I REALLY screwed up just now. Do I need to replace my motherboard?

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zamardii12

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So, I am returning my Gigabyte 1080ti today and I was really struggling to get it out of my case because the thing is massive. Long story short, the plastic housing that protects the contacts of the PCI Express slot came along with the card. See the pictures below. Is this a problem? I have 3 other PCI Express slots I can use since it's a MSI X99A SLI Plus motherboard that's built for Quad-SLI... the only thing I don't know is if it's dangerous to use the motherboard like in the pictures below? The amount of electricity that goes through those pins usually to the card... could it short the board out? Could it fuck up the new video card once I put it in? Would it just be safe to replace the motherboard? I don't know what to do!

snPbDc1.jpg


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Make sure none of the pins are touching, not that much power goes through the slot, there are lots of other items on the mobo that see power to them that are not covered at all, like fan headers. You did not release the card from the slot and you were pulling WAY to hard, lesson learned. Like I said, make sure the pins are not touching anywhere and it will probably be fine, put the card in another slot. From the looks of it lots of pins are bent etc, so the slot is gone, the others should work just fine so long as no damage to the board it self.
 
It's one of those cases of "Up to your own judgement".

There's no reason the pins as they are in that photo, should cause any problems if you're using another slot.

That said, there's also no reason something else couldn't short in them, or they could move over time and short, with unpredictable results.

Personally, I think I'd buy a stopgap motherboard and accelerate my progress towards the next platform upgrade.
 
BlueFireIce said:
Make sure none of the pins are touching, not that much power goes through the slot, there are lots of other items on the mobo that see power to them that are not covered at all, like fan headers. You did not release the card from the slot and you were pulling WAY to hard, lesson learned. Like I said, make sure the pins are not touching anywhere and it will probably be fine, put the card in another slot. From the looks of it lots of pins are bent etc, so the slot is gone, the others should work just fine so long as no damage to the board it self.
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That stupid latch that keeps the videocard in there just wouldn't release. I was sooooo pissed when it happened. So as long as none of the pins touch each other or anything then it should be fine? I am really worried about those pins being exposed like that.
 
zamardii12 said:
That stupid latch that keeps the videocard in there just wouldn't release. I was sooooo pissed when it happened. So as long as none of the pins touch each other or anything then it should be fine? I am really worried about those pins being exposed like that.
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You don't need to pull on the card while releasing the latch. The latch is designed to be released, THEN the card removed. Not both at once. If the latch won't move, solve that problem before attempting to move on.
 
Since the slot is gone, I'd clip the pins off with a small set of dykes and then black-tape the slot area so that nothing could come in contact.

Then I'd look at avenues to upgrade the system. You just lost your x16 PCI-E slot, but the other slots are all x16's from what I was seeing in the manual for the MB. You "should" be ok but a replacement of the board might not be out of the question..
 
Space_Ranger said:
Since the slot is gone, I'd clip the pins off with a small set of dykes and then black-tape the slot area so that nothing could come in contact.

Then I'd look at avenues to upgrade the system. You just lost your x16 PCI-E slot, but the other slots are all x16's from what I was seeing in the manual for the MB. You "should" be ok but a replacement of the board might not be out of the question..
Click to expand...

Yeah first I am going to try to straighten all the pins up and put the plastic housing back and if that doesn't work i'll snip them and put a strip of electrical tape over the slot. Also, there are 4 PCI Express x16 slots with the first one being taken up by fans for which the manual says is the best slot for single card solutions. I think I should be okay as long as the broken slot is taken care of. Really hoping not to have to repurchase the motherboard and re-do everything.
 
zamardii12 said:
That stupid latch that keeps the videocard in there just wouldn't release. I was sooooo pissed when it happened. So as long as none of the pins touch each other or anything then it should be fine? I am really worried about those pins being exposed like that.
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Always release the latch, if it is stuck, you might need to push the card back in, if you tried any pulling force before, it can catch on the clip causing it to be very heard to press, if it can be at all. Yes, the pins are exposed already inside, so long as they are spaced from each other or clipped off as someone else said, they will be fine, I don't see any damage/scratching etc to the mobo, so assuming just the slot and pins and nothing is shorted, you lost the slot, but thats about it.
 
Ouch bro. I feel bad for you. If it were me, I'd replace it. It would just bug the hell out of me.
 
Terry1212 said:
Ouch bro. I feel bad for you. If it were me, I'd replace it. It would just bug the hell out of me.
Click to expand...

I know what you mean. I almost pulled the trigger on a replacement. I really want to see if I can fix it/mend it first. Luckily nothing on the motherboard is damaged; it's just the plastic pin housing that slid off.
 
zamardii12 said:
I know what you mean. I almost pulled the trigger on a replacement. I really want to see if I can fix it/mend it first. Luckily nothing on the motherboard is damaged; it's just the plastic pin housing that slid off.
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There's no fixing that without a massive amount of very, very hard work.

You can probably clip all the pins off, make sure there's no shorts/grounds anywhere along the length of the damaged area, and just use another slot. Unless the massive force you applied also cracked internal traces inside the PCB layers.
 
Bandalo said:
There's no fixing that without a massive amount of very, very hard work.

You can probably clip all the pins off, make sure there's no shorts/grounds anywhere along the length of the damaged area, and just use another slot. Unless the massive force you applied also cracked internal traces inside the PCB layers.
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That's not possible. I didn't push into the motherboard. I was pulling the card out and the thing literally just slid off the pins.
 
zamardii12 said:
That's not possible. I didn't push into the motherboard. I was pulling the card out and the thing literally just slid off the pins.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't say it's "not possible". It does take some force to pull those things off. You might say it's not likely there wasn't any trace damage, but it's not impossible. The only way to find out it to test it though.

Before you do anything though, have you checked your warranty status with MSI?
 
Bandalo said:
There's no fixing that without a massive amount of very, very hard work.

You can probably clip all the pins off, make sure there's no shorts/grounds anywhere along the length of the damaged area, and just use another slot. Unless the massive force you applied also cracked internal traces inside the PCB layers.
Click to expand...
Terry1212 said:
Ouch bro. I feel bad for you. If it were me, I'd replace it. It would just bug the hell out of me.
Click to expand...
Space_Ranger said:
Since the slot is gone, I'd clip the pins off with a small set of dykes and then black-tape the slot area so that nothing could come in contact.

Then I'd look at avenues to upgrade the system. You just lost your x16 PCI-E slot, but the other slots are all x16's from what I was seeing in the manual for the MB. You "should" be ok but a replacement of the board might not be out of the question..
Click to expand...
GlacierNine said:
You don't need to pull on the card while releasing the latch. The latch is designed to be released, THEN the card removed. Not both at once. If the latch won't move, solve that problem before attempting to move on.
Click to expand...

So I went ahead and just ordered a replacement. I ordered the MSI Extreme Gaming Intel X99 LGA 2011. It should fit all the same. It's different I think only in looks compared to the X99A SLI Plus but it should do.

RELPq8f.jpg


https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00UN7AX5...ails?_encoding=UTF8&me=&qid=1493737005&sr=8-1
 
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Bandalo said:
I wouldn't say it's "not possible". It does take some force to pull those things off. You might say it's not likely there wasn't any trace damage, but it's not impossible. The only way to find out it to test it though.

Before you do anything though, have you checked your warranty status with MSI?
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I checked their warranty rules and it says "In accordance with original manufacturer's products serial number/barcode, it is warranted for 24 months repair service from its manufacture or purchase date after registering online."

I never registered the motherboard after buying it though. I wonder if that really matters?
 
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zamardii12 said:
I checked their warranty rules and it says "In accordance with original manufacturer's products serial number/barcode, it is warranted for 24 months repair service from its manufacture or purchase date after registering online."

I never registered the motherboard after buying it though. I wonder if that really matters?
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I'd call them or e-mail them with your purchase receipt or invoice. See if they'll replace it before you start snipping pins. If they do, great. If not, you haven't lost anything and you can start snipping pins.
 
That's brutal.... but not really a big deal. MSI is going to laugh at you if you ask to warranty that.

As others have said, clip the pins close to the board carefully without pulling up and damaging the traces further, cover the area with liquid electrical tape or similar liquid insulator to prevent cross talk on the bus and just use another slot.
 
Man, the palm of your hand should be firmly embedded within your skull right now.

MSI does not require pre-registration. For defective products, they will honor the warranty without prior registration.

For your particular situation, they may honor it or they may not. I have had really positive experiences with MSI warranties. They've replaced a video card with burn damage for me.

Physical damage like yanking the slot out however, may not be covered.

On the other hand, dumb user abuse like this causes increased cost of business which is ultimately handed down to the rest of us.
So, my other mindset is: Don't make us pay for your mistake.
 
zamardii12 said:
So I went ahead and just ordered a replacement. I ordered the MSI Extreme Gaming Intel X99 LGA 2011. It should fit all the same. It's different I think only in looks compared to the X99A SLI Plus but it should do.

RELPq8f.jpg


https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00UN7AX5...ails?_encoding=UTF8&me=&qid=1493737005&sr=8-1
Click to expand...

I think you made the right choice man. Just be more patient next time. Last night I had to take my new build apart to RMA my motherboard(which I have a thread about), and it took me a good 30 minutes to figure out how to remove the stock cooler on my Ryzen 5 1600. I know from previous experience what it's like to pull an AMD CPU out of its socket and bend a good 20 or so pins on a $200+ CPU. Almost feels like getting your arm chopped off when these things happen. Luckily I was able to bend all the pins straight enough that the CPU still worked. The best thing to do is to just forgive yourself and it won't bother you so much in a few months.
 
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Terry1212 said:
I think you made the right choice man. Just be more patient next time. Last night I had to take my new build apart to RMA my motherboard(which I have a thread about), and it took me a good 30 minutes to figure out how to remove the stock cooler on my Ryzen 5 1600. I know from previous experience what it's like to pull an AMD CPU out of its socket and bend a good 20 or so pins on a $200+ CPU. Almost feels like getting your arm chopped off when these things happen. Luckily I was able to bend all the pins straight enough that the CPU still worked. The best thing to do is to just forgive yourself and it won't bother you so much in a few months.
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Thanks. This has never happened to me before and as soon as I heard the crunching sound of the plastic coming up off the motherboard I thought my head was going to explode I was so angry. That plastic clip was being so damn stubborn. I will definitely be more careful next time.
 
Last edited:
Just fit the plastic housing back in place. It looks like it came away cleanly, so can be put back cleanly.
 
Quartz-1 said:
Just fit the plastic housing back in place. It looks like it came away cleanly, so can be put back cleanly.
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Came away cleanly? you are joking right? the pins are all bent out of shape... that is mangled...
 
So what's the verdict?
Does the board still work?
Did you RMA?

Inquiring minds want to know ;)
 
Honestly the damage isn't that bad, I could repair that board in a few hours on my workbench. I've had to replace burned RAM, PCI and ISA slots before and it's far easier to do when the plastic connector is removed first so you have easy access to the pins. I usually break the connector into pieces before removing it because heating up all several hundred pins to walk it out at once isn't possible without causing heat damage to the PCB.

I don't recommend cutting the pins if you plan on trying to get it fixed, it makes it much harder to remove them.
 
The simplest repair is just soldering a new slot in. If you have access to hot air soldering (or if you're extremely patient with a soldering iron) you could fix it. The manufacturer could easily fix it too, but chances are they will charge you for it since it's not a defect.

That is, unless you pulled so hard that something inside the PCB cracked and shorted. I have had happen due to overly heavy northbridge heatsink while transporting a systen - had a voltage regulator go pop as a result - Gigabyte replaced the board no questions asked upon hearing the word "exploded". If the PCB is damaged internally, you need a new mobo.
 
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