That was dumb/lucky

I decided to pull my stock hsf off my 2800+ 64 bit, i wanted to right down the serial because i forgot, but when i released the clips it still wouldn't come out. I made sure they were loose, and started pulling. I thought maybe the hs was a tight fit in the socket. When it finally came out, (after quite a bit of force) the processor came with it! Keep in mind this is one of those zero insertion force mobos, where the lever locks the chip in. The lever was still locked, and luckily i didn't screw up my chip. What happened is that the thermal paste made such a good seal, no air could get between the hs and the heatspreader on the cpu. I know that I was lucky in not wrecking anything, but I don't know how i would go around it next time. There is no way of releasing the chip before taking the hs off, and from what I've just found out, theres no way to get the hs off without releasing the cpu! Any help on this subject would be much appreciated.

Yea most ppl suggest that u use the chip for a bit warm it up , then take the hsf and twist it and should come off easy

cant twist it, its got the socket holder on the mobo that holds the hs, and it was warm, i had just shut it off

wow...
ive heard about that before
im kinda glad i got my 7000 cooler, because i can twist it around before i pull it off

Happens to me everytime I try and remove my waterblock. Just pull upwards so you do not bend the pins and it wont hurt it.

it happened to me when i went to change from stock hs to my xp-120

i used as3.. i guess i used to much and it was caked on!! haha yea i leaned my lesson :-X

Yea this has become a real issue laately. Fortunately LGA775s are held in so tight that I wont risk any damage because of it.

Personaly speaking I would try use a razor blade to help get it off. Or you could use a hairdrier to help heat the paste up

there is absolutely no way to reach the chip until the heatsink is at least 1/4 inch out of the socket, and thats longer than the pins on the chip, so razors, etc won't work. I dunno how hot i need to get the paste, the stuff i use doesn't really change viscosity as it changes temps. I guess i just gotta pull straight and hope all the pins come with it.

My number one rule of working with computer components: DONT FORCE ANYTHING. Every time I do, something bad happens. You probably won't shock yourself if you dont turn off the power, you probably wont damage something if you don't use a static strap, but you WILL damage something if you force it.

be creative. There's a way to do it, you just have to find it. Can you put the CPU in without the clips holding it? warm it up (like a lot: Run S&M or something), then try twisting it.

cant twist it, heres a pic

i also can't mount the heatsink without completely locking the lever down, so i can't leave it unlocked

Take the motherboard out of the case and take the fan off the heatsink. This will allow you to give you a better "angle of attack" on the heatsink. Unscrew the yellow mounting brackets and take it off. If the bracket won't come off at least it will shimmy from side to side a bit (before you hit something on the motherboard) and that should allow you to gently break the grip the thermal paste.

taking the mobo out doesn't help, nor does removing the fan. If i take the yellow sockets connectors out, i could twist it (very slightly, the capacitors are very close on the out of sight side.) but again, no help. I don't think i could even take the yellow socket off, the bolts for it are directly under the clamps for the heatsink
to get my chip off the heatsink i had to slide it over the edge, i couldn't just twist it off. This is a really stupid design.

My suggestion is NOT to use any of the AS greases... they are just too thick and nasty, I would use some Nanotherm PCM+ Thermal Grease, you can buy some from Xoxide for $9.99 and it is better than AS.

PCM+ is a semi-solid liquid that only turns hard when it heats up, so if your CPU is cold it will turn to a liquid but it won't run.