Bent pin hell on my CPUs...

[pi3rce]

Got a question for some of you hardware experts out there. I recently purchased a server from a fellow online gamer, and long and short of it it UPS dropped the box (at least once from the bashed cardboard corner) and both Xeons ripped out of their sockets when the heatsinks snapped the retention brackets. Needless to say I had 30+ bent pins on one and 40+ bent pins on the other. After straightening them for a couple hours, managed to get both aligned enough to fit in the socket (I couldn't test out the board and see how much other damage was done without a CPU in place). Then I salvaged one heatsink retention bracket from each socket to get one working and amazingly, it booted up into Server2k3, and haven't seen any issues yet. I also haven't stressed these processors yet either.
My question is what do you think the life expectancy of 2 CPU's banged up like this is, and what other issues could come up from the mis-handling of a server?

Any information/opinions would be appreciated.

Here's a pic of one of them (although both are pretty much the same as far as banged up).
http://members.cox.net/fragoramma/CPU1%20bent%20pins.JPG

 

[TraumaRN]

I bent about 10 pins on my P4 Northwood awhile back, bent them back and all is peachy. I say if anything goes wrong blame UPS and ask them to replace it

 

[iamtrout]

The life from bent pins should be the same as if they never got bent. All they are are electrical contacts after all. I've had my fair share of bent pins (some bent multiple times) and nothing has ever happened.

 

[Some1ne]

Bent a pin on my Athlon64 once when cleaning thermal compound off of it...put it back and all was well. I don't think a bent pin would affect the life expectency any, so long as it doesn't snap off when you bend it back. If/when a failure happens, it's going to be on a microscopic level inside the core of the CPU, and the bent pin has no impact there.

As far as other issues, if you can boot to an OS, you're probably fine, although inspect your mainboards for any physical damage, because a dislodged fan bouncing around inside of a computer case can be a very destructive thing.

 

[imported_Tick]

However, it is POSSIBLE that there are fatigue fractures inside the pins, that will only show up after a while of heating and cooling. However, the chances of a pin actually failing seems relatively slim.

 

[goobernoodles]

Yeah, my 3200 Barton came with a few bent pins originally, and I've never had any trouble whatsoever, its still going strong.

 

[pi3rce]

Tha stress fractures are kinda what I'm afraid of. Nothing to be seen with the naked eye, but after using it, well, we'll see. Just the idea of a heatsink bouncing around ontop of a CPU isn't very appealing to me, especially when it weighs at least a couple pounds.

 

[Mday]

Originally posted by: pi3rce
Got a question for some of you hardware experts out there. I recently purchased a server from a fellow online gamer, and long and short of it it UPS dropped the box (at least once from the bashed cardboard corner) and both Xeons ripped out of their sockets when the heatsinks snapped the retention brackets. Needless to say I had 30+ bent pins on one and 40+ bent pins on the other. After straightening them for a couple hours, managed to get both aligned enough to fit in the socket (I couldn't test out the board and see how much other damage was done without a CPU in place). Then I salvaged one heatsink retention bracket from each socket to get one working and amazingly, it booted up into Server2k3, and haven't seen any issues yet. I also haven't stressed these processors yet either.
My question is what do you think the life expectancy of 2 CPU's banged up like this is, and what other issues could come up from the mis-handling of a server?

Any information/opinions would be appreciated.

Here's a pic of one of them (although both are pretty much the same as far as banged up).
http://members.cox.net/fragoramma/CPU1%20bent%20pins.JPG

you should have called UPS immediately, and sue for damages.

but otherwise, if it's working...

 

[jefbak]

Damn I just broke a pin off while trying to unbend it on my 3.2 478 socket cpu. Arrrgh!
If one pin breaks what are the consquences? Is there any redunancy or am I screwed?
The pin is on the outer edge or first row of one of the sides (not sure how you would say which pin it is).

 

[dainthomas]

Bent five or six on my Venice when the AS5 wouldn't let go. Man, was I pissed. I unbent them, stuck it in the new mobo and it booted up fine.

 

[drum]

Originally posted by: pi3rce
Got a question for some of you hardware experts out there. I recently purchased a server from a fellow online gamer, and long and short of it it UPS dropped the box (at least once from the bashed cardboard corner) and both Xeons ripped out of their sockets when the heatsinks snapped the retention brackets. Needless to say I had 30+ bent pins on one and 40+ bent pins on the other. After straightening them for a couple hours, managed to get both aligned enough to fit in the socket (I couldn't test out the board and see how much other damage was done without a CPU in place). Then I salvaged one heatsink retention bracket from each socket to get one working and amazingly, it booted up into Server2k3, and haven't seen any issues yet. I also haven't stressed these processors yet either.
My question is what do you think the life expectancy of 2 CPU's banged up like this is, and what other issues could come up from the mis-handling of a server?

Any information/opinions would be appreciated.

Here's a pic of one of them (although both are pretty much the same as far as banged up).
http://members.cox.net/fragoramma/CPU1%20bent%20pins.JPG

so you're telling me the shipper sent it with both cpu's in the sockets? yeah, this is not UPSs fault. sue the idiot who sent them to you with the cpus still in the board

 

[stevty2889]

Originally posted by: jefbak
Damn I just broke a pin off while trying to unbend it on my 3.2 478 socket cpu. Arrrgh!
If one pin breaks what are the consquences? Is there any redunancy or am I screwed?
The pin is on the outer edge or first row of one of the sides (not sure how you would say which pin it is).

There are many pins which are just a ground, if one of them breaks, the CPU will run normaly with no problems. If it was one of the data pins that broke..it's no good. Try it out first, if it works, then your fine, if not, it was an important pin..you can use the data sheet found here to identify which pin is broken.

 

[jefbak]

Thanks! it is AE1 Power/output pin name vid4 direction output???

By the way I have the motherboard out of the case while I am troubleshooting. I also have 2 different memory sticks, 2 different video cards, 2 motherboards and 2 power supplies. Jeez its like Noahs ark here...
Anyway, what is the bare minimum that needs to be plugged into the motherboard to get video and into the bios?
My problem is no video and there is no post code or sound so I can't figure out where the problem lies...

 

[eLiu]

CPU, RAM, vidcard will get you to the post screen.

 

[Matthias99]

Originally posted by: drum

Originally posted by: pi3rce
so you're telling me the shipper sent it with both cpu's in the sockets? yeah, this is not UPSs fault. sue the idiot who sent them to you with the cpus still in the board

Not just the CPUs socketed, but with the heatsinks on! You're lucky the falling heatsink didn't bust something else. You should always remove the heatsinks and repackage the CPUs for shipping, ideally in their original packaging. Anything that's not bolted rigidly to the case (hard drives are OK; RAM and AGP/PCI cards might be, if they're not too heavy) should be removed.

Normally I'd say to go to UPS for damages, but in this case the shipper was an idiot and the item was not packaged properly for transport. Also, you should have inspected the contents for damage before signing for the package if it looked banged up.

 

[jefbak]

Well back up and running now. Looks like my 3.2 with broken pin was causing the problem.
You really can't remove a heatsink from a 478 socket without yanking the cpu out with it. I mean I have done it so many times now.
Sometimes you just get the heatsink but others, even with slow twisting just pulls out cpu locked and all...
bummer.

 

[JimPhelpsMI]

Hi, If no pins broke off you should have no real damage to the Processor. I have straightened pins that were mashed flat against the chip. Those will break off if they are ever bent again. Jim