Bent Pin Rescue

[Cybercraig]

I got an OEM 4400X2 AM2 CPU off of E-Bay for my nephew for a great price. He promptly took it home and tried mounting it with bent pins. HELP! When I got it back it had whole rows of bent pins. I got a saftey razor blade that you would put in a paint scraper and started straightening the rows. I have a headset magnifier that saved the day too. After about 1/2 an hour I had the rows where I could go for the individual bent pins with an eyeglass screwdriver. In another 1/2 hour I plopped it in! If you find yourself in a similar jam, try a razor blade first. :thumbsup:

 

[Ika]

My weapon of choice for bent CPU pins would probably be a thin mechanical pencil with a metal tip sheath... I haven't had to deal with bent pins ever, though, but I'd assume it'd be easier than a razor.

 

[Cybercraig]

Man, that's a great idea for indivual pins. It would be darn time consuming for a row though. I'll try it next time should I ever get that unlucky again.

 

[ConstipatedVigilante]

Why not just use a pair of needle-nose pliers? They would do a great job.

 

[shabby]

<intel user> whats a bent pin?

 

[JackPack]

Originally posted by: shabby
<intel user> whats a bent pin?

Same here.

I double-checked to make sure this thread wasn't from 2003 or so.

 

[CTho9305]

Originally posted by: shabby
<intel user> whats a bent pin?

It's what you get when something touches your motherboard. It's very hard to fix for pinless CPUs, because while you can access CPU pins from many angles, other parts of the socket get in the way when trying to straighten motherboard pins.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

What an amazing coincidence! I too just received a Socket 939 Athlon X2 4400 off of eBay (lowest closing price I've ever seen for this) and it looks like it has about three or four bent pins. I was just searching for "bent" on this forum and I think I'll try the razor/eyeglass trick! Razor blade...why didn't I think of that! (And yes Virginia, apparently Santa Claus in the form of the USPS does deliver priority mail on Christmas Day; must suck if your the mailman but she said she gets paid extra.)

Sure hope I can get it close to the speed of the single core it's going to replace, which is an Opteron 148 at 11 x 250 (2.75 Ghz) overclock.

Stepping: CCBWE 0609EPMW

 

[Nathelion]

bent pins are a piece of cake. Missing pins, on the other hand, are a pain in the posterior. Does anyone have good tips and tricks for dealing with those?

 

[hclarkjr]

i know the feeling of bent pins too, i mangled my FX-60 few weeks back. AMD was nice and did an RMA for me since it was retail CPU. i am waiting for them to send it back. in the meantime i built a core 2 duo system and no longer have to worry about bent pins http://gigasmilies.googlepages.com/113.gif

 

[ReefaMadness]

Another similar option to the razor blade is a couple of credit cards...actually with three of them you can move along the width of the cpu pretty quickly.

The advantage to me of using the C/Cs is that you use one as a support and push against it with the second one. Before pulling out the "push" one, you carefully insert the third one in the next open row of pins. Now you can push against the pins from the other side.

Just continue the process until they are all done across then you rotate the cpu one quarter turn and do it again, this time perpendicular to the first pass.

I've worked wonders with those cards.

And I agree, the mechanical pin is an excellent way to handle the situations where there are only a few bent pins or they are folded over too much to slip the card in between.

 

[Gillbot]

Originally posted by: Aflac
My weapon of choice for bent CPU pins would probably be a thin mechanical pencil with a metal tip sheath... I haven't had to deal with bent pins ever, though, but I'd assume it'd be easier than a razor.

+1

Machanical pencil is the easiest way with loads of patience!

 

[WhipperSnapper]

As I think about it, the mechanical pencil idea is a good idea--if you have one where the lead holding part is thin enough to both get the pin in it and to get in between the other two rows of pins. Not sure if I have one that's thin enough at the tip. Someone ought to just make and market a tool for doing this.

 

[Denithor]

Originally posted by: ReefaMadness
Another similar option to the razor blade is a couple of credit cards...actually with three of them you can move along the width of the cpu pretty quickly.

The advantage to me of using the C/Cs is that you use one as a support and push against it with the second one. Before pulling out the "push" one, you carefully insert the third one in the next open row of pins. Now you can push against the pins from the other side.

Just continue the process until they are all done across then you rotate the cpu one quarter turn and do it again, this time perpendicular to the first pass.

I've worked wonders with those cards.

And I agree, the mechanical pin is an excellent way to handle the situations where there are only a few bent pins or they are folded over too much to slip the card in between.

:thumbsup:

More uses for credit cards than you would imagine.

Buying processor on eBay? CC.
Straightening pins on same? CC.
Pulled your locked door shut only to find you didn't pocket your keys in the morning? CC.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

Holy hey! How straight do the pins need to be? I can't seem to straighten them up on this used CPU and in the meantime, the one I pulled out easily falls into the socket, indicating that the one I bought should fall in just as easily once I've got the pins straightened out.

What am I supposed to do? Just keep running credit cards through the rows?

 

[GundamF91]

Yep, I have done that, using credit card, worked great! How straight? Just as straight as necessary to get into the grid. After installation, the pin will self straighten in the proper grid.

Also, Intel isn't immune. I've had to do this with a Pentium4 earlier this year. Worked out great! As long as you have patience, there's no risk of breaking

 

[Zap]

I've had to straight pins a number of times. Mostly just a couple here and there, but twice I've had to rescue severe cases. I'll see if I can dig out the pic I have of the more recent one, an FX-55. The other severe case was also an AMD chip, a 5x86-133. No pics exist. Both CPUs survived.

 

[nonameo]

I would not use a razor blade. Try a credit card(or for those credit haters like me, a debit/check card).

 

[j0j081]

I have an old Athlon 64 I'm trying to fix some bent pins on so I can sell it on ebay but the thing is to my eye they look fairly straight now but the cpu still won't fit in the socket all the way. How perfect do they have to be?

 

[WhipperSnapper]

Originally posted by: j0j081
I have an old Athlon 64 I'm trying to fix some bent pins on so I can sell it on ebay but the thing is to my eye they look fairly straight now but the cpu still won't fit in the socket all the way. How perfect do they have to be?

I have the same problem; I've gotten it to where they look straight--but it still won't drop in and I don't want to force it.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

Success!!!

Here's what I did. I found an old mechanical pencil and used that to gently straighten some of the pins. To identify the bent pins, I cut up some white index cards into small squares and then looked them over row-by-row. Eventually I was able to get the front end to drop into the socket. Then I went across the rows with credit cards. Then I looked for more bent pins. Finally, I was able to get it to drop in after gently nudging it back and forth and trying to start on different edges. Now to add the HSF and see if it worked.

Woot! Added some Arctic Cooling Ceramique, locked down my Arctic Freezer 64 Pro HSF after a struggle (and now with a second fan zip tied to it and blowing are out on the back), and it's working!

Running graphics benchmarks now. Let's see just how much the Opteron 148 single core bottlenecked my new BFG 8800 GT.

 

[j0j081]

Originally posted by: WhipperSnapper
Success!!!

Here's what I did. I found an old mechanical pencil and used that to gently straighten some of the pins. To identify the bent pins, I cut up some white index cards into small squares and then looked them over row-by-row. Eventually I was able to get the front end to drop into the socket. Then I went across the rows with credit cards. Then I looked for more bent pins. Finally, I was able to get it to drop in after gently nudging it back and forth and trying to start on different edges. Now to add the HSF and see if it worked.

Woot! Added some Arctic Cooling Ceramique, locked down my Arctic Freezer 64 Pro HSF after a struggle (and now with a second fan zip tied to it and blowing are out on the back), and it's working!

Running graphics benchmarks now. Let's see just how much the Opteron 148 single core bottlenecked my new BFG 8800 GT.

thanks I'll try that on mine sometime soon.

 

[ReefaMadness]

I have an old Athlon 64 I'm trying to fix some bent pins on so I can sell it on ebay but the thing is to my eye they look fairly straight now but the cpu still won't fit in the socket all the way. How perfect do they have to be?

If the pins have been bent and now straightened and they still won't go into the socket, then check the socket.

I had an Abit S478 mobo that wouldn't accept the cpu after all the pins had been straightened out and an inspection of the socket's pin holes revealed one that had a tiny bit of plastic buggering up the hole...it was not enough to keep a new cpu with perfect pins from seating, but just enough that the repaired one would not slide into the socket.

I took a sharp, pointed instrument and, with the mobo held upside down so that all particles would fall to the floor, I reamed the pin hole just a tad and the cpu dropped right in on my next try.

Check to see that you don't have something similar.