Computer emergency, help requested

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biggles

2[H]4U
Joined
Jul 25, 2005
Messages
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I was in the process of replacing the stock cooler on a Ryzen 3600 with an Arctic Freezer 34 tower cooler. When removing the heatsink from the motherboard, somehow the cpu came out of the socket along with the heatsink. I did not use excessive force in removing the heatsink and am still confused about how this happened.

A few of the tiny gold pins on the cpu were bent as a result. I assume the pins need to be straightened out in order for the cpu to function, correct? I believe these pins must fit precisely in to the tiny holes of the motherboard socket. I sure hope the cpu is not destroyed as it is only 2 weeks old. Would tweezers be a good tool to use to straighten out the pins? It looks like just 2 or 3 bent pins on the far edge and close to the corner.

Another problem is that the cpu is stuck to the heatsink. How can I separate the 2 without damaging the cpu? I was about to insert a knife in between and pry it off but am having anxiety about further damaging the cpu at this point.
 
+1 for credit card, brought back some really old chips that lived at the bottom of drawers for years using credit cards

Razor blade or the blade of a box cutter can work well too

Small amounts of pressure, try to keep your eyes level with the underside of the chip to see where the most damage is and what pins need bending. Most obvious are on the exterior and more difficult on the interior

Go slow, not much pressure at all is required to move the pins. They soft

You can do it brother
 
Another piece of advice if I may,

The pins don't have to be perfect, after you're done getting them good enough with a credit card or blade and if you're brave enough, use the socket to align the pins while inserting. Should only be feasible if the pins on the edges are bent only and not the interior pins
 
I would like to add, good light, magnifying glass if you have one can help but can be done without.

Last time I did this, I used two razor blades, one to hold the bottom or location right below the bend and used the other down the row and bending back usually multiple pins at once.

Yes take your time and usually this comes out OK.
 
Are the AM4 pins too fine to straighten with the tip of a mechanical pencil slipped over them? I think I did that with an AM3 chip I bent some pins on.
 
I did the same thing to Ryzen 3600. HS pulled the CPU out of the socket. So many pins bent. Mech Pencil too big. The Pins are very fine. Tool I found that work is Dental Pick from Dentist. Very fine one.

I have not been able to fix it because my vision is not good enough. I just ordered Ryzen 3 3200g to replace it. Since it won't really matter considering the machine only does Email. Now I have broken CPU. If anyone wants to try let me know.

Razor blade is also too big (ones I tried). It would have to be VERY Thin! Harbor Freight sells an set for $4.00.
 
biggles said:
Warm heatsink/fan/cpu in the oven?
Click to expand...

Turn on the computer and let it run to warm the CPU and then shut it off and remove the HSF (prior to removing in the first place) or a hairdryer afterward if it is still stuck to the HSF.
 
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Dataman said:
I did the same thing to Ryzen 3600. HS pulled the CPU out of the socket. So many pins bent. Mech Pencil too big. The Pins are very fine. Tool I found that work is Dental Pick from Dentist. Very fine one.

I have not been able to fix it because my vision is not good enough. I just ordered Ryzen 3 3200g to replace it. Since it won't really matter considering the machine only does Email. Now I have broken CPU. If anyone wants to try let me know.

Razor blade is also too big (ones I tried). It would have to be VERY Thin! Harbor Freight sells an set for $4.00.
Click to expand...

A box cutter razor blade should fit right down in there. Or a business card that's slightly thicker than normal.
 
Will try. I know you can't warm up the CPU by turning it on if the pins are broken. Lot better method is Hairdryer. I bet the Razor Blade from box cutter is way too big. Ryzen has very very small pins.
 
Doesn't help you now but I get the cpu and heatsink hot before removing them. I'll run Prime95 for several minutes then shut the machine down. I've done what you did with older generations of CPUs. Haven't had one stuck since.
 
I've used a mechanical pencil to bend them back, the ones with the longer metal tip where the lead comes out work the best as it usually will give you enough room to work around the other pins.

One like this: https://smile.amazon.com/Pentel-Automatic-Drafting-Brushed-PG1015A/dp/B000GAU2RU/

71FfU6J7y9L._AC_SL1500_.jpg
 
I use a long thread needle and pull straight up on both ends at the affected rows. Find a needle a little thicker and it works wonders, I managed to bend them back to the point where you can't see they were ever bent in the first place.
 
biggles said:
Update, tried the razor blade method and it looks promising. Credit card was too thick. I will post again after trying to boot the system. Here is what I did:


For the heatsink being stuck, I managed to remove by twisting from this guide:
https://www.wikihow.com/Remove-a-Processor-Fused-to-a-Heatsink

Thanks everyone, panic attack now subsiding.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I had luck with a business card a long while back, but pins may be closer together now.
 
I also tried Razor Blade and Dental Pick. Both seems to work, just too many for me to do with 62 year old eyes.
 
kirbyrj said:
Turn on the computer and let it run to warm the CPU and then shut it off and remove the HSF (prior to removing in the first place) or a hairdryer afterward if it is still stuck to the HSF.
Click to expand...

Yep, I use a hair dryer to warm up the heatsink/thermal compound before removal on pinned CPUs with large metal heat-spreaders, helps quite a bit. Figured that out back in the P4 Socket 478 days.
 
70 Polara said:
Yep, I use a hair dryer to warm up the heatsink/thermal compound before removal on pinned CPUs with large metal heat-spreaders, helps quite a bit. Figured that out back in the P4 Socket 478 days.
Click to expand...
entering the bios for a few min is an easier way to warm it up, then twist it off.

op, you can use a mech pencil and a razor blade to straighten them.
 
biggles said:
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/s...roartist-bracket-fix#xenforo-comments-3623647
Update, apparently this problem on Ryzen is common enough that someone has designed a bracket solution.
Click to expand...
this has been an AMD socket problem for over a decade. i cant fathom how this was ever allowed to be a final design. let alone fm2 am2 am3 am4.
AMD and their MOBO partners should be embarrassed that potentially 1000$ motherboards supporting up to 750$ CPUs can give a customer such a disastrous outcome for a simple cooler change. or CPU upgrade. or whatever.
there will be untold tens of thousands of customer casualties because of this terrible engineering decision. the consumers and reviewer community outta have a SHIT FIT if AM5 ships with a socket in this style and this poorly designed. EPYC and both Threadripper sockets already have seen the light. does anyone think datacenter customers and workstation users would tolerate such a terrible "locking lever" as what has been on the consumer boards for generations. jeez they even did better with most of the opterons socketwise.

if anyone cant tell i feel pretty strongly about this. and its a short coming that hasn't gotten enough attention. not a single person should ever lose or damage a CPU just by removing a cooler from a socket thats supposed to be securely latched.

good luck OP. i really feel for you. total bullshit anyone should have to deal with this problem
 
I've not had an AM4 socket yet, but ever since I can remember it was standard practice to twist the heatsink so that you didn't pull the CPU out of the socket. Is that not good enough anymore or have people just gotten used to Intel where it isn't necessary (I still do it though).
 
Dermen said:
I've not had an AM4 socket yet, but ever since I can remember it was standard practice to twist the heatsink so that you didn't pull the CPU out of the socket. Is that not good enough anymore or have people just gotten used to Intel where it isn't necessary (I still do it though).
Click to expand...

it's always been an issue but i think with the resurgence of AMD back in the enthusiast market you're seeing a lot of new people that don't know the quarks of AMD's locking mechanism or lack there of since really the mechanism has nothing to do with holding the cpu down and more to do with keeping the cpu from moving within the socket it's self.
 
Dermen said:
I've not had an AM4 socket yet, but ever since I can remember it was standard practice to twist the heatsink so that you didn't pull the CPU out of the socket. Is that not good enough anymore or have people just gotten used to Intel where it isn't necessary (I still do it though).
Click to expand...
I read the instructions that came with the Ryzen 5 3600 cpu purchase. They did not mention anything about twisting the heatsink to manage this problem. My take on this is that AMD should either: give clear instructions on the issue, or have some kind of bracket like the one from tomshardware to make the process "idiot proof".
 
biggles said:
I read the instructions that came with the Ryzen 5 3600 cpu purchase. They did not mention anything about twisting the heatsink to manage this problem. My take on this is that AMD should either: give clear instructions on the issue, or have some kind of bracket like the one from tomshardware to make the process "idiot proof".
Click to expand...

I kind of feel that's one of those things you should just know. Like if you use the stock cooler and take it off, you also need new thermal paste to reuse it. I think the instructions are adequate to install a processor. I can't think of very many products that provide detailed instructions on how to "uninstall" the product as well as install it.
 
I recently had this happen to me as well on my AM3+ motherboard. Well, I pulled it straight out, so nothing got bent or damaged, but I had to use a crowbar to pry the CPU off the heatsink.
It was basically welded on by the thermal paste.
 
sirmonkey1985 said:
it's always been an issue but i think with the resurgence of AMD back in the enthusiast market you're seeing a lot of new people that don't know the quarks of AMD's locking mechanism or lack there of since really the mechanism has nothing to do with holding the cpu down and more to do with keeping the cpu from moving within the socket it's self.
Click to expand...
That makes sense. I had built a handful of Intel systems over the past decade and was not familiar with AMD quirks and the whole LGA vs PGA concepts. Also, regarding the heatsink removal, I took the approach of starting with the stock heatsink to see if the cooling performance was acceptable. When it was not good enough, switched to the tower cooler. Had I gone straight with the tower cooler the issue would not have come up.
 
biggles said:
I read the instructions that came with the Ryzen 5 3600 cpu purchase. They did not mention anything about twisting the heatsink to manage this problem. My take on this is that AMD should either: give clear instructions on the issue, or have some kind of bracket like the one from tomshardware to make the process "idiot proof".
Click to expand...

if they did that then they'd have to admit it's a problem, so that would never happen.. either way it's completely safe pulling the cpu out of the socket with the heatsink. where the problems happen is when people panic and attempt to put the cpu back in the socket with it on the heatsink still or don't look at the bottom of the heatsink to see the cpu's there. my hope though is that with am5 they end up using some form of the TR socket/locking mechanism.
 
Good lighting and snag a pair of strong "reader" glasses so you can see them pins better (if you're old like me) ... credit card or similar to run between the rows both ways to gently straighten out whatever pins are bent .. next time push down a little bit and twist both way gently until you feel the heatsink give way .. as stated, if the components are warmed up a bit, it makes it easier .. but not necessary.

OR .. you can get one of these!
https://www.thefpsreview.com/2020/0...noying-issue-of-amd-cpus-sticking-to-coolers/

(y)
 
ThreeDee said:
Good lighting and snag a pair of strong "reader" glasses so you can see them pins better (if you're old like me) ... credit card or similar to run between the rows both ways to gently straighten out whatever pins are bent .. next time push down a little bit and twist both way gently until you feel the heatsink give way .. as stated, if the components are warmed up a bit, it makes it easier .. but not necessary.

OR .. you can get one of these!
https://www.thefpsreview.com/2020/0...noying-issue-of-amd-cpus-sticking-to-coolers/

(y)
Click to expand...
OK. I looked at that link, but I don't see how this extra bracket keeps the CPU from pulling out when you remove the heatsink. Can someone 'splain this to me.
 
x509 said:
OK. I looked at that link, but I don't see how this extra bracket keeps the CPU from pulling out when you remove the heatsink. Can someone 'splain this to me.
Click to expand...

It would if you have an additional mounting bracket on top of it, but if you're using the stock cooler, it wouldn't. It looks like it is designed for a specific cooler.
 
x509 said:
OK. I looked at that link, but I don't see how this extra bracket keeps the CPU from pulling out when you remove the heatsink. Can someone 'splain this to me.
Click to expand...
yeah i cant figure it out either, maybe that ^^^


ps: everyone, twisting is in the instructions, says so right in the article....
https://www.amd.com/en/support/kb/faq/cpu-7
" twist the CPU cooler clockwise and counterclockwise to loosen the seal between the heatsink and the lid of the CPU"
 
pendragon1 said:
yeah i cant figure it out either, maybe that ^^^


ps: everyone, twisting is in the instructions, says so right in the article....
https://www.amd.com/en/support/kb/faq/cpu-7
" twist the CPU cooler clockwise and counterclockwise to loosen the seal between the heatsink and the lid of the CPU"
Click to expand...

I was just going to post that. AMD does, in fact, tell you how to take it off (and subsequently tells you where to get more thermal grease).
 
This is a super common problem with AMD CPU's.

This is why AMD recommends pushing down on the heatsink and twisting slightly before trying to pull it up.

People must be using different paste than I am though, because I have never had this problem.
 
I have had this happen on Socket 940 Opterons but the heatsink was on for 5+ years before removed.
 
My last 2 Ryzen CPUs came Brand new in the box with bent pins on the edges. I do the needle method and good to go. AMD needs to start packing them better for shipping damage.
 
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