Found the manual for it. Their solution was to to use the CPU as a fulcrum to pry against. No thanks. I ripped the socket off the board instead. Hopefully I didn't damage the CPU in the process. I'll see if works on the desktop board tomorrow.

For those you usually just use a flathead screwdriver to push in and out of the socket. But I guess ripping works as well? 🤣

🤣 yeah that's what i thought from looking at the arrows/lock printed on it. But I couldn't get it to budge and it was so close to the CPU I didn't want to risk damaging it by prying directly on/towards it (board was just scrap so no loss there). Was this a standard back in the day or was it some abomination HP/Compaq cooked up?

On the flip side, it is kind of scary how easy those sockets come out. I really don't see how a large heatsink doesn't pull it loose over time.

[FMC]Ravage wrote on 2025-07-09, 14:37:

On the flip side, it is kind of scary how easy those sockets come out. I really don't see how a large heatsink doesn't pull it loose over time.

Was it BGA? I'd expect a through hole socket to be impossible to rip out without ripping out a piece of the board with it.

No, it was PGA. I'd imagine BGA would be very difficult without a ton of heat on the backside. I was a little annoyed I had to do it that way (its been hard trying to find that particular CPU model).

Looking back, I probably should of taken a break after bending my fingernail backwards and stabbing myself with a flat head screwdriver 🤣
But no bent pins or scratches on the CPU, so we'll call it a success

Edit: I looked at it again just out of curiosity. There is no moving part on the socket. So was the whole socket suppose to slide to release the CPU? But how could it do that if it had adhesive holding it down? Or...are you really suppose to just pry directly on the CPU? Either way....my hate for HP now extends to the early 2000s.

I had a Socket 7 laptop that I upgraded to a K6-2+ decades ago that used this same type of socket. You carefully choose the right size flat blade screwdriver, place the tip in the slot, then rotate the screwdriver about 1/4 turn and it moves the CPU in a lateral direction which releases it from the socket. I've done it about a half dozen times with no issues

So they're not ZIF sockets? You have to use force to insert and remove the CPU? I mean I guess that works but it's not any thinner than a regular socket and you have to pry directly on the CPU.

The CPU works great though. I can change the clockspeed from 400MHz-1800MHz with Setmul (300MHz if I drop the bus down to 100MHz).