Broken CPU Socket Pin On Motherboard

Uppercut

Uppercut

Weaksauce
Joined
Feb 26, 2009
Messages
76
I accidently broke a CPU socket pin on my brand new LGA1156 motherboard when a glove got snagged on the pin. It's a pretty long story but I don't think an RMA would fly on this thing, so i'm not going to waste my time there. Tough pill to swallow, i know, but i did break the pin afterall.

Anyway, i've already purchased a new mobo and I have a few days wait ahead of me. Is there a way to salvage this broken mobo in some way while i'm waiting? I've thought about doing it myself but i don't think i have the proper tools or the steady hand neccessary to make it happen. Are there any specialists out there who can fix this? I've tried calling a few computer repair shops but i've only encountered boot disc specialists who seem more interested in performing magic tricks for computer illiterate Windows users than dealing with my hardware issues so far.

Advice?
 
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The only person I can think who MIGHT be able to fix it is a jeweller and/or watch repair person. What pin it is? There might be a small chance the board will still work if you got lucky on which pin... I doubt you'll be able to find an LGA1156 pinout but if you want to risk a CPU, try it out...
 
If worst comes to worst, I would just salvage it on ebay and let somebody part it out. I have a E759 that had it's 24 pin cut off but luckily a good solderer was able to repair it :)
 
Check with the manufacturer, many times there is a fixed fee for "out of warranty" repairs. The info is hard to find sometimes. Ask the manuf. it is not that big of a deal for a repair depot that specialized in motherboards to desolder and replace the socket. Actually knowing exactly what is wrong and what needs to be fixed makes it cake compared to some of the crap they have to deal with. If they will fix it for a decent fee, put stickers all over the board saying, "just replace damaged socket" etc.

For sure worth an email or phone call. It used to be like $50 + shipping for one manuf but that was a while ago.
 
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Here's a picture of the socket area:
ml2xpl.jpg


I managed to locate the broken pin in the general vicinity of the socket area and gently pried it out with some scotch tape but i'm a bit apprehensive about doing any further tests on the board. Frying my brand new cpu along with a $200 motherboard in the same week would give me fits of rage.
 
BillParrish said:
Check with the manufacturer, many times there is a fixed fee for "out of warranty" repairs. The info is hard to find sometimes. Ask the manuf. it is not that big of a deal for a repair depot that specialized in motherboards to desolder and replace the socket. Actually knowing exactly what is wrong and what needs to be fixed makes it cake compared to some of the crap they have to deal with. If they will fix it for a decent fee, put stickers all over the board saying, "just replace damaged socket" etc.

For sure worth an email or phone call. It used to be like $50 + shipping for one manuf but that was a while ago.
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I was reading over Gigabyte's return/warranty policy earlier to see what's covered and bent or broken socket pins, whether user inflicted or not, wasn't one of them. :/

I would gladly pay someone $50 just to fix it though. So i'll give your advice a try and see if Gigabyte would be willing to do this for me. Thanks for the help :)
 
Just RMA it, they will email or call saying theres a busted pin, and they want $30-50 to fix it. Say sure, let them test and/or replace it, done deal.

Just don't RMA it with the issue being a broken pin. Just say it wont post.
 
Uppercut said:
Here's a picture of the socket area:

I managed to locate the broken pin in the general vicinity of the socket area and gently pried it out with some scotch tape but i'm a bit apprehensive about doing any further tests on the board. Frying my brand new cpu along with a $200 motherboard in the same week would give me fits of rage.
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So you got the broken pin out of the way...

It will be safe to try your CPU in it. MANY of those pins are redundant ground and power lines in order to supply the necessary current carrying capacity. Missing one isn't likely to impact performance the way Intel typically over engineers their products. If it's a signal line pin, then some data bus will have corrupt information, and your CPU will not likely boot, some sort of boot error will occur.

You will not damage your CPU. But you have some x% chance that the board with your CPU will still work just fine.
 
Mif said:
Just RMA it, they will email or call saying theres a busted pin, and they want $30-50 to fix it. Say sure, let them test and/or replace it, done deal.

Just don't RMA it with the issue being a broken pin. Just say it wont post.
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This would be a lie, and because people do this all the time it drives the price up for the rest of us. At least the thread starter is attempting to be honest about it...
 
Menelmarar said:
So you got the broken pin out of the way...

It will be safe to try your CPU in it. MANY of those pins are redundant ground and power lines in order to supply the necessary current carrying capacity. Missing one isn't likely to impact performance the way Intel typically over engineers their products. If it's a signal line pin, then some data bus will have corrupt information, and your CPU will not likely boot, some sort of boot error will occur.

You will not damage your CPU. But you have some x% chance that the board with your CPU will still work just fine.
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Seriously, this is fact.

I had a Celeron D 2.53GHz CPU that was given to me some years back, that had a bunch of damaged pins. I wasn't able to rebend most of them, but I popped it in and it worked. Worked for 2 years straight as a second PC/file server before I sold it locally in a PC on Craigslist, after stress testing the f*** out of it. Never heard a complaint from the buyer, so I'm assuming it's still going for them.
 
4x4not said:
This would be a lie, and because people do this all the time it drives the price up for the rest of us. At least the thread starter is attempting to be honest about it...
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But that would likely be the outcome if the op try's to power the board up with the cpu installed it may work fine or not at all but it depends what that pin is for. From what I see the fault lies with the socket loose pin that fell out. A snagged glove shouldn't be able to pull a pin out if it was in good all that would have happened is slight bending.
 
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[H]ardOCP is not interested in rationalizations of actions. The OP is doing the right thing. Anything else is bullshit and up to the conscience of the individual. Discussion over. Keep this thread clear of soapbox like arguments. Join General Mayhem / soapbox which is the proper place for it.

Thread is being kept open so that OP can report back his luck in getting the board fixed or people have additional technical comments.
 
I don't know if this applies to other manufacturers but at least Asus used to do this kind of a repair for around $50 or so. All I needed to do with them was fill out a RMA request for broken pin on the motherboard and that I would be willing to pay them to have it fixed and they set me up with the proper process for doing so. Might be worth a shot at the very minimum and since you would be paying them to do it (especially if you are upfront with it) I see no ethical issues with it.

Best of luck.
 
intel used to have extensive documentation available including pin diagrams for the cpu. you can try looking for something like that. as said, chances are it is only an extra ground or power supply pin, and it missing won't make a difference.
 
4x4not said:
This would be a lie, and because people do this all the time it drives the price up for the rest of us. At least the thread starter is attempting to be honest about it...
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I disagree. A similar issue happened with my roommate, except the pin was somehow damaged in shipping. They promptly called, said it would be $30. He agreed, and the new board was on its way in no time.

This is a common situation. I don't see how this drives prices up in any fashion. Board rework including CPU socket replacement is quite commonplace...

He would be paying for the repair, so I don't see how it is a big issue.

Anyways, let us know how it works out. Is it a Gigabyte? If so they should offer the repair, as they did to my roommate.
 
Uppercut said:
I was reading over Gigabyte's return/warranty policy earlier to see what's covered and bent or broken socket pins, whether user inflicted or not, wasn't one of them. :/

I would gladly pay someone $50 just to fix it though. So i'll give your advice a try and see if Gigabyte would be willing to do this for me. Thanks for the help :)
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Hi..I know posting is outdated but if by chance you are still looking for a data sheet on the 1156 socket

Look at Intel's Processor Design Datasheet for an LGA1156 processor. It shows the Socket Pinmap in Chapter 8 Processor Land and Signal Information starting on Page 75.
Heres the Link.

http://download.intel.com/design/processor/datashts/322164.pdf
 
Anyone know were to find the pin-out for LGA1156 i Cant seem to find it o_O ?
bp_fid_wire.jpg

Who knows maybe your broken pin gives you mobo more overclocking juice.
 
Are you kidding? The guy above you just linked to the data sheet that has the socket pin out. In the ops case the missing pin was a redundant power pin.
 
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