tips required to get heatsink screws out so i can upgrade CPU

[Unique]

i'm trying to upgrade my 2.5ghz dual core E5200 (i think) to a Q8300 quad core. i've not upgraded a desktop CPU or installed one in about 6 or 7 years and the heatsinks weren't huge back then. i upgraded my laptop CPU the other week and that went fine bar a similar issue with a stuck screw preventing me opening it, but once that was fixed it all worked great. so now i have the thermal paste and the CPU i've found i can't unscrew the heatsink as the screws are in too tight, plus they are pretty big screws and i don't seem to have a screwdriver that 100% matches the look of the screw, and due to the large size of the heatsink i think i need a long screwdriver as i can't get in easily to get enough grip to force the screw with a short screwdriver

i'm not sure what heatsink it is, i think i bought the computer prebuilt second hand from a member here a few years ago but i can't find the PM. it was a very well built and put together machine. nothing too fancy, just solid and works fine

i couldn't get the screws to move at all. any help or ideas would be welcome. if someone can identify the type of screw and screwdriver i might need and even where to get one then i can order one and hold off the upgrade if necessary. and i thought i had every screwdriver under the sun

some pics below, i'm not sure if they will help much

[Spank]

Looks like it can take either Philips or Flathead screw driver, your problem could be that it's loosens by turning clockwise rather than anti.

[Unique]

^ thanks, it's that normal that screws turn the other way round?

[Unique]

i managed to get the screws to move with a very big long screwdriver, but they seem to loosen or unloosen and not come off. there isn't something on the underside of the mobo that needs to be moved is there? you should be able to remove the heatsink whilst the mobo is still screwed to the case, shouldn't you? or have things changed?

[Kumagoro]

I think you should just bite the bullet and take the whole board out. It sounds like it has a nut on the back and its just spinning due to lack of pressure. I have never come across nuts being used but you never know what someone else might do.

[Unique]

http://www.coolermaster.com/upload/d...les/manual.pdf

i've just been told by the guy i bought it from it's a coolermaster hyper 212 and it does have a backplate. i'm not looking forward to pulling out the whole mobo. i hope i can find a workaround

[stevie lee]

I would have thought that if you wedge something non-metallic under the screwhead and lever it upwards while unscrewing that would create enough pressure on the nut to stop it spinning, then you can undo it.

problem I can think of if you don't take the motherboard out. wont the backplate or the nuts you've just unscrewed just fall off and wedge themself further down the back of the board and short the pins out?


imho the only sensible way is to take the board out.

from the pictures it looks like it all needs a clean anyway. just do 2 jobs in one.

[richw]

Have you taken the other side off the case? Some cases have a cut out where the bracket would roughly sit.

[Spank]

You will have to take the mobo out even if it does have a back plate, because as soon as you remove the last screw the plate will probably fall off anyway.

[Unique]

i managed to sort it. i had to take the mobo out. there wasn't a backplate but there were nuts at the back, and the screws were weird in that they turned the opposite way from normal, but halfway down the screw, the bit that ended up on the other side of the mobo had threads that turned the other way, to lock into the screw. had i somehow unscrewed it then the nuts would have fallen into the case, and possibly shorted something if they didn't fall down to the bottom. however i wouldn't have been able to put the heatsink back on without the nuts

anyways, i unplugged all my add on cards and sata cables, took out the old chip and cleaned that and heatsink, put in new one, put on thermal paste, put on heatsink, screwed up and put back mobo to find i put it on the wrong way so the HS touched the RAM, so back off, clean chip and HS from grease, put on more grease, HS back on, screw together and nothing happened. i thought i'd killed it. pulled apart again, cleaned grease, reapplied grease, screwed back together and it worked. maybe i screwed something too tight and it shorted or something. i got the rest of the drives and cables together and it's generally fine, i need to muck about with cables for the drives, but the tricky bit is done

the i took both sides off the case but the antec 300 doesn't have side cut outs to access the reverse of the mobo, but it's a nice solid case for my needs

thanks everyone