Damaged/bended pins on CPU

I bended some of the small metal pins on my fx8350 when I removed the heat sink. It drew up the cpu without giving me a chance to loosen the cpu. I tried to straighten them back out with a small screwdriver. Did I destroy it or what should I do?? Installing a new motherboard because the old one was defect.

Only thing you can do is straighten them and then install it.

I've bent back pins on AMD and old Intel CPUs with success on all accounts.

Try using something longer and thinner than a screwdriver so it can run the length of the chip. That will allow you to make sure you are aligning the pins to one another. Just be careful. The pins are pretty delicate and you don't want to crank them back and forth repeatedly (they'll eventually snap off).

It'll be fine just takes some patience to get them all straight again. I've done it a few times and have found a razor blade or utility knife blade works the best.

Thanks!!! I'll do my best and hope it all goes good you gave me a little hope!

Use a credit card, works perfect for that task.

I use a good set of tweezers so that you can straighten exactly where its bent. Be sure to be very patient when setting it back in the socket. Never force it for obvious reasons.

You may have luck sliding a mechanical pencil over the bent pin, i've used both that and tweezers before.

Blaylock said:

I use a good set of tweezers so that you can straighten exactly where its bent. Be sure to be very patient when setting it back in the socket. Never force it for obvious reasons.

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Good advice. Sometimes you end up with one or two pins you missed and you can usually tell what side of the cpu won't go in. This way you can narrow down where to look. A few years ago I could do this with no magnification. Today at nearly 54 I can't make the individual pins out without s good pair of readers on.

LOL. I'm not too far behind you C_J

Hope the font size helps. tehe.

chrisjames61 said:

Good advice. Sometimes you end up with one or two pins you missed and you can usually tell what side of the cpu won't go in. This way you can narrow down where to look. A few years ago I could do this with no magnification. Today at nearly 54 I can't make the individual pins out without s good pair of readers on.

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It is the "missed" pin that is a pain. Looking down directly on the pins is often misleading. I have taken to sighting down the rows of pins from various sides of the cpu to see if they all line-up like good soldiers. This has saved me a lot of heartache. I agree a credit can be of great help. A solid but thin one will often make quick work of a row or two that are tilted over from whatever bent them.
RGone...ster.

One more vote for the credit card method.

Lvcoyote said:

Use a credit card, works perfect for that task.

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I concur! That's my preferred method. Works like a charm

Hold it under a bright light and tilt and turn it to make sure you have gotten all the bent pins or haven't created other ones in your effort to straighten the ones you started with. If they are a tiny bit off sometimes you can still get it to seat in the socket with gentle pressure. Then when you throw the lock lever it will finish the straightening. The thing you want not to do is to force the chip onto the socket and fold bent pins completely over to the socket base.

Blaylock said:

LOL. I'm not too far behind you C_J

Hope the font size helps. tehe.

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I got you beat. I wear hearing aids. At 53 I have the hearing of an 85 year old man. It really sucks.

look through the pins from the side with a white piece of paper for a background, if you use a business card, shine a flashlight through the forest of pins to make a shadow on the card, bent pins will show up pretty well.

On an encouraging note , my first Phenom was damaged in similar fashion , except I didn't notice until it wouldn't overclock at all and got too hot. When I pulled it out to check it two of the pins were discolored from heat. I straightened them out and it worked like nothing happened. That CPU did all right , too. http://www.overclockers.com/forums/...-Overclockers-community?p=7232011#post7232011

trents said:

Hold it under a bright light and tilt and turn it to make sure you have gotten all the bent pins or haven't created other ones in your effort to straighten the ones you started with. If they are a tiny bit off sometimes you can still get it to seat in the socket with gentle pressure. Then when you throw the lock lever it will finish the straightening. The thing you want not to do is to force the chip onto the socket and fold bent pins completely over to the socket base.

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I can add that if you view it from different angles while having a light in the background, you'll often see a bent pin appear shiny (Reflecting the light) while the others do not at a given angle or view - That's an indicator of a particular pin being bent. Also know while setting it into the socket and locking it in will straighten the pins, it only does that to an extent, sometimes a CPU will simply be a touch stubborn to get in after pin(s) have been bent period. As mentioned, NEVER force one into the socket use only a light amount of pressure. If it's not wanting to go, take the CPU and repeat the process of finding bent pins and always be sure you have it oriented correctly to the socket as in the gold arrow on the CPU lines up with the board's socket arrow - I've been guilty of thinking it was right but it wasn't before.

I use a miniature flathead screwdriver for this most of the time, esp if a pin is really close to or even touching another pin. I use it to get them separated then work the pin as needed.
The method of looking straight down the rows is good and I look at them in straight and diagonal views since a pin can bend in any direction it wants. Another thing is sometimes even after a pin has been straightened, it will still appear bent due to a curvature or sway it might have due to it bending and you can't get rid of it but that's no problem - The trick in that case is to get the tip of the pin where it should be, then install the CPU and the socket will help take some of the sway or curvature out. The biggest thing in any case is to get the tip of the pin where it should be so when you apply pressure, the pin will begin going into it's hole. Just bend the pin(s) slowly and deliberately, taking time to let the pin bend and not break due to trying to bend it too fast, just carefully "Work it" and you'll do OK.

I've actually fixed pins bent flat over and they work OK, that was the case with my FX 8320 when I got it brandnew out of the box!
Got the pin's tip where it needed to be and it went in no prob but it's been a "little" stubborn to install since.