Bent Socket pins?

Canada computers will open the box in front of you and check for bent pins, you then sign the receipt to confirm you saw the pins were ok.

i would say there is some hope because the pins are bent all over the socket and not just in one spot. i also agree with jamesXP, if the chip was placed correctly in the socket, there is NO WAY for the pins to bend. if that were true clamping it down would bend them.

Spawn-Inc said:

if the chip was placed correctly in the socket, there is NO WAY for the pins to bend. if that were true clamping it down would bend them.

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I'll dispute that. I've seen pins bent by excessive/uneven clamping force (water block install) AFTER the CPU was already installed in the socket.

Mr.Scott said:

I'll dispute that. I've seen pins bent by excessive/uneven clamping force (water block install) AFTER the CPU was already installed in the socket.

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i guess i should have clarified what i said, i meant installing the cpu into the socket will not damage pins if the cpu in placed correctly into it. the clamping force of the clip built into the socket wouldn't bend the pins.

external forces like a tight heatsink or water block i wouldn't have thought would do that, but i won't dispute what your saying.

Shortly after the Ven-X came out, there were reports of "socket crush" from people having the hsf mounted too tightly.

mimart7 said:

Shortly after the Ven-X came out, there were reports of "socket crush" from people having the hsf mounted too tightly.

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Yeah I remember that. I crushed a few back in the day

I wish that I could say that I was completely sure that I didn't cause the damage but I am not so sure that it would have worked anyway with a few of the pins being longer than the rest. I can now tell that indeed the pins are all bent in one direction or another depending on the viewing angle. I spent several hours trying to straighten some of the pins that were out of place. Turns out that the longer pins were the ones that were bent as well as a few others that were of equal to the others. I managed to get most of the pins back in position and reinstalled the CPU and three of the same pins bent again. I also found out that two of the pins were indeed connected by the plating process and managed to pop off the excess plating with a needle. Unfortunately I can only do a couple of pins at a time as my eyes are really bad and need rest after just a few minutes of working on it.

May be they might offer to fix the socket for not to much if and when they say it is my fault. If it isn't to much I will just pay it and move on, if it is I may try and fix it myself or just get another brand.

I also found out that two of the pins were indeed connected by the plating process and managed to pop off the excess plating with a needle.

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I wouldn't have done that. That was your ticket to RMA as that isn't user error.

Mr.Scott said:

I wouldn't have done that. That was your ticket to RMA as that isn't user error.

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Yeah, I realized that after I did it. Sometimes I do really foolish things that I shouldn't. I guess it is all on me now but I can see that there is no good explanation for the bent pins in the first place and I can't for the life of me figure out what could have caused it. I did mount my H100I in the system but found that it might have burnt up the CPU had it booted as the mounting system supplied by Corsair was loose enough that it would not have seated properly and would certainly not be tight enough to bend any pins. All of this makes me wonder if anyone makes a shim for the socket that would go between the CPU and heatsink so that proper contact could be made without any risk of bending the pins, might be worth it for peace of mind.

I understand why you did it. I'm a fix-it kinda guy myself. It would drive me insane if I didn't at least try.

Mr.Scott said:

I understand why you did it. I'm a fix-it kinda guy myself. It would drive me insane if I didn't at least try.

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Oh I have a bad case of OCD, can't stand anything that needs fixing to go without my attention. I have actually made it much worse but it may also be my saving grace. I corrected all of the pins on one side and most of the others and separated the two that were plated together. I thought I should check that they would seat correctly and put the CPU back in and tightened, mistake. Several of the pins broke off, some I didn't even mess with in addition to the one's already missing. I guess I am just at the mercy of Gigabyte and hope that they can replace the socket at a reasonable price but I am not holing my breath. Guess I will see Monday.

Gigabyte is one of the very few that will fix/attempt to fix a board that is out of warranty or has user damage that they will charge you a repair fee.

Unsure if they can replace the complete socket tho as that's some serious desoldering. Hopefully they can replace the board with a refurbished for a very low fee.

Keeping my fingers crossed for ya

shadowdr said:

I guess I am just at the mercy of Gigabyte and hope that they can replace the socket at a reasonable price but I am not holing my breath. Guess I will see Monday.

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I have heard stories of others sending boards back to Gigabyte for socket replacements after damaging the sockets themselves, or receiving boards that way from retailers.

I've heard claims of socket replacement costs varying anywhere from $35-60 USD, depending upon which socket it is and/or how difficult it is to replace.

I am myself in a similar predicament. I have a board here that had its socket damaged when the previous owner was removing the original CPU in the system to replace it with a newer, faster model and accidentally dropped the CPU, bending 10-15 pins in the process (and completely breaking off three or four of them).

I'd suggest you call them on the telephone to see if socket replacement is a possibility. It would probably be easier to explain the situation over the phone than it would be to request a ticket and explain everything via their ticketing system.

Thanks guys. Thirty to 65 dollars seems very reasonable to me actually, much better than another 189.00 plus shipping. I can't figure out what I could have done to bend then that way unless something was under the plastic cover and I just missed it. There were some broken plastic pieces in the tower after I uninstalled the mobo but I seriously didn't give them a thought at all. The socket design is pretty crappy, not something I would expect from the number one processor company in the world. AMD has this beat all to heck and back, I guess it just saves Intel money not having to add the pins to the chip. The real biter here is that it will probably be weeks before I can get the new rig up and running.

Generally two weeks total turn around from Gigabyte. I've done a half a dozen boards or so.

Mr.Scott said:

Generally two weeks total turn around from Gigabyte. I've done a half a dozen boards or so.

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Cool, have you ever had to have a socket repaired or replaced?

shadowdr said:

. . . The socket design is pretty crappy, not something I would expect from the number one processor company in the world. AMD has this beat all to heck and back, I guess it just saves Intel money not having to add the pins to the chip . . .

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Yes, but the downside of the AMD design is that you can bend the pins on the CPU. Another downside of the AMD design is that it's easy to traumatically pull the CPU from the socket if the TIM won't let go. There are pros and cons to both.

trents said:

Yes, but the downside of the AMD design is that you can bend the pins on the CPU. Another downside of the AMD design is that it's easy to traumatically pull the CPU from the socket if the TIM won't let go. There are pros and cons to both.

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As far as bending the CPU pins, yes it can be done but it must be out of the system before they as susceptible to damage, even then they are much, much stronger than the socket pins and can be straightened pretty easily. The hard wires bend with very little force and you can easily see if they are straight, also if it fits back in the socket, it's good.

I have had a few that the CPU came out with the heatsink but only if the original tim is used which would never happen on a system I built. Even then straightening the pins was pretty easy even if half of them are bent.

With the pins in a socket, they can be bent by the weight of the heatsink or water block. This is the only explanation for the pins on mine being bent. Straightening the socket pins is near impossible if they change direction when bent as they tangle with the other pins and are extremely fragile. They can be broken very easily, are extremely inaccessible and near impossible to see has they actually lean over another one and are oddly shaped, this I now know for a fact. Pro's and con's I guess, but a socket is easy to damage, a CPU not so much.

shadowdr said:

Cool, have you ever had to have a socket repaired or replaced?

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Negative.
Out of the six boards that I RMA'ed 4 were replaced with refurbs, and two were actually repaired. 1 was mosfet replacement, the other both bios chips were replaced. Never had any socket damage.

I'm still stuck on leaving the cover in place when installing the CPU. I always buy Asus. I must admit I don't look at the manuals for that, but looking at one now for a Z97 board, it does show to install the CPU and then remove the cover. What morons.

Update
Well after sending the the RMA request, sending the board with a note. Filling out the form with the problem and asking them to please fix it, I get an email today saying;

We have recently received your RMA for service, however our repair technicians noticed severe damage to the CPU socket. To replace the CPU socket there will be a $45.00 repair charge. If you would like us to proceed with the replacement please fill out the attached form and either email or fax it back to us. Any questions please feel free to contact us.

This picture of the socket came with it, as you can see it looks as if they tried to put in another CPU. There is more obvious damage then before I sent it but I have no doubt that it is the same socket. My conclusion is that the socket retention bracket was just to tight. Now I don't really care about the money, in fact I offered to pay, on the note, in the form and by phone to customer service, twice. Still after 2 day air and five days after delivery I get the Email above. So, it is going to be at least a week shipping before I get it plus repair time and a little wait time in between.

My feeling is that I should have bought an Asus top end mobo instead, saved some cash and still had it three weeks earlier.
Edit. Guess I should add one of the before pic's, it's on the right.