Please help!!!

[inho]

I realise that I might just be the stupidest person alive, but after changing my fan-heatsink I broke three pins from the back of my PIII 800 EB! Don't ask how, it just happened!
Hoping that it would work I put the 3 pins back into their respective holes in the socket and put the processor back on it. Well, it works, as I am writing this now, but for how long? What problems will this cause? Have I totally ruined it or is there a way to restore the pins on the back of the processor? Or perhaps should I leave it like it is now hoping that it will continue to function properly?
Sorry for my stupidity, and my ignorance, but I really need help!!!

[Pinky]

Perhaps not the dumbest! :)

Dumb would be to assume it was broken forever and throw it away.

I wouldn't take the processor out. I wouldn't breathe very hard near it either. You are lucky.

[vimal]

I am thoroughly impressed that it still works (and even more impressed at your idea of putting the pins back in to the socket). I agree with the above post in that as long as it works as is, don't touch it.

Should it stop working, you may want to add a small dab of conductive ink (should be able to pick that stuff up at a local electronics store) to the stubs left on the processor. That little layer may just be enough to reestablish contact with the part of the pin sitting in the socket.

Soldering is not recommended because the small cross-section of the pin will not allow a good structural solder.

[Zuck Gou :)]

And check if you can change multipliers :D

That would be some miracle breaks.

[scorpion12]

Wholly unqualified opinion from me would be to leave it as it is and not touch it until it dies. Way cool though. You now have an experiment to see how long it lasts... :)
Hopefully, you'll get a new processor soon to replace it...

I heard about a person who fixed a bad rotor in their distributor on their car with an eraser and a paperclip and it was working 2 years later.


Scorpion12

[Kingslayer]

If you can extract the pins, pull them out. Get some JBWeld or other metal-like epoxy. Mix the epoxy up a little hotter than the instructions say. Hotter meaning more hardener. Dab the needle into the epoxy until you have a little ball on the end of the pin, and place it back on the processor. The easies way to do this is with those weighted soldering holders with the adjustable locking arms with alligator clips. You can set it there, tighten up the arms and let it set up.

Ensure that you dont get any on surrounding pins. Once it hardens, you will need to trim the excess off so that it will go back in the slot. This is the tricky part. But once you have it, to where it matches the diameter of the other pins you can move on to the next pin.

The only thing that may happen is that the three pins are longer than the rest. Easy to fix with a dremel.

I have done this on a Celeron and it's works like a champ.

But if you don't think this is the thing for you, it is time consuming, and tedious work, one slip and you're going CPU shopping, don't do it, and just leave it in. I just want to give you an option to fixing that thing.

[inho]

Since then my processor appears to be working, could it be that it is making contact with the broken pins ,as I have put them back in the socket, or am I just fooling my self?
I mean, is it possible for a PIII to function without some pins?
I'll check intel's datasheet to see what the pins are named and, hopefully, I will comeback with more info.

[inho]

Here are the numbers// names //signal groups of the pins: I'm not sure which pins exactly were,(as you can guess I didn't take it out to look again) but they were either:

AA5 // Vcc CORE //Power/Other
T6 // D6# // AGTL+I/O
R6 // Vref^3 // Power/Other
or...
AC5 // GND//Power/Other
T6 // D6# // AGTL+I/O
V6 // Vref^5 // Power/Other

Any ideas what these mean and what happens if the pins stop making contact to the CPU?