Current situation: Ryzen 7 CPU is stuck to its stock fan. No amount of heat, razor blades or force has made it budge in 4 hours.
Earlier this week, my computer started showing serious issues (10 minute boot time on an ssd), so I used it as an opportunity to buy computer upgrades. My old motherboard (AS Rock AB350 Pro 4) was pretty dated, and had been bottlenecking the rest of my build for awhile.
When my parts finally arrived today, I started taking apart my computer. When i finally got to the CPU, I realized that it was stuck to its stock fan. I tried running the board to warm it up, blowing hot air with a hair dryer (to the point of the copper being so hot it could burn me), using dental floss and box cutter blades, but i eventually ended up just ripping the fan and cemented CPU out from the motherboard. This wasnt really a surprise to me, as this happened with my last CPU (a Ryzen 5 and its stock cooler) as well, which wasnt a problem then, because I was upgrading then. But i’m not upgrading my cpu this time around, so i actually need to save it.
I have spent 4 hours trying to remove this with the aforementioned methods, and nothing has made it budge. Twisting it like an oreo doesnt work, isopropyl only works on overflowed paste, and blades cannot physically fit between the sink and CPU. It’s almost like they were welded together.
Looked around online, and there really isnt any discourse or documentation about what to do when the cpu is pretty much glued.
Would love advice, thank you.
26 Comments
I’ve had this a few times, give it a twist
isopropyl alcohol ( >=80% ) – rub around the corners and try and tilt it so that as much rubs against the thermal-paste as possible. Even if it doesn’t fully saturate, now your twisting and razor efforts should start moving it around, maybe even letting you remove some. After that, repeat the steps until you get close and closer to the alcohol making contact with the center.
Don’t dry the alcohol, just let it evaporate (it goes fast) and you’ll be fine.
Time to break out the flathead screwdriver and hammer /s
Isopropyl will work, but you might need to be more generous and apply in a way where at least some can get between the edge of the CPU and the cooler. Perhaps a paintbrush.
You could also look into getting a razor blade between the two.
Any movement at all?
soften up the excess of thermalpas…cement with cotton pads drenched in isopropyl alcohol layed on it ( i use the 99% stuff)
wipe it off as good as possible, you`ll need a clean edge between cpu and heatsink, use q-tips with iso for it.
now you´ll need dentalfloss (without additives)
you can work it between the cpu and heatsink like two man timbersaw and “cut” the cpu off.
Soak dental floss in boiling water, dry it then quickly floss that shit before it cools significantly? Or just try flossing with alcohol. If it works, careful you don’t projectile the CPU should it pop loose
I had that happen and used a vice grip to just grab the whole CPU and very carefully push it off the edge.
You can also try significant amounts of heat and isoprypl alcohol and a utility razor blade all at the same time
A heat gun would work wonders.
What kind of thermal paste did u use damn
Should I dunk the cpu in a bowl of isopropyl and leave it there overnight?
Turn on the pc for a while 5-10 mins then after 10 mind try to remove it.
Heat it, twist it, pull it, bop it.
Alcohol (high strength for the cpu, low strength for you) take your time, scrape off as much thermal paste as you can. Keep wetting the surface with alcohol and trying to twist or floss it off. Last time this happened to me it took 3-4 days of wetting it with ipa to finally get it free. It’ll eventually soften up. A heat gun can help too if you have one.
Has the thermal paste become a solid? and what thermal paste did you use?
You just gotta warm it up, either run it for a minute then take it off or use a blow dryer or something
Someone can correct me but maybe throw whole thing in the oven at low temp for 10 min?
Isopropyl alcohol. Dunk it in that and let it get into the crevices.
Also, never use whatever thermal ~~glue~~ paste it was again.
Put it back to pc, try to overheat that bad boy with something. Start shuffling the cooler while the pc is on
the goop around the processor, how hard is that to clean up? does it feel like epoxy or ultra dry shmuu?
assuming its not thermal epoxy, you have 3 options. soak it in ISO over night, heat it up, or cut thru with dental floss in a sawing motion. A combination of those three will probably give you the best results.
for physical force, twisting with leverage is easiest, but also high risk for slipping. prying “feels” like more force, but has just as much a risk of slipping AND launching your CPU into orbit.
Alternatives I’m too lazy to see if anyone else suggested. Throw the whole thing in your freezer. The different shrinking of the metals might cause the paste to crack apart. No promises but it doesn’t hurt to try.
hair dryer, then dental floss
I had this and my BP was for sure around 180…
Maybe some of you remember when they called back the arctic mx-5 pastes, because they messed up the paste and it was very strong, glue like, once attached to the cooler.
I didn’t use anything but sheer force and ripped the cpu off of my cooler. Eventually, I returned the paste and used my leftover mx4 for the time being.
Should have ran the PC for a bit before taking it off!
If you ever remove the CPU cooler again, be sure to follow the AMD recommendation of twisting the cooler before lifting.
Ahh, the classic AMD thermal paste lol. Happened to me a few weeks ago when i upgrade my R7. Use a hairdryer to heatup the heatsink for 5-10 minutes and use a knife to jam it in one of the corner then do a sawing motion with a good amount of strength, it should pop off after a few tries.
Use cotton (sewing cotton), like floss, but soak it in Isopropanol then gently saw away at each side, rinse and repeat, eventually you’ll feel it give, takes ages!