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hi,
I am trying to remove one but all efforts have failed and I don't want to break it, how do I remove the stock heatsink? i have AMD S939 4200+ some say zippo oil can be used, but I'm a bit nervous about using fluids near my cpu. Any recommendations and suggestions are appreciated.
Rubbing alcohol (90%) has always worked for me. Just be careful not to leave residue from whatever you use to apply and rub it, e.g. Q-tips work fine, but inspect visually to make sure you didn't leave behind any cotton strands. Some people use a piece of cotton rag. Also remove the old stuff while CPU is still mounted to lessen chances of bending/breaking pins.
I am not certain what you are asking, but if you mean how do you take the heatsink off the CPU, I will tell you how I do that.
I grasp the heatsink firmly, then start a very, very slow side to side motion, back and forth sideways while lifting slightly. As it moves more and more side to side, increase your lifting pressure (don't get carried away). When one side comes loose, you can just lift it off. Be careful, they are fragile, but I have never broken one yet by doing it that way.
removing the heatsink is actually a relatively time consuming process if you haven't done it before. it gets quite frustrating if you don't see how it works from the start.
Getting rid of the paste is a simple matter of just rubbing it off with some isopropyl alchohol (rubbing alcohol) and then cleaning the alcohol off with a lint free cloth. Avoid touching the actual top of the processor since the oils on your fingers can hinder thermal transfer/how the paste sticks to the surface of the processor/heatsink.
Taking off the heatsink is the easiest part. Just twist the four black knobs on the legs of the heatsink in the direction of the arrow either with your fingers or with a flathead screwdriver and then pull the black knob upwards while holding down on the heatsink (so you won't break the pins or warp the motherboard). Once all four have been pulled, the heatsink will just lift up.
Installing a heatsink is fairly straight forward although I've never had much luck with push pins... I usually prefer using a backplate... but it depends on what heatsink your using, just follow the directions that accompany the cooler.