[mlwjackson]

My mobo has failed and I need to ship it back for warranty replacement. I have the mobo out but am having difficulty separating the heatsink from the processor. After releasing the latch the heatsink will rotate a little bit. I really reluctant to pull it very hard. How do I safely get the heatsink off? It is a MSI K8n Neo4 Platinum with the stock heatsink that comes with an AMD Athlon x2 +4200 processor.

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Does the heatsink have two clips on the side?

[SOORENA]

Does the heatsink have two clips on the side?

[mlwjackson]

Yes it has the clips. The heatsink lever has been released that both clips have been released from their respective posts. It is still quite firmly stuck.

[SOORENA]

Turn the mobo around and you will see 4 little round things sticking out, their ususally whiteand are attached to the black plastic on bottom of the heatsink, squeeze each with a plyer and then push it inwards towards the heatsink. Do this for all of them and the heatsink should just fall out.

[mlwjackson]

Unfortunately, there are no such white things. The heat sink base is held to the mobo with screws and a metal plate on the back. Access to the two screws that anchor it is blocked by the latching mechanism.

How about if I take the fan off and use a hair dryer to try to soften the Artic 5 heat transfer paste that was used to assemble the cpu/heatsink?

[SOORENA]

NO! Do not do that! you might damage your cpu. Take the fan off first, sorry I thought you already did that. It would be easier if you could maybe take a picture and post it here.

[mlwjackson]

Thank you for you advise not to use the blow dryer but I did it anyway. I have one with a low power setting. I used it at low setting for several short bursts. I warmed it until the heatsink was only comfortably warm to the hand. The thermal paste notably became more mobile. It did let go without dislodging the CPU. The CPU is still quite cool. Thanks anyway

[SRX660]

Lately i have seen quite a few stock heatsinks that have the heatsink paste in a glue like layer. Some are quite tough to get off and it seems alcohol does not work well for getting it off. Acetone works well but you must be careful to use gloves and be in a open space with it. Usually a good twisting pull will pull the heatsink off. I have never had a processor pull out with the heatsink.

SRX660

[mlwjackson]

The plastic base the is part of the heatsink hold down system would allow only a few degrees of rotation. I almost positive that simply using brute force to pull the heatsink off would have extracted the CPU at the same time. The CPU was barely warm to the touch following heating and removing the heatsink. The Artic 5 that was pushed out around the edges of the CPU was quite soft but not liquid. The Artic 5 actually on the CPU was still fairly stiff. I doubt that any significant heat got to the CPU