One of my technicians was going to replace a motherboard for a computer. However, when he was pulling out the CPU heatsink fan from the old motherboard, he pulled out the CPU along with it. The CPU was stuck to the heatsink so badly by the dried thermal paste. We were lucky none of the pins of the CPU was damaged. Now we need to separate the CPU from the heatsink.

To separate the CPU from the heatsink, you need to heat it up so that the thermal paste is softened again. The tool we are using is a hair dryer. Set the hair dryer to the highest speed and blow directly on the heatsink for 10 minutes. After that, you should be able to push the CPU from the side until it is lose from the heatsink.

Caution: Handle the CPU with care, do not bend any of the pins. Also, the heatsink can get very hot after blowing it with the hair dryer for some time. You should hold on the plastic fan instead.