screws on my fan 4 CPU are nakered HELP

[Danniboy]

the screws to undo the fan ontop the processor are very worn down and i really dant think i can unscrew em
there really tight too :( is there any tool i could use? pls help!

cheers,
Dan :cry:

[Dani]

I did a google search for stripped screw, and found this on another popular tech forum: http://forums.techguy.org/showthread.php?t=106249

[Danniboy]

kool, thanks dani!
lots of useful things there
one hell of a site you have here btw, thanks 4 the honour of bein part an 4 the help :P :D

[Catweazle]

Remove the heatsink unit from the processor before attempting to remove the fan itself, in such a circumstance. You might need to apply sharp force to get the scres out, and you do NOT want to risk damaging the processor while you are doing the job!

Sit the heatsink on a padded surface, so that you don't damage the underside face of the heatsink and get someone else to hold the unit steady for you if necessary. Make sure you use the correct shape and size of screwdriver. Ensure the scredriver is lined up with any remaining traces of the slot in the screw, and tap it gently with a hammer to further define the screwslots. That should give you enough grip to be able to loosen the screw.

If that doesn't work, use an impact driver or even drill the screw out with a suitably sized drill bit.

[Danniboy]

i cant actually take off the heatsink, because of the metail rod holding the heatsink in, the fan ontop of the heatsink stops me being about to pull the rod out as it would normally, so its not posible to take it out of the comp without removing the fan first, thats why its such an annoyance, so wot i might do is get some kind of pliers and graple the screw and turn it that way, i might sumhow make the slots more defined like u said but its a risky thing being still inside the computer :(

[caperjack]

i cant actually take off the heatsink, because of the metail rod holding the heatsink in, the fan ontop of the heatsink stops me being about to pull the rod out as it would normally, so its not posible to take it out of the comp without removing the fan first, thats why its such an annoyance, so wot i might do is get some kind of pliers and graple the screw and turn it that way, i might sumhow make the slots more defined like u said but its a risky thing being still inside the computer :(

The silver clip that is cliped to the CPU socket is what releases the heatsink and fan from the CPU ,then you use the silver rod to remove the CPU ,if you need to remove it .
That is unless you are dealing with a really old computer .