Installation Shenanigans

I received my New Socket 939 MOBO and AMD64 CPU and Like a kid at Christmas I got to unwrapping the parcels and straight to work on installing them.
Having never worked on a socket 939 before I was unfamiliar w/ the Fan/HS that came w/ the CPU. It looked like a throwback to the old Volcano 2.
I shrugged at the ugly L'ill HS and got to work practicing how to install it on the MOBO w/ out the CPU in place. Seemed easy enuff'.
A lot easier to install than the ol' Socket A HS's...no more slipping screw drivers and hail Mary's as you boot up.
Anyways...I put the CPU in place and took another look at the HS...Thermal PAD.
Deep inside I knew I should scrape that off...but my child like enthusiasm won over the rational mind as I locked the HS in place.
W/ the CPU in the socket now, the HS did not seem to latch on as smooth.
I shuddered as I put the latch in place w/ what seemed like too much force. Afraid of crushing the core like barton or Tbird, I unlatched it and pulled the HS off to make sure all was well....guess what? the CPU came off too!! Stuck to the bottom of the HS. Arrrrrggghhh. The CPU looked fine. (keep in mind that I am impulsive, not methodical) So I latched the CPU back in and put the HS on...it seemed to fit easier this time.
On to installing the MOBO and booting her up.
hmmmm...no post. I wonder about that CPU...did I damage it when the HS pulled it off?
I take the HS off off for a 2nd time and guess what ? The CPU comes off too...forced right out of the Socket. Arrrggghhh. I look at it and can see the bent pins, about 4 of them.
At this point I figure the CPU is done for. Not wanting to give up so easilly I take a Credit card and run it thru the pins. This straightens them out.
I then scrape off the damned thermal pad and put AS3 on the CPU like I should've the first time.
I replace the CPU and HS, boot her up,
and say a few Hail Mary's, even though I am not Catholic.
Voila, she POSTS it was like a Miracle.

Now that I have embarassed myself, I hang my head and offically hand over my Overclockers membership card .
-Puer

ugh.... I've had too many bent pins on my a64 3000+ that i've come to the point where i'm afraid to take it out of the socket. i've ben tthem accidently trying to apply a perfect coating of thermal grease on several occasions. Once I dropped the damn thing and it bent the pins so bad I thought they were going to snap off. One thing you really have to be careful with on socket 939 and 754 is pulling the cpu out with the heatsink while the latch is down. If some of those pins are weak from being bent it could break the weak ones off.

hehe, big A'men! I did the same exact thing but with my P4. I did completly ruin my 2.4 GHZ but thank god I was installing a 3.06 at the time. I learned a valuable lesson though. ANd now I am extra by the book carefull.

lol i guess thats just as bad as my situation i had last night... i still havent gotten to the point of reloading everything cuz ive been busy with school (well sorta... ) glad to hear everythings working though! gives me hope !! and good thing u didnt get thermal paste all over ur pins, that's a ***** to get off lol.

I did, I got everything on everything I ditched the 2.4 and put in a 3.06. I ended up mastering what skills I could and build an enire new sys. Now I practically wear sergical gloves :0 Would not want to waist tah resselable 660chip

I spread As5 over the whole top of the cpu, not just the center, this is a little trick to getting the HSF off easily. I've built about 10 pcs with these amds like that..thank god i never had a pin bend or anything crack!

Allways a scary undertaking, especially when you are on a budget!

My last upgrade made me nervous that way. I sold my old stuff to upgrade and with a new baby boy and one less on income (wife staying at home) screwing up was not an option.

I felt more comfortable holding my son minutes after birth than the 4000+.