is like sensitive heart surgery. :\

(RMA Thread: http://vip.asus.com/forum/view.aspx...nguage=en-us&page=1&board_id=1&model=M4A78T-E).


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## Mussels (Jul 1, 2010)

done this a few times. if the pins are straight, the CPU is fine.

the reason this happened is that you made an air tight seal between CPU and heatsink with the thermal paste - i try and leave the very corners thermal paste free, so i can simply twist (no pulling!) the cooler and off it comes.


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## Jstn7477 (Jul 1, 2010)

If the pins are all straight and you pulled it straight out of the socket, your CPU is fine. Just gently twist it left and right to break the seal that the thermal paste is causing, and the CPU should pop right off and be as good as new.


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## DRDNA (Jul 1, 2010)

Its always best to give the heatsync a twist to the right then to the left befor pulling up on it in order to break the thermal paste. I have fixed about five CPU's with bent pins. I use a small eye glass screwdriver to minipulate the pins that are bent.


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## dir_d (Jul 1, 2010)

Same thing happens to me i bent 5 pins...i used tweezers to bend the pins back cleaned the heat sink and chip reapplied TIM and no issues at all still at 4ghz just like before


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## Loosenut (Jul 1, 2010)

I use the tip of a 0.5mm lead mechanical pencil, without the lead of course. The tip fits right over the pin and helps in straightening the bent pin


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## l4derman (Jul 1, 2010)

thanks all! *phew*


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## Mussels (Jul 1, 2010)

l4derman said:


> thanks all! *phew*



first time i did it, i had to straighten 30 pins.


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## Loosenut (Jul 1, 2010)

Mussels said:


> first time i did it, i had to straighten 30 pins.





My first was only 3 and almost gave me a heart attack... 30 would have put me over the edge


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## Mussels (Jul 1, 2010)

Loosenut said:


> My first was only 3 and almost gave me a heart attack... 30 would have put me over the edge



i spent hooooours on it.


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## Sasqui (Jul 1, 2010)

Did the same thing with an old socket 478.  It was fine.

Learned my lesson. Now If I have to wrestle with the heatsink, I'll either run the PC under load to warm it up, or stick the motherboard in the oven at 150f for a little while.  Softens the thermal paste.


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## Loosenut (Jul 1, 2010)

Mussels said:


> i spent hooooours on it.


I can imagine. My wife made me fill up the swear jar that night...


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## hat (Jul 1, 2010)

I've done this a bunch of times myself, never had any adverse effects though. It's a good idea to twist the heatsink around a bit, maybe even turn the computer on to warm it up and make it a bit eaiser.


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## Fourstaff (Jul 1, 2010)

Sasqui said:


> or stick the motherboard in the oven at 150f for a little while.



Wouldn't do that, I have seen a fair share of hardware being barbecued well done. I would just take my time instead.


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## theonedub (Jul 1, 2010)

^ yeah just take your time with it. With the stock AMD heatsink the plastic retention bracket hit the heatsink if you try to give it a good twist. If you don't want to take a chance heating it, just twist it ever so slightly back and forth will a slight pull up every once and a while and the thing will come right out. I've yet to pull a CPU out and some have been really stuck with AS 5


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## kenkickr (Jul 1, 2010)

Been there, done that more than a few times when the Athlon 64's came out.  

Back when we all use to receive those fake card credit's in the mail I would save them to help with straightening out the pins and line them up.  

Just make sure the proc will slide into the pin holes cause it's never a good thing to force something in....well sometimes it's OK(J/K)


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## twilyth (Jul 2, 2010)

a trick for straightening pins is to get a piece of very fine tubing - something like a large bore hypodermic needle is good.  It should be maybe 2 or 3 times the diameter of the pin.

you slide the tube over the pin and rotate the tube to an upright position plus a tad more.  This way you should be able to get the pin almost straight on the first try.

If you have to play with a pin too much, there is good chance you will snap it off since the metal becomes more brittle the more you bend it.


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## Necrofire (Jul 2, 2010)

I've done that more times than not, so many times so I just expect it nowadays. Can't say I've had to straighten more than a few bent pins though. Although, the bent pins were from my fingers while twisting the cpu to get it off the heatsink 

The slight twist method does work though. Except, on the thick thermal paste like AS5, it might still hold on no matter what.

Yea, I slight twist while pulling up usually gets it off and leaves the cpu in the socket.


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## Mussels (Jul 2, 2010)

theonedub said:


> ^ yeah just take your time with it. With the stock AMD heatsink the plastic retention bracket hit the heatsink if you try to give it a good twist. If you don't want to take a chance heating it, just twist it ever so slightly back and forth will a slight pull up every once and a while and the thing will come right out. I've yet to pull a CPU out and some have been really stuck with AS 5



the more modern ones (AM2+ onwards at least) have room so you can slide it sideways without hitting anything, its part of the design.


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## Melvis (Jul 2, 2010)

Mussels said:


> the more modern ones (AM2+ onwards at least) have room so you can slide it sideways without hitting anything, its part of the design.



*Slaps head* That is what i should of done when i pulled out my X6, it was my very first CPU that came out with the heatsink, couldn't believe it, and it had to be the X6 didn't it? :shadedshu

Every other time i just wiggle the heatsink from side to side and off it comes with no issues but the X6..... man it was stuck on good, but what i didn't do and i do this most times before i pull a CPU out is to run the system for a while so it heats up the paste making it easier to remove the heatsink. But at least it pulled out with no bent pins at all, so it was all good.

Note to self run system, and use a card to pull apart the paste from CPU/cooler before i pull the cooler off.


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## eidairaman1 (Jul 2, 2010)

aslong as pins are not crushed or only bent once, you should be able to bend them back with a .7 mechanical pencil


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## twilyth (Jul 2, 2010)

eidairaman1 said:


> aslong as pins are not crushed or only bent once, you should be able to bend them back with a .7 mechanical pencil



Thanks - THAT is what I was thinking of for a thin tube but I couldn't remember that's what I'd used.  Being brain dead does so suck. :shadedshu


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## eidairaman1 (Jul 2, 2010)

thats why the TIM on a Stock Heatsink i remove and use THermal Compound


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## theonedub (Jul 2, 2010)

Mussels said:


> the more modern ones (AM2+ onwards at least) have room so you can slide it sideways without hitting anything, its part of the design.



With AS5 if its stuck it sure as hell isn't sliding either! The twist is where its at


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## blkhogan (Jul 2, 2010)

Come on everybody.... lets do the twist. Twist it to the left, good. Now to the right, perfect. Pop goes the weasel.
 I learned my lesson long time ago. The twist is your friend when it comes to getting that pesky cooler broke loose.


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## Mussels (Jul 2, 2010)

blkhogan said:


> Come on everybody.... lets do the twist. Twist it to the left, good. Now to the right, perfect. *Pop goes the weasel.*
> I learned my lesson long time ago. The twist is your friend when it comes to getting that pesky cooler broke loose.



*Pop goes the weasel.* and other fun microwave games!


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## blkhogan (Jul 2, 2010)

Mussels said:


> *Pop goes the weasel.* and other fun microwave games!


Nasty.


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## m1dg3t (Jul 2, 2010)

Didn't read the whole thread, bummer it bent a pin. I have had this happen to me a few time's in past and now i find it help's if i use a blowdryer to warm up the HSF/TIM a lil' and then with a lil' twist; pop! Haven't had any issues since i started doing it this way 

If you have steady hand's and the pin is not bent to bad just grab a toothpick or something non-cunductive and gently straighten it back out  You want to do this very mindfully because they weren't designed to be be moved back n forth a whole lot....

Best of luck


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## Corduroy_Jr (Jul 2, 2010)

use a debt or credit card it worked wonders for me


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## erek (Jul 2, 2010)

this happened to me in recent memory with a Pentium 4-era cpu and I think Arctic Cooling MX-2?


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## Corduroy_Jr (Jul 2, 2010)

happened to me as well, with a amd 3200+ 64 754 socket, the paste was stuck like glue, i pulled out cpu & heatsink with clip still down, bent 4 pins, it still runs perfectly in sisters computer i built her


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## Lynxgt40 (Jun 7, 2021)

Hey guy!  Kinda freaking out.  This happened to me.  I removed the AMD wraith cooler and it ripped the 2700x cpu out without releasing the bar that holds the cpu in place.  The cpu looked completely fine.  I put in the new 5950x and turned the computer back on.  Nothing would come on the screen.  I tried the old 2700x and still nothing. They both seemed like they seated well.  Did I break my mobo?


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## oobymach (Jun 7, 2021)

Wow super necro thread, have you tried clearing the bios? Take the battery out of the motherboard with the power unplugged and wait a minute or 2, if it has a bios reset button hit that with the power off instead.

I've had this happen with old cpu's when trying to remove the heatsink when it's cold and never did any damage, same pry bar pin type socket. If clearing bios doesn't work for the new cpu you might need a new bios for it. Also the 5000 series cpu's especially the 5950 need a high end mobo to work, what make/model motherboard is it?


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## Lynxgt40 (Jun 7, 2021)

The motherboard is a gigabytes Aorus b450 elite.  It's definitely a few years old but like I said it wouldn't work putting the 2700X back in as well.

It's definitely a few years old.  Gigabytes aurorus b450 elite.  But like I said the old CPU wouldn't work either when I put it back in.  Thanks so much for the tip I'm traveling for work right now but I'm definitely going to try it when I get home!

Is it safe to clean the actual contacts on the bottom of the cpu with alcohol?


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