Effect of bent socket pins on functionality and stability.

viivo

viivo

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Basically, if a few pins are bent badly enough to cause problems, would the PC even boot and function?

My MSI Z370 board has 3 pins that are noticeably bent relative to the ones surrounding them. Is it worth trying to straighten them if the system is mostly running normally? Is it possible they could cause small anomalies that are easy to overlook, or would the effects be obvious?
 
If it's currently working, I wouldn't mess with them. They are nearly impossible to fix and you will probably just make it worse if you try to mess with it.
 
Can be anything from ground to power to data pins. Could be data pins connected to a ram slot you aren't using, or a redundant ground. Both of which will likely have no effect. However depending on which pins they are, if they are data/communication pins they could potentially be used for something you use sparingly and cause intermittent instability. Time will tell.
 
1151 socket has 1151 pins and each one has a different function. Like mnewxcv said, it could affect the operation lightly or not at all. Some are redundant. Try running some benchmarks and see if there's any instability. If not you can probably ignore it safely.
 
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If the pins are just 'Skewed' you can easily and safely re-align them with any number of thin sharp tools. I use a sewing needle with the eye end pressed into a piece of cork for a handle. If the pins are literally bent over or twisted out of shape they can also be 'Straightened' enough to be serviceable. Post a pic if it's convenient for you.
 
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You can also test all the memory slots and PCIE slots, etc. I had a board the other day the 1st x16 slot did not work, I had to fix some pins and now it works again.
 
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I had an EVGA X58 board + i7 920 years ago that I got cheap with the caveat that some of the memory slots didn't work. I checked and there were a couple bent pins in the socket; I tried bending them back and to my utter horror managed to snap one of them clean off. But other than only 2 of the memory channels working, everything worked fine and I never had any issues unless I tried populating the affected memory slots. (I did confirm via pinout charts what the affected pins were for) Of course, I got lucky that 1.) the pins weren't for like PCIe or QPI or something else critical, and 2.) I was on a triple-channel platform with a memory channel to spare.

With that in mind, If it works, I'd just as well leave it alone- but others may feel more bold. Just be careful not to accidentally bend more pins while doing the straightening ;)
 
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KATEKATEKATE said:
I had an EVGA X58 board + i7 920 years ago that I got cheap with the caveat that some of the memory slots didn't work. I checked and there were a couple bent pins in the socket; I tried bending them back and to my utter horror managed to snap one of them clean off. But other than only 2 of the memory channels working, everything worked fine and I never had any issues unless I tried populating the affected memory slots. (I did confirm via pinout charts what the affected pins were for) Of course, I got lucky that 1.) the pins weren't for like PCIe or QPI or something else critical, and 2.) I was on a triple-channel platform with a memory channel to spare.

With that in mind, If it works, I'd just as well leave it alone- but others may feel more bold. Just be careful not to accidentally bend more pins while doing the straightening ;)
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I'm going to add an "over 40" perspective here. About a year ago a friend got an ASUS board that didn't work right, so he sent it in for warranty repairs. ASUS claimed it was bent pins, and wanted so much money that my friend told ASUS to return the board as-is. I looked at the CPU socket, and I swear, I couldn't see any bent pins. I tried with light shining at different angles, with a magnifier, etc.

So I don't know if ASUS was blowing smoke at me, or my over-40 eyes simply couldn't see the bent pins. I raved-and-ranted about ASUS in a separate thread.
 
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FYSA, the "pins" on LGA sockets are not actually pins, they are mechanically closer to springs. Each one has a bent joint, they flex to a slight degree and the pressure keeps the pad in good contact with the bend of the spring. This gives it better electrical connection than straight up pins on a flat surface actually would.

But you still can fix them to some degree with a fine needle, tweezers, etc.

You need a good eye or some magnification to see this, but everyone assumes they are just like the CPU pins in reverse when they are not. CPU pins (ZIF style) also are electrically mated "sideways" (when you close the ZIF lever) as the bottom of the point is not the actual contact point.

PS: always take a macro shot of your cpu socket when sending in for RMA, especially when sending to asus as quite a few posts on this forum and others have revealed.
 
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Aluminum said:
FYSA, the "pins" on LGA sockets are not actually pins, they are mechanically closer to springs. Each one has a bent joint, they flex to a slight degree and the pressure keeps the pad in good contact with the bend of the spring. This gives it better electrical connection than straight up pins on a flat surface actually would.

But you still can fix them to some degree with a fine needle, tweezers, etc.

You need a good eye or some magnification to see this, but everyone assumes they are just like the CPU pins in reverse when they are not. CPU pins (ZIF style) also are electrically mated "sideways" (when you close the ZIF lever) as the bottom of the point is not the actual contact point.

PS: always take a macro shot of your cpu socket when sending in for RMA, especially when sending to asus as quite a few posts on this forum and others have revealed.
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Amen, bro. Wish I had done that when my friend's motherboard had its issue.

Next time if I buy an ASUS board (l have been using them for like 25 years now), first thing I will do is haul out my Nikon DSLR with my old but good 55 mm f.28 Micro Nikkor. I can do 1:1 photos with that lens cranked all the out way.
 
x509 said:
Amen, bro. Wish I had done that when my friend's motherboard had its issue.

Next time if I buy an ASUS board (l have been using them for like 25 years now), first thing I will do is haul out my Nikon DSLR with my old but good 55 mm f.28 Micro Nikkor. I can do 1:1 photos with that lens cranked all the out way.
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micro-Nikkor ftw! I use a positively ancient 55mm 3.5 manual focus version, sharpest lens I have. only goes to 1:2 though
 
Macro lenses rock for sharpness. The one I have is a Pentax FA 100mm f2.8.

As for bent socket pins, it is very easy to re-align pins that are just skewed out of place. When they are mangled it is another story all together.

I recently fixed around 20 skewed pins on a friend's motherboard in about 10 minutes.. and that was with me taking the time to go over the socket at multiple angles multiple times to make sure I fixed every last one of them.

I used a sewing needle to work them all back into place.

Best way to be sure what the bent pins are for it to go look up the data sheet for the socket and figure it out.
 
I have adjusted bent pins on a server motherboards over the years including one of my one and things have been running great for years. Those pins are very thing and would be prone to breaking or tearing if not careful. I used a couple of tweezers to careful adjust the pins to sit almost factory like.
 
deaedius said:
I have adjusted bent pins on a server motherboards over the years including one of my one and things have been running great for years. Those pins are very thing and would be prone to breaking or tearing if not careful. I used a couple of tweezers to careful adjust the pins to sit almost factory like.
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So how good are your eyes? Mine, not as good as they were once.
 
KATEKATEKATE said:
yep. haven't gotten around to getting tne yet.
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Try KEH Photo. They are a great source for used gear. My Micro Nikkor is the f2.8 model, but I'll bet that the adapter ring is the same, because without that ring, I can also do only 1:2.
 
I've got a comment about this.

Bent/non connected pins are not a fatal issue if said rig survives a proper break-in / benchmarking, but you can lose stuff.
I run a watercooled dual xeon gold rig, socket 3647....socket 'P' is very sensitive to mounting stabilities and pressures.
When I got my waterblocks going, I discovered I had lost 2 channels of ram on one CPU .
It's because of the asymmetrical mounting system of socket P.

I've run every benchmark/stresstest there is , other than that 2/6 ram channel loss, this rig is rock solid.

(y)
 
As said, depends on function of the particular pins. A plastic dental pick works for moving them. If it is twisted the tip of a mechanical pencil over the pin serves to rotate it back in place. Like this 1366/X58 workstation board for example. Came to me with dead CPU errors. Others with bent pin in different location suffered from repeated memory slot errors. A few minutes and they are good as new again.

180073_pins1.jpg
 
I do lots of bent pin repairs. If it's not bad and everything you use works I'd say don't mess with it. It's easy as an amateur to bend other pins or break the already bent ones.
 
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