Any suggestions on how to safely remove a CPU that's gotten stuck to the underside of the fan heatsink?

I assume the CPU is still in the socket & you can't get the heatsink off? There is a layer of thermal compound between the two. Do NOT try to pull the heatsink off...gently twist it back & forth until you break the bond, it shouldn't be too difficult, unless someone used thermal adhesive by mistake. ASUS A7N8X-X Athlon XP 1800+ 8.5 x 200MHz 1024MB PC3200 2.5-3-3-7 Asus A9550GE/TD 128MB WinME/WinXP Pro SP2

lol yeh seen that b4 its neer impossible to get it off if they use the glue type just have to be patiant and hav alot of razer blades Get Firefox

Run the comp for about half an hour, run some good games or other apps that can get he cpu nice and hot. Shut it down, than slowely follow the instructions that Jam gave you IF IT AINT BROKE, DONT FIX IT A8N-SLI Deluxe AMD X64 3500+ Wnchst Corsair 2x512 DDR400 Dual Channel GV-NX6600128D PCIX Graphics Card Ggbyte GT Pro CPU Cooler Zalman VF700-CU VGA Cool

That's what happened to my Pentium 4 2800 1 MB Cache Somehow intel thinks this new kind of thermal compound is better than the old fasioned soft silicon compound. I take this material off every heat sink i install now...

This happened to me and my 2.6 GHz CPU, your probably took the CPU FAN/Heatsink off and found the CPU under the heatsink, since when you took it off the CPU was in the locked position make sure that none of the pins are bent, if they are slowly bend them back with a tooth pick or something wooden. Also try not to use metal objects to try to pry it out...acutally don't try to pry it out at all. Since your probably can't heat it up by running programs (I'm assuming you can't put it in, since in my situation I couldn't) try to move it by twisting it, if it doesn't work leave it out and leave the heatsink in the sun, not the CPU just the heatsink...wait a few ours and try to twist it off, wait a few more, in my case I waited 4 hours and I tapped the CPU and it fell out easily. Hopefully this helps you.