Can't get my water cooler off!

[darthfader]

I'm sitting here with an asetek 550lc water cooler that went bad on an Intel chip. I am trying to replace it but cannot get the damn thing off! I've been turning the four screws but they're just spinning and I'm afraid of damaging the motherboard somehow. What am I doing wrong???

 

[hang-the-9]

Did you maybe use an adhesive thermal paste on the CPU? Did you try giving the cooler a little side-to side turn to see if it frees up the paste?

 

[darthfader]

So the problem turned out to be that the company who put my pc together for me tightened the water cooler way too tight. I ended up having to pull the whole motherboard out, get tiny needle nose pliers, and grip the base while I twisted the screws. It was a huge pain in the ass and I tore up the old liquid cooling base and posts, but my new cooler came with them so just replaced them. Turned about an hour project to a four hour project. Don't over-tighten the screws!