Verify that the heatsink is truly glued onto the CPU.  If the "white stuff"
squeezed out at the joint can be scraped off with a fingernail, or is
greasy, then it is only heatsink compound, and you should be able to
slowly slide them apart using steady, gentle, force.  If you use a knife
to separate them, you run the risk of damaging something (Including your
other thumb!).

If it is glued, they probably used epoxy.  You could probably save the
heatsink by cutting away the CPU with a milling machine - this would
leave a clean, flat surface.

Any acid or alkali that dissolved away the heatsink (almost certainly made
of aluminum) would also attack the CPU pins or encapsulation to some extent.

Boyd Ramsay

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