I followed directions on here on how to clean the cpu fan and heatsink. I removed it per instructions, BUT believe something was not as it should be. I know the cpu is housed under the heatsink, and when I removed the heatsink, there was a rectangular piece with "prongs" stuck to the bottom. Was this suppose to be there or did part of the cpu come with the heatsink? It was stuck to the thermal compound on the heatsink. I have not done anything with it since removing it because I'm not sure this was suppose to happen. The instructions I was following didn't mention it; said it was an easy in easy out procedure that made cleaning the fan and heatsink easier. I'm not very knowledgable about the inner workings of my pc, but I'm thinking that lining ALL of those little prongs back up just right is going to be next to impossible. Am I correct or way off base?

I'm not sure why you would take the heatsink off to clean it, but in any case, it sounds like your CPU might be stuck to the heatsink.This (http://mswhs.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/hp-processor-upgrade.png) should give you a pretty good idea of what a CPU looks like without the heatsink attached. Does this look like what is stuck to the bottom of your heatsink? -Ryan Adams Free Computer Tips and more:http://RyanTAdams.com Paid Tech Support: Black Diamond

Well maybe the Thermal paste already dried up and already stocked on the processor. Are you sure that the guide is meant for that type of of fan and heat sink? Want A Weekly Update on Latest System Security Problem http://www.systemsecurityinstitute.org

Thermal paste doesn't harden or dry so it was probably a thermal pad. Pads are made of a "phase change" material which is similar to wax...hard when it's cool, soft when it's warm. What you should have done was run the system for a bit to soften the pad, then the heatsink would have been easy to remove. You apparently tried to remove it when it was cold & ended up ripping the CPU out of it's socket. You're going to have to carefully separate the CPU from the heatsink, then remove ALL traces of the old thermal pad from both the CPU & heatsink. Make sure you didn't bend any of the pins on the CPU...if you did, carefully straighten them. If you don't have thermal paste, you'll have to buy some. Radio Shack sells it for about $3. Find your CPU on the following list & apply the paste according to the instructions: http://www.arcticsilver.com/arctic_... Do NOT re-use the old pad & do NOT install the heatsink without thermal paste!

Well but it still can happen right? Want A Weekly Update on Latest System Security Problem http://www.systemsecurityinstitute.org