Reinstalling cooler on an Lga1156 CPU

[mike_186]

Hi, my mate was having some problems with a CPU overheating (to 90 degrees C!), so I removed the cooler to give it a good clean as it was pretty clogged with dust. Now I can't fit it back in place, the plastic bits that secure it in place seem to be locked in the open position so they don't fit in the holes on the motherboard (it was a struggle to remove it in the first place, maybe because it's been in place for 5 years).

Just wanted to check if I'm missing something obvious as I was doing this as a favour, now he can't use the PC. I'll order a new cooler for the price, but would like to get his PC running again asap.

Also, the thermal paste on the old cooler seemed very powdery, I could literally wipe most off with a cloth, but it's a stock intel cooler. Does thermal paste degrade over time or is that normal when you remove a cooler?

Thanks all.

 

[CountMike]

When you turn locking tabs they are supposed to lift up few mm and let locking teeth on the ends of legs that go thru MB holes to contract. Before installing cooler make sure they are in unlock position and centers raised by those couple of mm. and don't spread ends that go thru holes in MB.
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/faq/id-1919588/install-stock-intel-pushpin-cooler-properly.html

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2047683

 

[mike_186]

Thanks for the reply. We ended up buying a new cooler, I couldn't get the old one to fit back in.

Should be better than the stock cooler anyway, I didn't run any stress tests but using Photoshop and some light gaming temps are about 50-55 degrees, so I might check my own temps tonight and get a better cooler myself as well.

Thanks, Mike