My Horrible Luck!

[eLinux]

I was building a computer and I was having some serious problems with it before, so I returned my CPU and motherboard through Newegg and bought the same exact parts. (basically an exchange)

Everything was working absolutely beautifully...

Until today. The other day I noticed a very strange sound, as though a fan was dying. I figured it was the rear fan in the case, so I replaced it.

I was using it tonight and BAM...it turns out it's one of the fans on the motherboard that was dying on me!

Holy freggin' crap. I've had the computer less than 30 days...but the problem is this..

I honestly don't know how I'm going to get the processor out now that the thermal pad has "melted" onto the processor. Can't I damage the processor by removing it from the motherboard since the heatsink is stuck on the processor? I can't exchange the processor either through Newegg because I've passed the exchange period. So, if I RMA the motherabord, what happens? How do I properly remove the processor? How do I reapply thermal paste? How do I completely remove the thermal pad residue that's on the processor? I'm really worried about breaking something... Especially the processor.

Someone please help! I'm so upset about this situation!

 

[MichaelD]

You said "It was one of the fans on the motherboard."

There's only two: The chipset fan (tiny little fan off to the side of the CPU) and the CPU HSF. Which one is it?

Also, if the HS feels "stuck" to the CPU, do this. Run the PC for a few hours to heat up the thermal material. Shut it down and "twist and lift" the HS off the CPU. You won't hurt anything.

Be sure to do this when everythign is "hot"; it'll be much easier that way.

Once the HS has been removed, use your fingernail and/or paper towels w/rubbing alcohol or even better, some "Goof Off" sticky stuff remover to take the remaing pink crap off. After ALL the pink crap is off, use rubbing alcohol on clean paper towels to clean the bottom of the HS; you want to get all the chemicals from the Goof Off stuff, off there.

The idea is to leave a physically and chemically clean surface on the bottom of the HS. Hope this helps.

 

[imported_pak9rabid]

unclick the heatsink/fan, and pull the heatsink off. sometimes that thing gets stuck on there pretty good. this is especially true with the A64 CPUs, due to their large surface area that actually makes contact with the heatsink. I actually had the heatsink/fan rip the cpu outta the socket while it being in locked mode. It didn't hurt the CPU at all. I took it to a friend's house just to make sure it worked, and he had the same problem with the heatsink ripping the cpu outta the socket (different mobo).

 

[capricorn]

Is it possible just to unscrew and remove/replace the fan with a like one? I've got a few HSF's that I just keep spare fans (40mm and 60mm) around for just that reason. They die a lot. (Granted, not quite as fast as the one you have.) If you can do that, you wouldn't need to remove the heatsink from the processor.