My cooling unit is apparently stuck to my motherboard!

saxman

I recently took my PC to another place to put in a new liquid cooling unit, and they're telling me that my current cooling fan/unit is stuck to my motherboard and they don't want to try to remove it for fear they will damage my motherboard. What should I do?!

PowerSpec_MikeW

Greetings @saxman

I assume they mean the heatsink is stuck on the CPU and they can't remove it without ripping the CPU out of the socket and potentially damaging pins? What platform is this? Typically, better if the CPU is warm. I'll just turn it off and remove the retention screws or clips. From there, apply pressure, you don't want the heatsink pulling the CPU out of the socket.  Twist left and right, just wiggle it. You'll feel the seal break then it should come right off. If the system won't turn on, a hair dryer can work in a pitch to warm the heatsink up. 

This is all done at your risk of course, you certainly can damage the board with excessive heat or by bending the pins. You can bring it to us for service if you like.