Problem removing hard drive from Late '08 unibody 15" MBP

Hello. I bought a new Seagate 7200rpm 500gb drive to replace the original 320gb 5400rpm drive my MBP came with. I cloned the 320 and upgraded it to Snow Leopard with no problems. After making sure everything was ok. I shut down to swap drives and therein lies the problem. When I tried to remove the single screw securing the HD the head didn't budge and instead kinda became stripped. Mind you this was using a new phillips driver. So I'm kinda in a hard spot. How can I fix my problem? Do I now need to bring it in to a Apple Store? I have AppleCare. I don't know if Apple uses extra soft screws or what. I've worked on computers for about 15 years and have never had this happen before. Anyone got any suggestions? Currently I'm running my MBP off the 500gb drive via a external USB2 enclosure.
Thanks

I don't think you have any choice now but to take the machine in for service. You won't be able to grip that particular screw head with pliers, and even if you could, you'll need a replacement screw now. Assuming your Phillips driver is actually the proper size for the screw, you may want to take it along with you to show that you used the right tool, in case anyone is skeptical. (It's amazing how many people imagine that they can get away with using just anything, despite clear instructions about what tools to use.)
My experience with quite a few Powerbooks was that the screws Apple used in them were indeed soft. I haven't had enough experience with MBP screws to comment on them.

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