Can damaged motherboard damage other parts?

[MrNova]

So I had just opened up my new Gigabyte P35-DS3R from newegg and my heart sunk, the northbridge heatsink was detached from the board and freely floating in the packaging. The cheap plastic push pins had snapped.

It's going to cost me $10 and up to 10 days to get an RMA, and I'm short on time. I couldn't find a place that sells just the push pins, so I picked up a replacement heatsink at a local microcenter store. I'm concerned that if the heatsink was loose during shipping it may have damaged the motherboard.

If its broken I'll have to RMA no matter what, but is it possible that a damaged motherboard could damage another component, such as a CPU. I don't see any major visible damage like a broken capacitor, but who knows if some printed circuit got nicked. What do you guys think, am I reasonably safe in trying to boot it, or should I not risk breaking something else?

 

[cmdrdredd]

Originally posted by: MrNova
So I had just opened up my new Gigabyte P35-DS3R from newegg and my heart sunk, the northbridge heatsink was detached from the board and freely floating in the packaging. The cheap plastic push pins had snapped.

It's going to cost me $10 and up to 10 days to get an RMA, and I'm short on time. I couldn't find a place that sells just the push pins, so I picked up a replacement heatsink at a local microcenter store. I'm concerned that if the heatsink was loose during shipping it may have damaged the motherboard.

If its broken I'll have to RMA no matter what, but is it possible that a damaged motherboard could damage another component, such as a CPU. I don't see any major visible damage like a broken capacitor, but who knows if some printed circuit got nicked. What do you guys think, am I reasonably safe in trying to boot it, or should I not risk breaking something else?

I'd just send it back without trying it. No reason to accept it in that condition.

 

[MrNova]

I know it's sub par, but again I'm in a time crunch and would really like to avoid the delay of RMAing. If I can avoid sending it I will, but not if there's a substantial risk to other components.

 

[Cutthroat]

I'd be afraid that the heatsink may have scratched against the board and broken a trace or something. And yes it is possible to damage other components if it is bad, fire is an unlikely possibility.

I try to buy motherboards in person to avoid shipping damage, and if they are DOA (I've had many) they are easier to return in person.