Re: Motherboardectomy: how to un-bond the CPU's heatsink?

[Ben Scott]

On Thu, Jul 7, 2016 at 11:31 PM, Joshua Judson Rosen
 wrote:
> Yeah--it's *stuck*. Maybe if I still had it locked in the socket,
> and/or if I'd been running it beforehand and still had it hot...,
> though the whole idea of holding the CPU by the pins, using the motherboard
> to apply leverage... actually kind-of freaks me out

  As it should.  The electrical contacts[1] are not structural, and
can easily be damaged.  The mechanism which holds the chip package in
place is also not designed to withstand significant mechanical
load[3].  I've seen what misapplied force does to a microchip package,
and it's not pretty.

  I strongly recommend first removing the package from the motherboard
socket, and then removing the heatsink from the heat-spreader[4], as
you ended up doing.

-- Ben

[1] Many recent designs actually put the pins (crushable pointy bits)
in the socket, and use flat pads on the chip package.  Since the chip
is usually more likely to be placed flat on a surface, and the
motherboard is often less expensive than the chip, I think this is a
good idea.

[2] This footnote intentionally left blank.

[3] It's called "Zero Insertion Force" for a reason.

[4] The piece of flat metal, that serves to interface the chip carrier
with the heat-sink.
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Re: Motherboardectomy: how to un-bond the CPU's heatsink?

[Joshua Judson Rosen]

On 07/07/2016 10:44 PM, Matt Minuti wrote:
> Apply low, gentle heat? The viscosity of most thermal paste/pads
> changes a lot with temperature. I'd take a hairdryer on low and heat
> up the heatsink, slowly, occasionally attempting to twist the cpu off
> by spinning it about the axis perpendicular to the base of the
> heatsink. Right-hand rule of chip removal, I guess?

That worked fantastically well! I don't have enough hair
to warrant owning a hairdryer at this point, but my wife
had such a machine. I just put it on "low [speed]" and
blew hot air in through the fan on the other side of the
giant copper heatsink. Melted the thermal g[l]oo tout de suite.

And now I'm thinking about upgrading the pots and pans in
my kitchen from aluminum and cast iron to copper

-- 
"Don't be afraid to ask (λf.((λx.xx) (λr.f(rr."

> On Thu, Jul 7, 2016 at 10:03 PM, Joshua Judson Rosen  > wrote:
> 
> Bought a nice CPU a while back, with a cheap motherboard to put it onto
> until I found something better (in retrospect, that was probably 
> silly...).
> 
> Finally found a better motherboard, and am now reminde that
> (a) now I need to get the heatsink off of the CPU in order
> to transfer the CPU between the ZIF sockets (since the socket lever
> is covered by the heatsink), and (b) baked thermal paste is
> a remarkably good adhesive.
> 
> Somewhat surprisingly..., the CPU is out of the original socket
> at this point--it popped out while I was fiddling with the heatsink.
> I'm going on the assumption that nothing got broken in the process,
> for the time being
> 
> Any suggestions on what the right course of action is, here?
> 
> Wikihow advises to soak the CPU+heatsink assembly in isopropanol
> and then slicing them apart with dental floss.
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Re: Motherboardectomy: how to un-bond the CPU's heatsink?

[Joshua Judson Rosen]

On 07/07/2016 10:42 PM, dennis wrote:
> Modern cpus all have heat shields on them so I'd be more worried
> about he pins than the die. Have you tried rotating the cpu/heatsink
> in opposite directions (like you were unscrewing it)? That's usually
> all i've had to do to get them unstuck, even when I've managed to
> pull the cpu out of the locked zif socket.

Yeah--it's *stuck*. Maybe if I still had it locked in the socket,
and/or if I'd been running it beforehand and still had it hot...,
though the whole idea of holding the CPU by the pins, using the motherboard
to apply leverage... actually kind-of freaks me out Maybe I'm getting old--
bought a nice SSD along with the new motherboard, and can't just enjoy
the new tech for the sake of new tech--I have to worry myself
about things like the lack of powerfail caps

I don't know what difference it makes, but this is something like 3 years old
(I think I got it at the last computer show that NC Shows did in NH
before they finally stopped doing computer shows), and it was whatever sort
of thermal stuff AMD pre-applied to the heatsink..., which I seem to remember
being surprisingly solid out of the box.

I guess un-waxed un-flavoured dental floss and a new container of thermal paste
are on my shopping list for tomorrow. I'm assuming mint-flavoured wax is not
something I want to get in the mix


>  On Thu, 07 Jul 2016 22:30:35 -0400 *Star *wrote 
> 
> I've used the dental-floss trick, well, actually, thin fishing line.  It 
> worked well enough without the alcohol, it was just a slow, steady process.
> 
> On Thu, Jul 7, 2016 at 10:06 PM Joshua Judson Rosen 
> > wrote:
> 
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> 
> Bought a nice CPU a while back, with a cheap motherboard to put it 
> onto
> until I found something better (in retrospect, that was probably 
> silly...).
> 
> Finally found a better motherboard, and am now reminde that
> (a) now I need to get the heatsink off of the CPU in order
> to transfer the CPU between the ZIF sockets (since the socket lever
> is covered by the heatsink), and (b) baked thermal paste is
> a remarkably good adhesive.
> 
> Somewhat surprisingly..., the CPU is out of the original socket
> at this point--it popped out while I was fiddling with the heatsink.
> I'm going on the assumption that nothing got broken in the process,
> for the time being
> 
> Any suggestions on what the right course of action is, here?
> 
> Wikihow advises to soak the CPU+heatsink assembly in isopropanol
> and then slicing them apart with dental floss.
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Re: Motherboardectomy: how to un-bond the CPU's heatsink?

[Matt Minuti]

Apply low, gentle heat? The viscosity of most thermal paste/pads changes a
lot with temperature. I'd take a hairdryer on low and heat up the heatsink,
slowly, occasionally attempting to twist the cpu off by spinning it about
the axis perpendicular to the base of the heatsink. Right-hand rule of chip
removal, I guess?



On Thu, Jul 7, 2016 at 10:03 PM, Joshua Judson Rosen  wrote:

> Bought a nice CPU a while back, with a cheap motherboard to put it onto
> until I found something better (in retrospect, that was probably silly...).
>
> Finally found a better motherboard, and am now reminde that
> (a) now I need to get the heatsink off of the CPU in order
> to transfer the CPU between the ZIF sockets (since the socket lever
> is covered by the heatsink), and (b) baked thermal paste is
> a remarkably good adhesive.
>
> Somewhat surprisingly..., the CPU is out of the original socket
> at this point--it popped out while I was fiddling with the heatsink.
> I'm going on the assumption that nothing got broken in the process,
> for the time being
>
> Any suggestions on what the right course of action is, here?
>
> Wikihow advises to soak the CPU+heatsink assembly in isopropanol
> and then slicing them apart with dental floss.
>
>
> --
> "Don't be afraid to ask (λf.((λx.xx) (λr.f(rr."
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Re: Motherboardectomy: how to un-bond the CPU's heatsink?

[dennis]

Modern cpus all have heat shields on them so I'd be more worried about he pins 
than the die.  Have you tried rotating the cpu/heatsink in opposite directions 
(like you were unscrewing it)?  That's usually all i've had to do to get them 
unstuck, even when I've managed to pull the cpu out of the locked zif socket.



-Dennis





 On Thu, 07 Jul 2016 22:30:35 -0400 Star nhs...@gmail.comwrote  




I've used the dental-floss trick, well, actually, thin fishing line.  It worked 
well enough without the alcohol, it was just a slow, steady process.



On Thu, Jul 7, 2016 at 10:06 PM Joshua Judson Rosen 
roz...@hackerposse.com wrote:




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Bought a nice CPU a while back, with a cheap motherboard to put it onto

 until I found something better (in retrospect, that was probably silly...).

 

 Finally found a better motherboard, and am now reminde that

 (a) now I need to get the heatsink off of the CPU in order

 to transfer the CPU between the ZIF sockets (since the socket lever

 is covered by the heatsink), and (b) baked thermal paste is

 a remarkably good adhesive.

 

 Somewhat surprisingly..., the CPU is out of the original socket

 at this point--it popped out while I was fiddling with the heatsink.

 I'm going on the assumption that nothing got broken in the process,

 for the time being

 

 Any suggestions on what the right course of action is, here?

 

 Wikihow advises to soak the CPU+heatsink assembly in isopropanol

 and then slicing them apart with dental floss.

 

 

 --

 "Don't be afraid to ask (λf.((λx.xx) (λr.f(rr."

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 http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/





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Re: Motherboardectomy: how to un-bond the CPU's heatsink?

[Star]

I've used the dental-floss trick, well, actually, thin fishing line.  It
worked well enough without the alcohol, it was just a slow, steady process.

On Thu, Jul 7, 2016 at 10:06 PM Joshua Judson Rosen 
wrote:

> Bought a nice CPU a while back, with a cheap motherboard to put it onto
> until I found something better (in retrospect, that was probably silly...).
>
> Finally found a better motherboard, and am now reminde that
> (a) now I need to get the heatsink off of the CPU in order
> to transfer the CPU between the ZIF sockets (since the socket lever
> is covered by the heatsink), and (b) baked thermal paste is
> a remarkably good adhesive.
>
> Somewhat surprisingly..., the CPU is out of the original socket
> at this point--it popped out while I was fiddling with the heatsink.
> I'm going on the assumption that nothing got broken in the process,
> for the time being
>
> Any suggestions on what the right course of action is, here?
>
> Wikihow advises to soak the CPU+heatsink assembly in isopropanol
> and then slicing them apart with dental floss.
>
>
> --
> "Don't be afraid to ask (λf.((λx.xx) (λr.f(rr."
> ___
> gnhlug-discuss mailing list
> gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org
> http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
>
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