Stripped Screw ....

I stripped the screw holding in the heatsink for the cpu. I was wondering what would be the proper way to get that darn screw out know. It' s pretty much useless using any screw driver now. I also need to know what kind of screws that m17x use?

 

Find a screw that is smaller then the stripped one and screw it into it, the screw it out and if the stripped screw isn't in to tight they should both come out. Or drill it out with a small drill bit. If you do any of this be super careful to the hardware around you

 

i was wondering if there were any other ways? I saw on websites that you can remove it with glue/super glue?

 

Glue could work. Mole grips, (atleast that what i call em) they are like vice pliers, where you can clamp on to the head of the screw and turn it gently untill it comes out.......

Drilling is NOT a vaible option as you will destroy the female thread and thus render it unusable unless youy have a miniture tapping kit.

Im guessing since you have stripped the head its probable that you have actually cross threaded the screw which could be a problem. Go with the vice grips

I think you can get a miniture set that will do the job just be carefull and take your time.

 

Got a thick rubberband?

lay the rubberband flat on the screw head, insert the phillips into the screw. In some cases the rubber will help the phillips grip the stripped heads and turn the screw. Good luck man.

Kinda Ironic, newb tech stripped my cpu heatsink heads 3 weeks ago while doing a motherboard replacement.

 

haha funny...well ill try both methods and hope I can get it out =(

 

hmm still can't get it out, the vice grips can't cant get a good grip with it, the screw is just too "messed" up? Any other ideas?

 

If you have a dremel and feel brave enough, cut the head in the middle so that you can use a flat screw driver instead

 

i might try the drill out method. What precautions should I take when doing this> I only want to get the screw out without destroying my whole notebook...


Clamp it down? Put some kind of towels around the area?

 

what do you guys think

 

Be brave...and very careful.

Hope you have steady hands. I would be terrified to use any type of drill/cutter near my laptop.

I race RC Nitro cars, one of the screws that held my engine to my frame was stripped. I used a dremel cutting disk to cut a - into the head so I could use a flat tip to unscrew it. It worked, but it was really messy. Metal shavings and sparks flying everywhere.

If you go the dremel route, do what CptXabaras suggest, put down towels, etc all over your laptop except around the small screw you will be cutting into.

If you don't feel comfortable doing that, call Dell, ship it to the depot (cringe!) and have them fix it for you. I don't know if they will do that since you are the one that stripped the screw, but it's worth a shot.

As for the type of screw they use... I have no idea, call dell, they may send you a packet of free screws...

GL man!

 

I had a screw that was just murdered from the factory when I had my vostro 3500 laptop. So I called tech support and they said just send it to Dell and they will fix it. Within about a week I had the laptop back and it was doing well. I dunno what they did, but they got it out.

To be honest, I was really worried - but all was well...

 

Dremmel sounds like a good idea. after laying down the towels i would alos have someone standing next to you with the hover going. Suck up them shards of metal before they even get a chance to land if you know what i mean.
My last suggestion, wire cutters. becuase they are so sharp, tyr and use them to get a grip on the screw and turn it.

This actually worked a treat form me when i stripped and cross threaded the cover screw for my R3. if you clamp the screw head hard enough they should "bite" into the screw head and give you good grip to turn it out quater turn by quater turn.

 

Another good option to protect from metal shavings is to get some of that 3M Blue painters tape. Get a wide roll of it, and just cover the whole exposed area. Take an x-acto knife and cut out around the screw head.

That will minimize/eliminate any metal shavings getting into areas you don't want them in, but will be easy to remove.

 

thanks for all the suggestions so far.. ill try out the wire cutters method and report back

 

Any luck? If not I'll offer the same advice someone had previously.

You real goal is to gain enough friction with the screw so you can turn it and thus remove it.

1. Can you get underneath the head? If you can, use blade or something to lift it and another tool to turn the head.

2. Have you tried screwdrivers with angle tips? The key here is if you haven't completely rounded the thread then you can maybe latch on to some dents and turn the screw. You could also intentionally make grooves in the head to achieve this goal as well, granted if you have enough room. For example, with that dremel of yours, would it be safe enough for you to make a like across the head? Remember, you just need a groove so your tool can latch on and be able to turn it.

If the screw is still on tight, glue or other adhesives will not work as a friction base. I also don't recommend drilling since this is the screw at the CPU location right? Who knows what debris and vibration can do to the board.

 

haven't had enough time to do this, cause most likely i think i have to purchase a cpu heatsink for the m17x r1 since someone said there aren't any cpu screws for the heatsink unfortunately. And if I get the screw off, I don't know what parts I may have done to the heatsink itself

Um actually there was a tiny space available, so I will see if I can try to prop it up with a blade and see if i can turn it.

Thanks for the support guys

 

I really like that suggestion. Thats awsome! +rep!

Also another thing to try is a star shaped head. Screw drivers with interchangble heads ofter come with a few * shaped heads. If your lucky, you may be able to get it out with that.

 

BUMP****

Any luck?