Stuck screws on the heatsink

[Harichi]

Well I've been fiddling around with a Dell Dimension 5150 the past few weeks and I want to get rid of that god-forsaken Pentium 4 and replace it with a spare Core 2 Duo 6700 I have lying around.

However, some genius as Dell twelve years ago decided actual screws on the heatsink was a BRILLIANT idea. It was not. You see, this hasn't been unscrewed for 12 years. Oddly enough, when something's not been unscrewed for 12 years when it's in close proximity to a Pentium 4 that has probably no thermal paste left, the metal the screws are made of become slightly malleable.
Now that's not a big deal, unless the computer happens to have been on daily for about 8 years.

Now those two screws are stuck and won't turn at all meaning I can't get the heatsink off. Now of course I can't try to fix it with heat because the plastic around the screw would melt. Can't get it up with pliers because there's plastic in the way; it's not a stripped screw.

So, what are my options? What can I possibly do to get these screws turning again? WD40 is an option (it's not conductive) but I'd prefer to use that as a last result since that wouldn't help the temperatures.

P.S. It might not be from 8 years of daily use making the screws malleable, that was just a guess from me. I'm not an expert in the science of screws.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Actually, those screws probably had lock-tite on them from factory.
They used to do this so they could tell if the Heatsink was tampered with, for warranty purposes.

Best bet is toss that Dell into trash; at a local recycling center.

If it's not LGA-775, there is nothing you can really do to it anyways.

[Harichi]

Publicado originalmente por Bad_Motha:

Actually, those screws probably had lock-tite on them from factory.

Wouldn't take that bet since there's plenty of videos on YouTube showing people effortlessly taking the screws off.

Publicado originalmente por Bad_Motha:

Best bet is toss that Dell into trash; at a local recycling center.

I mean, I could just sell it on Ebay for £40 instead of buying a bus ticket to an electronic recycling center and dumping it there. Still too much bother to do that though.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Well sure, if someone would buy it; course then you still have to box it up properly so as not to get damaged during shipping; then have it shipped, etc...

How long did you allow it to be powered off fully; before trying to undo the screws?

[Harichi]

Publicado originalmente por Bad_Motha:

How long did you allow it to be powered off fully; before trying to undo the screws?

Well I've tried multiple times, once I had it off for a day and a few minutes before I made this post I took the plug out, held the power button and then just went straight to trying to unscrew it.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Then I would perhaps allow that heat-sink to cool back down, closer to room temperature and then re-try.

Been quite a while since I've had to take one of those apart, but yea I remember it was effortless to remove those. Perhaps its just expanded at the moment due to high heat.

[!xS]

do you have a drill? drill'em!
another solution is to solder them directly to the screwdriver ... just keep in mind that the screws are screwed ;)

however, wish ya good luck

[Harichi]

Publicado originalmente por !xS:

do you have a drill? drill'em!

I have a feeling that if I drill them, I'd probably go way too fast and drill into the motherboard. That wouldn't be fun!

[!xS]

Publicado originalmente por Blin Mashina:

Publicado originalmente por !xS:

do you have a drill? drill'em!

I have a feeling that if I drill them, I'd probably go way too fast and drill into the motherboard. That wouldn't be fun!

be gently bro you have all the time you need .... tip: there are drill bits exactly for such issues and cost about 2 ~ 3 €