Broken CPU pins

[fustercluck]

Someone overflowed thermal compound and it got on some of the pins, was really hard to clean off and a few pins broke off in the process, and many others were bent (9 or 10 probably). The breakage is on the upper left side...opposite side of the little corner arrow (doubt all CPUs have those but hopefully you know what I'm talking about. I figure I'm screwed but maybe there's something I can do? Even before the pins breaking/bending the CPU was very iffy.

 

[l0cke]

You could probably save it if you had a CNC soldering robot that could use a laser or something to reattach new pins.

In other words, it is trash.

 

[Cookie Monster]

Pray to god?

All joking aside consider your CPU to be dead and theres nothing you can do unless you have soldering skills that of a CNC soldering robot.

 

[fustercluck]

How many pins need to break off for it to be dead? Will a CPU boot up if it has only one broken pin and all the rest are fine? How much trouble are bent pins?

Damn CPU pins are crazy fragile.

 

[hans007]

if its only 1 sometimes it will work if its just an unused or redundant pin or something.

 

[Kakumba]

as hans said, if it happened to be pins that are not used (Both AMD and Intel put more pins on the CPU than they need, for future use). However, that almost certainly is not the case here, and you have a new keychain....

Bent pins: can be bent back into shape pretty often, but no guarantees.

 

[Ike0069]

I'd put it in and see if it fires up. That's the only way to know for sure.

 

[CTho9305]

You can look at the 939 pinout... I think "NC" pins don't matter, and if you only broke NC/VDD/VSS pins it might work (you might have to underclock it depending on how many power supply pins you lost). It doesn't look like there are many VDDA and VLDTA pins, so even though they're power, losing a few of them might be fatal. If you lost any of the MEM pins, it's almost certainly dead. On the plus side, Fry's has been running lots of really cheap ($70 and lower) CPU+MB combos so it wouldn't be too expensive to go AM2/AM2+

I'm not speaking for any companies. This is just an educated guess based on the datasheet.

 

[fustercluck]

Thanks for the info folks.

Just one last question hopefully someone will know the answer to... I bought the CPU in November 2005, and most AMD CPUs have a 3 year warranty. Will they honor the warranty if there's broken and bent CPU pins? Who do I contact about the warranty? The AMD website says to contact the manufacturer...isn't AMD the manufacturer?

 

[fliguy84]

In this case I thank Intel for their LGA

 

[Ike0069]

They will not replace a CPU with broken pins. Bent pins that have been straightened are okay, but all pins must still be on the chip.

I RMA'd a 939 CPU a couple of years ago and that it what I learned from speaking with their tech support.

 

[fustercluck]

If they don't replace CPUs with broken/bent pins then what good is the warranty? - Just if it dies out of nowhere i guess.

 

[Ike0069]

Originally posted by: ropeadope
If they don't replace CPUs with broken/bent pins then what good is the warranty? - Just if it dies out of nowhere i guess.

Exactly. Broken pins would be a sign that the CPU was mis-handled, so they will not honor the warranty.

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: Ike0069
Exactly. Broken pins would be a sign that the CPU was mis-handled, so they will not honor the warranty.

It isn't as much they "won't honor warranty" but more of "you voided warranty." Yeah, means almost the same, but has slightly different connotations.

 

[nanaki333]

i've been able to bend the bent pins back in place on processors before and they worked fine. if you broke them.. make yourself a keychain and start browsing ebay for a new one.

 

[Flipped Gazelle]

Originally posted by: ropeadope
If they don't replace CPUs with broken/bent pins then what good is the warranty? - Just if it dies out of nowhere i guess.

Warranties cover equipment failure, not the user blatantly damaging the equipment. Otherwise, folks would be purposely breaking everything (PC, TV, auto, etc.) before the warranty expires in order to get a new one.

 

[Jest3r]

While it might already be known to most here, I'll say it anyhow for those who don't know.

A real easy way to bend those pins back (if they are just bent, not broken) is to use a mechanical pencil. Get the lead out of the end, and put a bent pin in the hole. Slowly position the pencil upright so that the pin goes back to normal position. Slowly being a keyword, do it to fast and you'll break it for sure.