trying to remove bios chip's socket

Anybody any exp with soldering on pcb's?? I'm trying to remove a bios chip sckt (prcticing on an old blown up mobo first!!). I was advised to get a 35watt iron but have borrowed a 25 so this may be prob. But I try to get solder off bottom of mobo where the pins on the chip comes thru from top and have bought this spring loaded suction tool to remove molten solder. I have been at it for an hour or more and cant remove enuf of the solder to get the chips mounting out. I am completly new to this and would welcom any advice.
I have seen some sort of stuff that absorbs solder but cannot get it in the tiny **** hole of a town I live/survive in without ordering it. Anyway will this work better?

When it comes to removing solder, you must get all of the solder melted first. Make sure you use solder flux on both sides of the board...it will ensure that the solder gets melted and flowing. If you missed getting some of it out, you can try reflowing some fresh solder onto it and then try sucking it out again. Most of the better shops will have a desoldering station which has a gun with a hollow tip and a vacuum pump...once you get the solder melted, hit the foot switch and poof, the solder gets sucked out. If the 25 watt gun is not melting all of the solder on both sides of the board, then try going with the 35. A lot of guns have the capability of switching to higher wattages.
Concerning the solder wick (stuff that absorbs solder,) it can cause more problems than it's worth. There are a few of the old die hards that still continue to use it but I strongly recommend staying with a good solder sucker such as your spring loaded model or using the one with a vacuum pump attached.
When you go to install the new component, again make sure you use that solder flux. Once you're finished, clean all of the flux off with isopropyl alcohol and an acid brush. The flux is highly corrosive if left on.
Just a few pointers...Good Luck!

Thanks, hopefully get it sorted tomorrow.

I use for soldering out components Taiwanese "gas pensil torch". It costs something about 10USD (including one changeble header),or even less (about 3 USD)- cheapest model without headers.
With that "gas pensil" resoldering - is an easy and fast operation...but anyways some practice needed - on dead motherboards...and one thing really needed - it's good ventilation and pincette.
But be carefull!

Another way - using soldering iron with special wide copper header (for resoldering ICs).Using that header all the pins on one side of IC will be simultaneously heated and soldered out.
But anyways, soldering iron should be powerful enough for that. 35Wt (or even more) is really needed here. And, as DonJ said, flux also will help here.
Good luck! If You have more questions - ask me... <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="wink.gif" />