Before I screw anything else up...

[CrimsonChaos]

So far, I've bent pins on a processor by trying to re-install it WITHOUT taking the heatsink off of it. Then I over-heated a brand new processor by not putting a heatsink on it when powering up. Then, to top it off, I used a magnetically-charged screwdriver when trying to disassemble the #$#* thing.

So, here I am hoping I have gotten all my idiocy out of the way. But before I screw anything else up, I want to just make sure: Is it possible to mess up a brand new motherboard (which I'll get today) by installing a faulty (bent-pins/overheated) processor into it?

Please advise before I make this an even more embarrassing situation!

 

[Duvie]

Bent pins unless completely broken off may work just fine...As long as the pin can go in the hole after somewhat straightened it should be fine....Heck even missing pins have been known to still work....

The overheating is more complexed case Intel chips will throttle and shouldn't let you damage them...The AMD chip may fry but the mobo could have possibly shut down before that even happened...best thing is to test it out. If it doesn't work it doesn't work...shouldn't effect anything else in the setup....

The magnetic screwdriver is a myth. I have used them for the last 7-8 years at least and I have never damaged a part. I believe someone more technical looked into it and said it wasn't enought to do any damage...You are more likely with a non magnetic screw driver to have the srew slip on you and have you drag the driver across the board and pop some caps off or scratch the PCB and do more damage...Dont worry about it....

 

[boran]

magnetic screwdrivers do not pose any risk at all to any hardware, I think they even make your hardware live longer, but that's mainly because they prevent screws from falling into nasty places where they can cause shortcuts.

And normally the bent pins do not damage a motherboard or CPU (if they get straightned), it might be possible that missing pins damage a motherboard (when powered up) and the CPU is definetly not so healthy either then (soldering on new pins should be possible, but it's very, very hard)

about the overheating, normally most modern mobo's should shut down or throttle the speed down when the CPU overheats so I think that damaging a mobo in that way is also a thing of the past (socket-A past mainly)